How is the weather?

[Pickles]

Meep!!!
They just announced mandatory evacuations for my zipcode, as well as everything else in my area.
I'm fairly certain my house is going to be OK - we're 2 feet higher than everything else in my neighborhood, and one of the highest points in the zipcodes told to evacuate, but we're probably going to leave and go *somewhere*. Now, where that is, I don't know yet. I don't want to leave town completely, as I'd like to get back to clean up, etc, but....sigh. Go away, stupid Ike.

ETA: TOSO, I think your wisdom teeth will be in for a while yet.

[theonlysaneone]

Meep!!!
They just announced mandatory evacuations for my zipcode, as well as everything else in my area.
I'm fairly certain my house is going to be OK - we're 2 feet higher than everything else in my neighborhood, and one of the highest points in the zipcodes told to evacuate, but we're probably going to leave and go *somewhere*. Now, where that is, I don't know yet. I don't want to leave town completely, as I'd like to get back to clean up, etc, but....sigh. Go away, stupid Ike.

ETA: TOSO, I think your wisdom teeth will be in for a while yet.

Where all have they announced mandatory evacuations? I hope my parents in Bay Oaks will be okay Half of our house is on the 100-year flood plain, according to my mom.

(I'm not in Houston right now, I'm in College Station.)

[Pickles]

Meep!!!
They just announced mandatory evacuations for my zipcode, as well as everything else in my area.
I'm fairly certain my house is going to be OK - we're 2 feet higher than everything else in my neighborhood, and one of the highest points in the zipcodes told to evacuate, but we're probably going to leave and go *somewhere*. Now, where that is, I don't know yet. I don't want to leave town completely, as I'd like to get back to clean up, etc, but....sigh. Go away, stupid Ike.

ETA: TOSO, I think your wisdom teeth will be in for a while yet.

Where all have they announced mandatory evacuations? I hope my parents in Bay Oaks will be okay Half of our house is on the 100-year flood plain, according to my mom.

(I'm not in Houston right now, I'm in College Station.)

Yeah, your parents should be under the evacuation orders by now - they're mandatory at noon. My parents are both in 77059 and I'm in 77062 - thankfully not in the 100 year flood plain. When they stated announcing them, I listed them off before they did. Sad, huh?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5993388.html

[theonlysaneone]

Meep!!!
They just announced mandatory evacuations for my zipcode, as well as everything else in my area.
I'm fairly certain my house is going to be OK - we're 2 feet higher than everything else in my neighborhood, and one of the highest points in the zipcodes told to evacuate, but we're probably going to leave and go *somewhere*. Now, where that is, I don't know yet. I don't want to leave town completely, as I'd like to get back to clean up, etc, but....sigh. Go away, stupid Ike.

ETA: TOSO, I think your wisdom teeth will be in for a while yet.

Where all have they announced mandatory evacuations? I hope my parents in Bay Oaks will be okay Half of our house is on the 100-year flood plain, according to my mom.

(I'm not in Houston right now, I'm in College Station.)

Yeah, your parents should be under the evacuation orders by now - they're mandatory at noon. My parents are both in 77059 and I'm in 77062 - thankfully not in the 100 year flood plain. When they stated announcing them, I listed them off before they did. Sad, huh?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5993388.html

I think they're still staying in their house though. Our house is pretty well built, so it should survive any hurricane-force winds. Mandatory evacuation doesn't mean "mandatory"; the police aren't going to come and kick you out of your house.

Best of luck in evacuating or whatever it is you're doing. Have you boarded up your house?

[Pickles]

I think they're still staying in their house though. Our house is pretty well built, so it should survive any hurricane-force winds. Mandatory evacuation doesn't mean "mandatory"; the police aren't going to come and kick you out of your house.

Best of luck in evacuating or whatever it is you're doing. Have you boarded up your house?

My husband boarded our entire house in the span of 20 minutes! Yeah for plylox and boards that he prepped before! Plus, we've got our "insurance" photos taken - pictures of everything valuable in the house in case something does happen and we hafta call insurance.

