Hurricane Gustav

[pocket]

Here we go again.... maybe. It's still to soon to tell where it'll come in or what angle it will be when it crosses the coast, but I'm packing. The last projected path was a bit too close for comfort.

Frawniemae and I are both in SE Texas...she's closer to the coast, and probably knee deep in packing and preparations. Oddly enough, the last projected path could be nearer and worse for us than for her. However, she's in more danger of flooding down there, I believe. My husband has been securing loose items outside for two days now, and I'm washing and soon will be packing. We'll be prepared and ready to make a decision early tomorrow. If we go, I'll try to post from wherever we find ourselves.

[frawniemae]

I been preparing to get and go in case Gustav heads more our way. I've tried posting this new thread three times and each time I'm through typing and hit post, I'm kicked off. If it does it again, you obviously wont' be reading this.

I was ranting and raving earlier but am now a little more calm. It is such a wait and see situation for us because we are right on the edge of what we consider the good side of Gustav. If the power that be shifts him another 30 miles to the west, we are definitely out of here, going to San Antonio.

We just don't want to leave. Best case scenario will have us facing northwest to north winds of up to 100 mph. We are more concerned with the rain and possible flooding. I keep telling myself that "things" can be replaced. It is a major hassle but it's doable. We likely will stay if this is the case.

Worse case is 140mph and for sure flooding. We won't stay if there is a more direct hit predicted for us.

We are as ready as one can be but keep all of Gulf coast from Mississippi to Houston/Galveston area in your thoughts and prayers.

Officials are taking action to help ensure that a Katrina catastrophe won't happen again. Kids are able to call in under a voluntary evac order so they won't lose their jobs for not going in tomorrow. Then they were already scheduled off for Mon and Tuesday. She works at Walmart and he at a local building supply store. Saying that they have been uber busy the last couple of days is a major understatement.

I hope to stay in contact no matter what happens. We have lap tops and BIL has computer in SA.

I also have a good supply of my friend, Xanax.;)

[Virgo6]

Been thinking constantly of you and Pocket and wondering what decision you have made. Obviously, you are still pondering what to do in this situation. Gustav can't make up his stupid mind where he is going.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of you in that area. I am so glad you have the option to evacuate, if a big one hits Long Island, unfortunately we have no place to go. Keeping my fingers crossed you are all spared Gustav's fury.

[Slitter]

I think you must have been posting at the same time. I trust you won't mind that I merged the threads into one.

That being said, I am thinking about both of you and keeping my fingers crossed that it will pass you by. Of course, I don't want it to hit poor New Orleans again either. What I really want it to do is disappear in a puff of vapor. Since that isn't likely, I'm glad you guys are ready to hit the road if that's what it takes. Remembering the long lines on the roads during past evacuations, I think you are both being wise to plan on leaving early.

Stay safe and dry!

[Virgo6]

Sli, thanks for explaining why I first saw two threads on the hurricane and then one. LOL I wrote Pocket that I thought I was really losing my mind this time. She told me what you had done. Phew!!!! I feel better now. LOL

[frawniemae]

We are under a voluntary evac and will be under mandatory evac come 6am Sunday. So....we will be leaving between midnight and 3 am Sunday. Once the mandatory evac is called you will only be able to go north. So hopefully we can get to a point that is open to go west by taking back roads before the 6am call. The traffic on IH10 is already backed up from Louisiana folks leaving so we will be heading N-NW to try to get across to San Antonio without having to sit in too much traffic. We hope to stay off of IH10.
I'd rather stay here and sit it out than be stuck on the highway for hours (Rita had people taking up to 19 hours to get only as far as what is usually a 3-4 hour trip).


I did not want to have to leave. Cats and bird will be left behind. I have no way to transport them for what could be hours in a car. They did fine through Rita. I'm hoping for the best with Gustav.

We will be coming back home ASAP after the storm has hit land. Wed or thurs I hope.


Can I just say SHIT!!!!!:splat:

[Virgo6]

LOL you can say whatever you want Frawnie....I would be saying that and more. Good luck to you guys.

[UkraineMom]

Run Run Run!!!!

I am glad you are getting out of there .... Take care u 2 be safe!

[Slitter]

For sure, Frawnie. I'd be saying a lot worse myself too.

At first I couldn't figure out why you picked that odd time to leave then it struck be it's because it is an odd time which hopefully means less traffic. :luck:

Does the evac area include you, Pocket?

Sorry I messed with your head there, Virgo. :)

Everyone else - fill up your gas tanks. If this thing hits Houston or New Orleans, prices will soon go through the roof.

