Becca’s Cyber Home

Wow. Today seems so anticlimactic. I heard a newscaster say, “we didn’t just dodge a bullet: we dodged an artillery shell.”

We could see Rita coming around 5 or 6 pm on Friday. A breeze was blowing and we could see clouds moving in from the south and east. Then, about 9 or 10, the wind started picking up and it was spitting rain. At 1:30 am, Rita started to really make herself known. The wind started to howl and it started raining. At 2:30 am, our power went out in a resounding snap. After that, it was pitch darkness puncuated by house-shaking and window-rattling winds. That lasted until about 7 am, then it died down almost as quickly as it started. No rain today, but lots of clouds and gusty winds. Our power was back on by 7 pm.

I’m a little flabbergasted. Part of me wonders if it would be easier to absorb if Rita had hit us head-on and we had pushed through a bigger event. All of the preparation and worry resulted in nothing more than a sleepless night and hot day (with no A/C!). East Texas bore the brunt of the storm, so I know it was a much bigger deal there. And don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful! Looks like our house is completely undamaged (aside from a few fencing boards that came loose). Now the recovery for us will be waiting for gas to arrive in the region. There’s no gas for a hundred miles, at least. And, of course, there are an estimated 3 million people waiting to get back to the Texas and Louisiana Gulf areas that were evacuated. So it will take a while for Houston to return to normal. Tomorrow, Nathan and I will begin putting all of our patio furniture back out, replacing items inside that were close to windows, and rehanging things on the walls. And, of course, emptying our refrigerator of everything that spoiled during almost 17 hours without electricity. All in all, not bad.

In the meantime, we’ll just be thankful we’re unscathed, boil our water, and stay home to conserve gas. There’s nothing else to do.

Tomball population Tuesday, September 20: 10,000
Tomball population Thursday, September 22: 500,000+

All of our roads are completely unpassable. It is taking over 2 hours to move 5 miles or less. My father has been stuck in traffic for 2 hours without an air conditioner (in 100 degrees!), and will likely be stuck there for another 2 hours. If his car dies, I don’t know if I can get to him, and that terrifies me.

State highway 249 has been a parking lot since 3 pm yesterday afternoon.

Traffic at SH 249 and Hardin Store. We never had traffic jams this far north.

Overheated cars pulled off into a strip mall parking lot.

There is so little movement in the traffic, people are walking their dogs on the side of the road.

A clever tent in the back of a pick-up truck–notice the gas trucks in the background. Hopefully they’ll get where they need to be!

There are two houses being built across the street from me. Aside from the miscellaneous debris from construction sites, there’s also a porta-potty. In the last 45 minutes, I’ve seen 2 cars drive by, spot the potty, and stop and use it. Those poor folks. I’d have to be awfully desperate to stop and use a construction site porta-potty! I don’t mean to make fun, but humor is my defense mechanism I suppose.