OT: A date with Rita

[Andy M]

Folks,

As you may know (if you have been watching the news the past couple of days?), our number has been called in Houston. We have not had a direct hit storm for over 20 years, and this one's going to be a bad one!

Fortunately for me, my home is quite a distance from the water at around 50 or so miles inland, so I am not concerned over the storm surge; which is predicted to be around 15-20 feet high at Galveston Island. The entire island will be under water if this happens, as well as everything for 10-20 miles inland. To add insult to injury, the storm is expected to hit at high tide, making things even worst.

I am ready to ride it out in my home. I have sufficient supplies for a week or two, and I have a 5000 watt generator and nearly 30 gallons of fuel for it.

Landfall is expected early on Saturday, so that will be a rough day for us. It will take about 10-14 hours or so to fully be past us.

The Cobra R is safe inside my garage. More importantly of course is I have a plan and have been preparing for this for a few days now.

Please pray for the poor folks who live near the coast. It will be very ugly down near the coast.

 

[ac427cobra]

Andy:

We all wish you, your family, Joe and his family and everyone else down there the best for the storm.

You might want to run and get more generator fuel just in case!

Good luck and keep us posted!!!

Keeping our fingers crossed for you guys!!!!

:thumbsup:

 

[mrmustang]

Andy,

I'll second bruce's suggestion for more fuel...Also make sure that all (ALL) of your vehicles are fully gassed up (even the "R" if nothing more than a safe storage container), get more water as you can never have too much....Figure at least a gallon per person, per day, more non perishable foods (individually wrapped items are highly suggested). Whatever you think you have enough of, double it for safety sake. If you have too much, better to have it and not need it than vice versa. You have our heartfelt wellwishes for you, your family, and friends that will be riding out the storm with you.


Sincerely,

Bill S. & Family

 

[1993R]

Andy having been through Andrew and seeing 120+ mph at my house I will pray for you. Anything that can become a missle get it inside.You would be suprised at what can fly by you during a hurricane.I actually had to fill my Ski Nautique with water to make sure a 2500 lb boat would not get shoved around. Beer is also a good thing to have as well.

 

[NJ2000R]

Andy we're with you man! as others said, its better to have more fruel/water/food than not....hopefully you wont need it, but its there if you do....best of luck to you, your family, and everyone else to be affected by the storm....all will be in our prayers....

man, this country has really taken a beating the past 5 years or so: economic problems, 9-11, the war, storms, floods, etc....

 

[mrmustang]

Andy,

I forgot an important item. make sure that all of your food and water is packed in water tight containers (rubbermaid, totes, etc) just in case you spring a leak here or there.

Bill S.

 

[scottmartin]

andy,

you will be in our prayers. hunker down, god bless you texans!! scott

 

[Cobra-R]

Andy,
Take care buddy. Take all the precations you can and then some. We'll all be thinking of you.

What about Joe, do you know what his situation is?

Brian

 

[DAVESVT2000]

And Tom Shepard, further south, I;m sure his area will feel some impact, either weather or economic....

Hang in there everyone, we"ll be thinking of you ... :beer:

 

[Andy M]

Andy,
Take care buddy. Take all the precations you can and then some. We'll all be thinking of you.

What about Joe, do you know what his situation is?

Brian

Brian,

Joe was supposed to be headed to Nashville for the SVTOA gig up there this weekend. Not sure yet what he decided to do? I have tried calling him, but am unable to reach him thus far today. I will keep all of you posted.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and advice. Rest assured (as Type A as I am!!) I have prepared for this thing. We have a ton of non-perishable food and a ton of drinking water. As for the fuel for the generator, if I had more containers I would definitely get more gas. I have about 30 gallons on hand. Plus what is sitting inside the R's tank in case I need it.

 

['03 Sonic Blue]

Andy, best of luck to you and your plan to ride out the storm. Hope your house and garage are up to the task. My uncle lost his garaged '65 Mustang to a hurricane (Dennis?) in central Florida this year. I think a tree fell on it.

My wife has relatives in and around Houston. We hope the ones that need to are smart enough to leave. The ones around Conroe probably have little to worry about except for high winds and tall pine trees.

My relatives are much further and safer inland, scattered roughly along I35 from Austin to Plano.

As for more gas cans: $5 for a 5 gallon gas "can" at Walmart if they still have any in stock.

Good luck. We'll be thinking of you.

--Mike

 

[cobra186]

If Rita stays on course... my local forecast is calling for 70-80mph sustained winds, squall lines w/localized flooding as well as high risk of Tornados. Saturday is going to be interesting.... to say the least.

Andy: Do they think downtown Houston is going to flood heavily again like it did about 5 years ago??? I went to several salvage car auctions back then that had lots of high end collector cars that were flooded over their roofs.

 

[Cobra R Man]

And Tom Shepard, further south, I;m sure his area will feel some impact, either weather or economic....

Hang in there everyone, we"ll be thinking of you ... :beer:

Andy,

As you know, I live IN the hurricane capital (Pensacola,FL), so I diffidently feel for everyone in it's path. I'm sure you're taking all precations needed. Hope eveyone will be safe and well after.

Andy, you're right in the path. Tom Shepard is a little further south. Maybe he won't get it too bad.

We just heard on a news flash, this could be the strongest H in history to ever hit the mainland. It's already 165mph sustained winds, with gust of 200mph. :bowdown: :cuss: THAT'S SCARY.

