After the storm

Something I did not think I'd be doing 24 hours after Hurricane Rita came through - sitting in the air conditioning, with the lights on using my computer. How bizarre...

All week our local newspeople have been doing pretty much 24/7 broadcasts telling everyone that Rita was heading right at the Houston/Galveston area, that it was bigger than Katrina, even bigger than the turn of the century hurricane that flattened Galveston Island, and that we were all basically SOL and it was time to flee in a blind panic as far away as possible. At least 31 people died on the highways trying to escape, but no one died in the storm itself.

We spent last night watching historic buildings in Galveston burn to the ground, and sitting around waiting for the gale force winds and rain to come out way. The power and cable blinked, but never went off. We got about ten minutes worth of rain, some pretty hellacious winds which rocked the house and kept me awake till dawn (and some pretty brisk winds that continued most of the day), but that's all. Rita veered off towards the Louisiana border as it got near and we were spared.

I've watched the news sporadically today, mostly to see who did get pounded, and it looks like the whole area from Beaumont, Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana got the worst of it. High winds and flooding, even poor New Orleans lost one of their levees all over again and part of the Ninth Ward filled back up with water.

My friend called me early this morning to let me know they were OK, she hadn't spoken with her mom and brother yet, though, who had evacuated into the storm's path to Shreveport. They still did not have electricity. I just drove to Beaumont last week to see her for her birthday (and to meet her new daughter). I hope when the power comes back on they are more comfortable in their new temporary home, they were very cramped in her aunt & uncle's home, though at least they were in a decent sized town with a few things to do and some nice restaurants. They're much closer to New Orleans now, which is good, but I've been to her grandmother's house in Franklin and there's not much to do there. I know they're dying to get back to New Orleans, and her poor mom's house got several feet of water in it so they have lots of work that's waiting for them. Her mom had been wanting to move anyway, but not like this.

Houston is a ghost town. We live on a busy through street and Sparky only saw one car go by yesterday. I've heard a few go by today. Everything is closed down, even though we barely got any rain. The post office, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants... Part of the city are still under a curfew. The people in charge are trying to get all of the people who fled north to return on an orderly schedule over the next few days, but the influx has already begun. I can't blame them, I'm so glad we didn't have to leave our home.

Sparky has gone from panic attacks to giddy relief, thank goodness. I'm exhausted, my Multiple Sclerosis has flared up from all the running around and the whole apocalyptic thing day after day, when I woke up this afternoon I thought I'd be spending the day in bed but I had a little burst of energy. My skin is really broken out too, which it never does. We're going to stay sequestered in our nice, cool, dry house eating out food reserves till the city gets somewhat back to normal. My parents were lamenting the fact that they couldn't order Italian delivery tonight, and I have to admit I'm missing my usual weekend Mexican food delivery, but it sure beats the alternative - scooping water out of our house or worse. Sparky wanted to replace the carpet in the den, he's decided to wait till this year's hurricane season is over.

Posted by Morticia at September 25, 2005 05:47 AM | TrackBack