We're not sure if we're going to stay or go - we're at a high point in our neighborhood and the surrounding area, and the map you posted has us in a area with no probability of storm surge. My mom's in an area with a 10-20% chance, and she's pretty determined to stay. Silly mom.

Other random tidbits:
-I-45 northboud is a mess right now. Galveston finally changed their minds and put it mandatory for the whole island, and that coupled with the Clear Lake/League City people all trying to leave...well, it's stopped up both on the main lanes and feeder. I know cause I saw it on the way home from work about an hour ago.
-A lot of people in the Seabrook/El Lago area (right on Clear Lake) had their flood/house insurance canceled on them about 2 weeks ago because they were "too big of a risk". These people have been paying for insurance for 20-30 years, and now that they might hafta call in on it, they don't have any. That really stinks.
-After having choir rehearsal last night, our church finally decided to close after the evac orders came out, and won't be open again until after the weekend. It's a shame to cause I really liked the song we were supposed to sing Sunday morning for the anthem.
-Schools area all closed in this area already
-Some of my neighbors are going, and some are staying
-This storm will likely impact most parts of Texas, including even possibly San Antonio, where a lot of people are being evacuated to. San Antonio does not do well with large amounts of rains.
-Lines at gas stations are horrible. Glad we filled up *yesterday*. <proud of self for smart thinking>

[theonlysaneone]

I think they're still staying in their house though. Our house is pretty well built, so it should survive any hurricane-force winds. Mandatory evacuation doesn't mean "mandatory"; the police aren't going to come and kick you out of your house.

Best of luck in evacuating or whatever it is you're doing. Have you boarded up your house?

My husband boarded our entire house in the span of 20 minutes! Yeah for plylox and boards that he prepped before! Plus, we've got our "insurance" photos taken - pictures of everything valuable in the house in case something does happen and we hafta call insurance.

We're not sure if we're going to stay or go - we're at a high point in our neighborhood and the surrounding area, and the map you posted has us in a area with no probability of storm surge. My mom's in an area with a 10-20% chance, and she's pretty determined to stay. Silly mom.

Other random tidbits:
-I-45 northboud is a mess right now. Galveston finally changed their minds and put it mandatory for the whole island, and that coupled with the Clear Lake/League City people all trying to leave...well, it's stopped up both on the main lanes and feeder. I know cause I saw it on the way home from work about an hour ago.
-A lot of people in the Seabrook/El Lago area (right on Clear Lake) had their flood/house insurance canceled on them about 2 weeks ago because they were "too big of a risk". These people have been paying for insurance for 20-30 years, and now that they might hafta call in on it, they don't have any. That really stinks.
-After having choir rehearsal last night, our church finally decided to close after the evac orders came out, and won't be open again until after the weekend. It's a shame to cause I really liked the song we were supposed to sing Sunday morning for the anthem.
-Schools area all closed in this area already
-Some of my neighbors are going, and some are staying
-This storm will likely impact most parts of Texas, including even possibly San Antonio, where a lot of people are being evacuated to. San Antonio does not do well with large amounts of rains.
-Lines at gas stations are horrible. Glad we filled up *yesterday*. <proud of self for smart thinking>

The storm is going to veer up and hit us in College Station right after it hits Houston. We even get out of class tomorrow.

I know I-45 is a mess, but is it as bad as Rita? I don't know why people who live on high ground in Clear Lake are trying to evacuate (like a lot of my friends' families). Except for some of the older neighborhoods, I think the houses are going to hold up pretty well to the wind. It's the storm surge people need to worry about. League City and Seabrook definitely need to get out.

[Pickles]

The storm is going to veer up and hit us in College Station right after it hits Houston. We even get out of class tomorrow.

I know I-45 is a mess, but is it as bad as Rita? I don't know why people who live on high ground in Clear Lake are trying to evacuate (like a lot of my friends' families). Except for some of the older neighborhoods, I think the houses are going to hold up pretty well to the wind. It's the storm surge people need to worry about. League City and Seabrook definitely need to get out.