 

[NJ2000R]

We just heard on a news flash, this could be the strongest H in history to ever hit the mainland. It's already 165mph sustained winds, with gust of 200mph. :bowdown: :cuss: THAT'S SCARY.

heck yeah its scary! I think I'll deal with the few months of cold weather and a few feet of snow up here! :dw:

 

[JorgeG]

Hey Andy
I was thinking about you guys closer to the main "hit" of Rita and then i see this thread. So You have our prayers. Also i will be off thursday friday sat and sun. The reasons i am saying this is that I have a large garage that was recently built it can house your cars if you decide to leave the houston area and want to trailer your car over here. You are more than welcome to it. I have not moved my cars out there cause the construction guy hasnt finished the asphalt but my trailer is up there made it without problems. Any way if there is something we can do/help with just let us know. Hopefully all we get here in san antonio is rain!!
I will pm you with my new cell number if you should need anything

God bless
jorge

 

[Andy M]

Folks,

Updated information just in from our weather service here...

The storm center is now projected to make landfall just north and east of Galveston Bay. This is great news for me and my home, as this puts us on the cleaner (west) side of the storm. We can still expect somewhere around 100-120 mph winds in my neighborhood. I am boarding up my windows today just in case of flying debris. I have storm windows on my home, however, if something is flying around out there, it will become a missile and fly through the windows.

Myself and my neighbors are all very prepared to ride this thing out. Our neighborhood has traditionally never flooded, even during the massive flood during Allison 4 years ago, so I am not too concerned about rising water. The R is sitting inside my garage and is at least 4-5 feet above street level. If the water gets into my home, god bless everyone around us, because that would mean water up to roof tops in other neighborhoods.

The freeways are nuts this morning. We have been watching the news and there are folks evacuating from Galveston and surrounding areas which are literally in parking lots on the freeway. Reports are that the trip from the south side of town near Hobby airport to the north side of town near Conroe (normally about a 45 minute to 1 hour trip) is taking 10-12 HOURS!!!!

At this point, the safest place for me and my family is at home!

I will continue to keep you all posted as long as I have Internet service, which is likely to go out some time on Friday evening into Saturday morning. Landfall will be around midnight Friday night. So, Saturday will be very ugly around here. They are even saying Dallas TX will get at least 75 miles/hr winds as well. This thing is MASSIVE!!

Anyone on the coast of southeast TX that remains should have already been getting the hell out of there!!! The coast of southeast TX will be a VERY dangerous place to be when this thing makes landfall. There are reports of near 200 mph winds at the center of the storm. THis is equivalent to an F3 tornado!!!! Basically, ALL structures are going to be either obliterated by the wind or washed away by the projected 20+ foot high storm surge. It will not be pretty.

Thanks again everyone. I will continue to keep you posted. And now, I must go out and board up the windows.

Another update later on today.

 

[Andy M]

Hey Andy
I was thinking about you guys closer to the main "hit" of Rita and then i see this thread. So You have our prayers. Also i will be off thursday friday sat and sun. The reasons i am saying this is that I have a large garage that was recently built it can house your cars if you decide to leave the houston area and want to trailer your car over here. You are more than welcome to it. I have not moved my cars out there cause the construction guy hasnt finished the asphalt but my trailer is up there made it without problems. Any way if there is something we can do/help with just let us know. Hopefully all we get here in san antonio is rain!!
I will pm you with my new cell number if you should need anything

God bless
jorge

Jorge,

Dude, I really appreciate it!! However, at this point, it is too late to leave. It would take at least 12-18 hours or more to just get to San Antonio given the current conditions on the freeway. I am just going to take my chances here. I have the F250 full of diesel fuel and our BMW is full of fuel as well. I also have 30 gallons of fuel ready to run my generator after the storm is passed us. So, we are good shape here. I have prepared for this thing. We have tons of food and water. Additionally, I have a natural gas range so we could cook food if we needed to. I plan to run the generator in 1-2 hour phases just to keep the refrigerator going and to conserve fuel.

Anyway, thanks for the offer, but at this point it is hunker down time!

Thanks again!!

 

[Andy M]

Update:

I just spoke with Joe and he decided to leave town anyway to head up to Nashville for the SVTOA event there this weekend. His wife is safe at the hospital with her very ill mother, and she told him to go ahead and go. His house is way north of Houston and is not subject to the high winds near the coast, so I guess he figured he would go ahead and get out of town.

Guys, it is absolutely crazy here right now. Gasoline is VERY scarce and tempers are flaring. I have my loaded pistol ready to shoot someone if they even think about coming into my home to steal.

I will keep you guys posted as the storm nears, but at the moment, it appears to be turning slightly to the east, putting my home on the cleaner (west) side of the storm, which is GREAT news - at least for me and my home. Galveston is still going to get hit really hard though, but the island is deserted. So, at least we should not see the human devastation there like we did with Katrina in New Orleans.

later folks... update whenever I get time and more information....

 

[95R#177]

Andy,
What else to say...we're all with you man! You may want to mark the outside of your plywood (w/paint, etc.) to indicate there's people inside your home.
What a monster of a storm! Best of luck.

 

[Andy M]

Folks,

The latest coordinates puts landfall just east of High Island around Beaumont/Port Arthur TX. It appears (at least for now) that the downtown area and west side (where I am) of Houston may be spared the brunt of the storm. It is very weird here at my home at the moment. Temps around 95 degrees and mostly sunny, with light winds coming out of the east. No reason to suspect a monster hurricane is brewing out in the gulf only hours away. Very strange indeed.

I am going to unplugging the computer and tucking it away inside an interior closet a little later on. I have backed up all of my files onto DVD-R's and have them inside a ZipLock bag for safe storage.

Wish us luck!!