[Undertaker989]

The highways are bogged down along the whole gulf coast. Even though the most probable outcome of the storm will bring tropical storm conditions at worst in Kenner, we have weakened infrastructure in the New Orleans area and street flooding (or worse possibly) would happen again. They are evacuating people out of Texas which is a giant mess, and on top of that, they are now evacuating areas of Louisiana (possible hit locations) to make matters worse.

My cousin's boyfriend left Houston @ 5:30 in the morning and is only 30-50 miles into Louisiana (Lake Charles area). He has been stuck there forever, and the interstates are a total gridlock. People are breaking down everywhere b/c they are running out of gas. This situation is apparently very widespread (check CNN for examples).

So now we have a situation where people are desperately trying to get the fuck out of dodge and could possibly get stuck RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of where the storm is going to hit if something isn't done IMMEDIATELY about the fuel situation.

Seeing as the storm will hit far enough west of my town (its getting close to passing 90 degrees longtitude which is where my comfort line is) so the only thing to keep in mind for my area is flooding/random tree damage (yeah, suprisingly there are a few trees left in my neighborhood). The plan I have now is to keep a tight eye on the storm and either bunker down in a high area of the outskirts that didn't flood for Katrina or won't flood due to being high, or in case of the worst case scenario, head north of the lake to stay w/ relatives on the northshore. Either way, it will keep me away from Interstate bottlenecks.


This is going to be an interesting show...lets hope this storm which is allready smaller and weaker than Katrina will continue to weaken and hit as a cat 2.

[MSP]

I'm OVER my desire for a beachside condo. If I had had $250,000 lying around last year I would have bought one, but now I'll just use my money for visiting those places instead.

Hang in there dude, hurricane season is almost over.

[JustinL]

that sucks.

[mushu]

evacuating to louisiana. there's irony for you.


anyway, if it does hit you, i could really use a new plasma.

[Nothing.]

Nah, actually on the news they said this year (or decade) is going to be bad for hurricans, I wouldn't expect this one to be the last. And, some of this is supposed to actually hit New Orleans they think.

[NoseMaster]

http://ritaiscoming.ytmnd.com/

[Undertaker989]

nose, there have been tons of ytmnd's about Rita...do a search and check them out. I schooled one punk who made a comment about the victims of Katrina in his ytmnd...he took it down tho (problably not b/c of my comment unfortunately).

Nothing.: as it looks now, we will see some tropical storm conditions, but nothing major. The president of my parish reccomended residents not leave and said that our levees and canals are ready to handle the conditions. New Orleans, being much worse off, is another story. There is allready higher water in some of the bad areas of New Orleans. I anticipate more flooding in New Orleans b/c of this, but, it will problably be the areas that were allready totalled from Katrina.

I'll continue keeping an eye on it. My cousin's boyfriend is JUST NOW getting w/in a normal 30-40 minute drive from Kenner (where my cousin is in right now). He left houston @ 5:30 this morning!

[NoseMaster]

I know, I've seen most of them, they're mostly the same thing

[tex]

everyone i know in houston is riding it out (a lot of people).
they started driving fuel trucks around and filling people back up

im thinking of going back and looting this weekend (fuck you, its my hometown, i have a right)

[Nebor]

Hearing from friends in Houston that the city is out of gasoline, making it impossible to leave the city.

[Scooby]

If i was trying to leave i would take nothing but backroads.

And hope that my grandfather is with me. For some reason the man has a gift with directions and can navigate through anything.

[JustinL]

i survived the center of a cat 4 storm last year. the main problem with new orlaneans was all of the people looting AND the fact that it was below sea level. Hurricanes are bad if you are in a cheap house/trailer, otherwise you should be fairly safe.

[Undertaker989]

also Justin, the #1 thing you have to worry about water. If you are near any body of water where a storm surge is present, you have to watch out b/c whatever water hits, it destroys. Flooding is #2 and wind is #3.

So for property/livelyhood:

1. stormsurge.
2. flooding (don't want to drown in your attic now do you?)
3. wind (i guess if a tree falls through your house it can be bad, but wind is more of a property annoyance than a threat to your life).

Annoyances of riding out a storm:

1. you can't drive anywhere if the streets are flooded.
2. if the water gets stuck in your house for an extended amount of time (assuming it floods bad) you are in a foul smelling hellhole.
3. you most problably won't have power, so no computer addiction fufillment.
4. if the watersupply gets contaminated, you won't have tap water to drink or water to bathe in. They issue 'boil orders', which mean you have to boil water before you drink it.
5. you have to deal with looters/civil unrest if it occurs.
6. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of it off the bat. I think I covered the major ones...I guess the final thing to note is that all of these conditions could last for WEEKS, some longer than others.

[tex]

yeah, everything is out of gas. we got a 50 gallon tank at work, go us.
theres at least a cop on every midsize intersection, usually 3-4.
its insane.

[Undertaker989]

I think Houston will be just fine after looking @ the storm today. The storm is weakening and it looks like it will hit the LA/Tx boarder. Good place to hit b/c it avoids the major cities.

[CHEDaddy]

Well, there's always cholera.