It's sun-shining again, though it looks like it rained while I was at work. Yeah for not having to water the yard!
theonlysaneone wrote:
As for experiencing one, it's really a pain in the butt.
This thread was written during the Hurricane Rita mess, in which 2 million people tried to evacuate from Houston at the same time, on the same highway, because a level 5 hurricane was headed straight for us. Not fun. Even tropical storms can be incredibly destructive, like Tropical Storm Allison, which dumped a record amount of rain on Houston and caused billions of dollars of damage.
Ugh. Rita. 17 1/2 hours I spent driving with minimal AC and the radio on for the first bit. Luckily we had filled up earlier that week and not driven much, so we didn't run out of gas before getting to our destination. Took 5 1/2 hours to get back, because a bridge was shut down and we had to detour to a two-lane side road that had trees half-fallen over and suspended over the road by the power lines. {shudders} Anyways, the drive should've only taken 4 hours either way. If I remember correctly, I was furious to find out when we got back, that the LDP sand moving had occurred mostly while we were gone....
It was sorta amusing to watch people start their own contraflow on 59...or walking their dogs down the highway.
I was working at Wal-Mart during Allison. We didn't close, though I don't know why not - the only people in the store were the mostly soaking wet employees (the parking lot was like a mini-pond).
For most of the hurricanes we had when I was a kid, we were taken downstairs immediately with the option of taking one toy, put in my mom's closest, and pretty much had to stay there until it was over - or until the eye came through. For a kid: BORING.
For the more severe hurricanes, my parents would go around boarding up the windows to protect them from flying debris.
I definitely agree that in the long run, they're a pain in the butt. Though I don't mind not having work yesterday.