There's actually a surprising number of people who have not left yet. I-45 is nowhere near as bad as Rita - in fact, they expect it to be pretty clear by 7-8pm this evening.
We had the first "band" come over us this afternoon. It consisted of it going from being sunny and dry to suddenly a cool breeze coming in, the sky turning dark and cloudy, a little drizzle, and half an hour later it was sunny again - but humid. Woo for the most outer bands.

Most of the people in Seabrook/League City have left, from what I understand.
Grocery stores have closed, as well as a lot of the gas stations, though not all. I was quite amused to find out that not all of the restaurants have closed - my mom called me on her way back from getting gas to let me know that the "El Dorado Mexican Restaurant" was still open. So we ate dinner there - and it was reasonably full. Apparently, they're planning on being open tomorrow as well. <shrugs> Who knows?

The latest news has it as possibly not even hitting cat 3, but it is going to hit probably around Freeport.

For the record, I'm probably going to be "hunkering down" to wait it out unless something major changes before tomorrow morning around 8am.

[theonlysaneone]

Grocery stores have closed, as well as a lot of the gas stations, though not all. I was quite amused to find out that not all of the restaurants have closed - my mom called me on her way back from getting gas to let me know that the "El Dorado Mexican Restaurant" was still open. So we ate dinner there - and it was reasonably full. Apparently, they're planning on being open tomorrow as well. <shrugs> Who knows?

My sister told me the same thing! We eat there quite a bit anyway. She talked with the owner, who said he's going to make a killing being the only restaurant open in the area.

I remember after Rita, the only places open were donut shops, because of all the police who stayed in town.

The rain bands are absolutely beautiful. Be sure to sit outside and look at the clouds for a while if you don't leave.

EDIT: My family is evacuating to College Station. Apparently, the storm surge is going to be a lot higher than they originally thought.

[Pickles]

4:27 pm: Well, we're still here. Still have power. Been keeping an eye on the "wundermap" for the storm surge, which is still not touching most of my neighborhood: http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809.html
It's been a somewhat exciting day:
So far, today, I got up around 9am, and we checked in with our neighbors, most of whom are still around. We came inside and listened to the radio for a bit. My husband reorganized the garage so that my mom could bring one of their cars over, moved our car to the other side, and reinforced one of the garage doors. We found out that the storm had moved again, which was slightly worrisome, but we headed back out and stood around outside talking to the neighbors for a little while.
Probably close to noon, we came back inside and I prepped the extra water supplies (filled washing machine and tub). We showered and poked our heads back outside - still cloudy but light, and the wind gusts were starting to pick up. We helped one person finish boarding a window, and stood around and talked for a bit. It sprinkled off and on. Eventually, my mom and stepdad showed up, so we put their car in our other garage.
During this time, I received at least 6 calls from people who either wanted to know why I hadn't left or looking to see how things were going because they had already left.
Shortly after my mom and stepdad left in their second car (back to their house), we realized that there was a branch of a tree that was too close to our roof. That being said, he ended up on the roof with a neighbor's pole saw cutting the branch down. We managed to get it off the roof, cut it into smaller pieces, and get it into our garage. No ripped up shingles from that branch.
Anyways, we showered again (hadn't planned on actually working anymore) and actually cooked/ate some food. Wind gusts are up a bit, but still not much in the way of rain yet.

The neighbors that are left are expecting we'll lose power at some point, but one of them has a generator, so after the storm passes, we might congregate at his place to cool down. We're going to turn our AC way down in a bit so that the house is very cold inside - it'll stay nicer longer that way if we lose power - and we've lowered our fridge/freezer temps as well, plus turned on the dehumidifier. All "hunkered down" here!

I'll try to post an update (and possibly pictures I took from earlier) later tonight.