[pocket]

Well, I wanted to be ready to leave at 6 to get on a westward path to the Austin area. But, we may not be able to until after 9. I just hope we can still cross the northbound traffic then. A LOT of the coastal evacuees go through here going north. The last Weather Channel path looked like it could be anywhere from west of New Orleans to Galveston and turning a little left. One local TV station/Beaumont has it going more NW from landfall in LA up into East Texas. Just what we need....ambiguity. The warning for our area is for high winds, heavy rain and possible tornadoes. I hate to leave our house and belongings, but our lives are not replacable...almost everything else is.

[Gabby]

I'll be thinking of you both! :hug2:

[frawniemae]

This will be my last post until we get to San Antonio. We are packed and will be pulling out within the hour. Landfall has been moved up 12 hours (last prediction is 1pm Monday) so we can't miss any traffic no matter when we leave at this point so we're just going to go.

Take care pocket whenever and wherever ya'll go.

[pocket]

God Bless, Frawniemae! There's been a constant stream of people going through town today, so lots have left early.

[patchiepoopoo]

:hug2:

Hugs and prayers for your safety !

[Kramer]

How stressful :hug2: My thoughts and prayers are with you both! Stay safe!!

[TigerLily]

For those who don't have it and want to know - this http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ is the site to go to - in fact, I believe they've got some new things now.

If you click on the icon of where the hurricane currently is you go to another page with all kinds of graphics and projects and such that you can click to see more info.

[Slitter]

I know you guys are probably both out of touch by now but I will anxiously be awaiting you next posts. It looks like the newest "cone" has the thing going a little farther west of New Orleans and closer toward you. Even if it doesn't clobber your area (and of course I hope it doesn't), I think you are doing the right thing.

It's way late as I write this so you should be well on your way. I hope the traffic is flowing smoothly. I love you guys. Be safe.

[pocket]

We were up at 4, and will leave ASAP. We're hoping traffic is moving and we can still go west. At 10PM news last night, a local station reported our county is under mandatory evacuation orders. This doesn't mean we have to leave or we have to leave by gunpoint (lol), just that if we stay we have to be self-sufficient for 10 days. If it goes farther east, we'll be home sooner, but if this thing stalls as they think it will, chances are we'll have to wait out the rains and flooding. At any rate we will check with local officials before heading back.

I will try to post when we get to our destination. It may be that I'll have to email Sli or dtails and they can relay the info.

[Gabby]

:hug2:

We'll be waiting to hear from you.

[frawniemae]

We made it to San Antonio jsut a little more than the usual time it takes. We left our home at 830pm and arrived at BIL's at 4am. They are such wonderful people to let us just come and crash at all hours!

We took backroads through little towns I had never heard of and hubbie said "this is the way I go to Livingston." I told him when things calmed down that he needed to make a map of all the backroad routes that he uses in his work travel so that if he ever came up missing I would at least have an idea of where to sart looking. (His territory encompasses about a 600 mile radius.)

Traffic wasn't bad at all once we got near Houston (Pocket, in case you are wondering how we ended up heading to Livingston to get to Houston we went through Votaw and Cleveland to hit 59 then Beltway 8 to skirt Houston. We were at first going to head thru Huntsville to avoid IH10 but I didn't want to take 9 hours to go to San antonio if I could help it. Hubbie changed our route. Like I said we went backroads! :) )

Once on IH10 traffic was steady but not bumper to bumper. A few cars here and there with Louisiana plates pulled off road to sleep for awhile. Several sleeping in cars at the rest areas.

Hopefully the predicted landfall will stay well to the east of state line so we won't be impacted too much. I hate to wish it over towards New Orleans but anywhere but my house is fine with me.
Anyways...we're here and safe and I hope you are somewhere safe too Pocket.

Not sure how long we will stay away but for now I feel better about the situation.

Thanks for all the good thoughts.

[Virgo6]

Good to hear from you Frawnie and that you and the family are safe. Pocket wrote me last night and was still rushing around packing and shutting things off. They must have left very early this morning. She said she will write if her brother's computer is okay. That was smart taking the backroads. Hope no major damage is done to your home and property.
Keep us posted if you can. hugs

[snip the elf]

I wish you all safe and well!
I hate hurricanes when they come up here, even though we probably don't get them as bad as when they are in warmer waters and at full force.
Can you just imagine how hard t must have been for people before we were able to tell when bad weather was coming and only having maybe a day or less to prepare? oh my!

[Fuel]

We were out of town yesterday, but I was thinking about you folks. Frawnie, glad you are safe. Hopefully Pocket will be okay.

Just sucks that your property may sustain heavy damage.

[pocket]

We are here!:wavey: Howdy from Georgetown, Texas. We got here at 11:30, but I haven't had a chance to get on the computer until now. We left at 6 and had very light traffic. We had no problems heading west on 190 and DID go through Livingston, Frawnie. Only problem I have now is staying awake. I didn't go to sleep till 12 and got up at 4. No wonder I don't know where my phone charger is. I don't know where anything is. I open every bag and case to find something.