ETA 7:55pm: I have reason to believe our power might go out soon - we've had our first flicker. Didn't to much aside from temporarily lose internet connection - the computers didn't even reboot. Still no rain yet, but winds have gotten much stronger, and the sky is much more ominous and dark. But then, it normally gets darker around this time of the night, so...<shrugs> Storm surge map still has my neighborhood in the clear. I really wish that my mom and stepdad had come to stay here for it, cause their neighborhood is still partially in the 21-24' surge zone

Here's some random pictures of prepping, etc:
Extra water (for drinking/cooking) - everything you see there is full of water)
Our fridge is full of water
Really full of water (it helps keep the food cold, plus we can drink it)
More extra water stored in our washer
Buckets of water for toilet flushing
Bathtub of water - I am determined that if we still don't have running water, I will not stink.

Earlier outside pictures:
Sky outside earlier today, around noon
Sky/blowing trees closer to 5 pm
More trees
Sky is getting darker

Current looks outside (yeah flash on the camera):
From my porch
Dark outside
Mulberry tree bending in wind
Same tree not as blown over

If we still have power later tonight, I'll update some more. Otherwise, you'll see me back online after we get power back. Don't worry, I won't be going outside anymore, it's going too dangerous shortly.

[Regan]

If we still have power later tonight, I'll update some more. Otherwise, you'll see me back online after we get power back. Don't worry, I won't be going outside anymore, it's going too dangerous shortly.

Wow, I love how calm you are

Good luck and be safe everyone!

[Katherine]

If we still have power later tonight, I'll update some more. Otherwise, you'll see me back online after we get power back. Don't worry, I won't be going outside anymore, it's going too dangerous shortly.

Wow, I love how calm you are

Good luck and be safe everyone!

As my friends and I would say, "Safety first!"

[Pickles]

9:49PM: Well, surprisingly, we still have power. The winds are definitely picking up even more, but there's not been any major rain, still. At least, none that I can hear - normally we can hear it when it starts raining. Can't exactly look without going outside, which I'm still not doing.

Wow, I love how calm you are

If I wasn't calm, you'd see me majorly panicking.
My husband is actually taking a nap so that at least one of us can be awake if the other needs to sleep - that way if soemthing major does happen, we can deal with it. Before he went to sleep, though, he set his computer up to stream from Channel 2 so I can watch the news. Apparently 350,000 people are without power. I'm in one of the mandatory evac zones...and I still have power. So confused on that fact. Ah well.
Admittedly, since I have power and internet, I've been sitting around playing Neopets and chatting on AIM. I figure that I might not have it later, so might'swell use the time that I have, since there's really not much else to do. I'm saving reading books, etc, for when we lose power and we can use our hand-crank-powered light to read from.

ETA 10:25PM: power blip one just happened. Thought that was it, but it all turned back on.
Winds have seriously picked up at this point. Still haven't heard a ton in the way of rain, though. Also, the eyewall appears to have picked up a bunch of dry air, and might be collapsing again - there's a huge dry spot connected to it.

ETA 11:23PM: have had a few power blips now. Some are enough to turn the AC/computers off - some are just flickering the lights. Just made some burritos in the microwave and woke my husband up. Figured we should eat something hot while we still could. Winds have been quite strong, can hear the trees blowing fairly regularly.

[Rachel]

Pickles, you're silly! One minute you're talking about worrying about flooding, and the next about stashing water

[averly]

I just got a quick phone call from Pickles just now wanting me to post up real quick that she's fine, but she's one of 3 million people without electricity in the area. I've been hearing on the news that electricity will not be restored until at the earliest on Monday, so it's going to be awhile before she'll be back on PPT. Hopefully she has something for the withdrawl symptoms.

She reports that there was no major damage (all her windows made it and no water damage), but tree limbs are all over the place and other such debris so there's quite a bit of cleaning to do. They have very little water pressure, but as you can see, she's set on water at the moment.

She's already got some post-hurricane pictures prepared that I'm sure you'll get to see when her electricity is restored.

[theonlysaneone]

That means my house is without power too. The damage wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been in my area, but some low-lying areas like Seabrook and Kemah weren't so lucky.

I'm glad to hear Pickles is fine. My family is doing great up here too; they're probably going back in the morning.