Our cat sang to us for a few hours till she wore slap out After that, she'd just complain if we made turns that made her pet carrier lean. Since we've been here she's hidden under a dresser that we swore was too low for her to get under for several hours, causing a panic that she'd somehow snuck out and was lost in a strange neighborhood. But late this afternoon, I snoozed for a few minutes and she came out and got up on the bed to "allow" me to give her a good scratch, which molified her somewhat. She's since shared a chicken sandwich and nibbled cat food and drank water, so she's coming out of her funk.

We just got here, but I can't wait to get back home. I hope all is well when we get there. It's one thing to leave home for a family visit, and quite another to be worried about the house while we're gone. We have a neighbor watching the place, but he can't help if it rains a flood. Hopefully, like Frawnie said, it'll stay far enough east of us to avoid the worst of it. As long as it stays on the course they think and doesn't shift west we'll do OK. Knocking wood!

[Irishlass]

I'm so glad both of you are safe and sound with loved ones. I've been thinking of you all day. You and yours are in my prayers. Our pastor included everyone in Gustav's path in his prayer this morning and encouraged the congregation to do the same during the days ahead. Irish hugs for everyone ((((((pocket family and Frawnie family)))))).

[Slitter]

It's good to hear that both of you made it to where you were going with minimal problems. (I'm sure that phone charger will turn up, Pocket!)

Thanks for checking in. Hopefully you'll all be going home real soon. :luck:

[Virgo6]

I shut the computer down early last night, so I was glad when I came on this morning to learn that you also were safe Pocket. Poor Mama...glad she is doing well now. Try to keep in touch if you can and know that we are all thinking about you and Frawnie and hoping you will be heading home soon....howling cat and all. :hug2:

[Kramer]

Glad to hear you are both safe and sound and really glad to see that the hurricane came in as a cat 2 and not anything worse, although I still would not wish to be there to endure that.

[frawniemae]

Hello all from my very own computer! We have been blessed and not even much rain has fallen here at all. Wind is pretty gusty but eveything is intact.

We left San Antonio at 1pm and pulled into our driveway at 805pm. We once again skirted Houston and some horrific traffic through there by going on some backroads that even hubbie wasn't sure where we were going to end up! Our map had the roads by numbers but once in the middle of cow pastures, cotton fields and acres of watermelon patches the roads were named after the people that lived down them.

We are so very thankful that we were spared. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

I hope you make it home safely and soon pocket.

[Slitter]

Welcome home, Frawnie! It looks like everyone got off more lightly than expected (assuming those levies continue to hold in NOLA). I am so glad everything is safe and sound back at home. Hopefully, Pocket will have similar news whenever she gets back.

I'm glad you packed up and went though. It was like buying an insurance policy you were lucky enough not to have to use.

Sleep well in your own bed. :)

[spf15]

Glad you're both well. We were in Chattanooga this weekend, and our hotel was about half tourists enjoying the labor day weekend, 30% evacuees from the coast, and 20% rescue workers headed towards New Orleans.

[Virgo6]

I heard from Pocket late last night and she said that they might be leaving her brother's late this afternoon, or early tomorrow morning. Hopefully, they won't hit much traffic and that things at home are fine when they get there. Glad you are back Frawnie.......like they said in the Wizard of Oz, "There is no place like home". Sometimes cleaning and taking care of one is a pain in the butt, but it still feels great to come back to it.
Glad Gustav lost his steam and didn't create the havoc Katrina did. At least the government was on the ball this time. Welcome home Frawnie.

[pocket]

We're finally home. My DH took my brother to the eye doctor yesterday morning and was tired in the afternoon. It got up to 101o, and neither of us felt like loading the car, so we started out this morning at 4. We got up at 3-I SAID 3 freakin o'clock because my DDH couldn't sleep. We'll both be walking zombies in no time. I have lots of unpacking to do. The cat meowed only for an hour this time, but she is in a major snit since we got home. She wanted to go outside immediately, and she's hiding in the bushes. She'll come in when she gets over her mad and gets hungry.

I'm glad we left, but not glad we had to leave. Now we have to catch up on what's going with the next how many? storms down the pipeline.

[Virgo6]

Poor Mama, she doesn't know what is going on. Glad you are home. Get some rest before tackling anything else. LOL I should talk right.

[frawniemae]

Glad you're back, pocket. I know how you feel about the unpacking thing. I'm not sure I'm going to completely unpack until Ike does his thing.

[Slitter]

Welcome home, Pocket. :)

[Irishlass]

I'm glad my two favorite Texans are back home.