Stuck in Houston. Gotta question?

[Mugsy]

I'm stocked up and ready to ride out the storm from Houston's West side.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Please.. please leave? Maybe someone can come down and get you?

[Mugsy]

5. Not possible.

The traffic has reached the point of "too late". It was stand-still on Wednesday and has only worsened since.

I'm not in a flood prone area, so my biggest concer is water and electricity.

I have plenty of water and some charged computer backup power supplies to run a TV and/or fan.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. You do know these winds can drive things through walls and rip

off roofs, right? :(

[Mugsy]

9. Yes, but even 100mi inland.

My initial evacuation destination was nearly 100miles inland, and they will still see hurricane force winds that far north.

I'd rather be home, well supplied, but with no power, than in a strange place, with only what I brought with me, with no power.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Jesus, just GO.

My initial evacuation destination was nearly 100miles inland, and they will still see hurricane force winds that far north.

That may be true, but it'll be nowhere near as bad as in Houston.

[progressivebydesign]

21. It's not N.O. FLoods are NOT your biggest problem.

There must be some way to evacuate still.. is there no one you know that could get you out of town? Please don't confuse the flooding of N.O. with the worst of what a hurricane brings. The winds are the biggest issue.

I'm not trying to frighten you, but hopefully trying to alarm you enough to find some way out of there or into some sort of real shelter. Please keep trying to get out..

[Tomee450]

28. My relatives are in the

same boat. They tried to leave Houston but could get no where. The traffic was bumper to bumper. They managed to get off the road and return to Houston. Some people have been on the road so long that they have run out of gas and are just sitting along the highway. This evacuation may turn out to be disastrous. A lot of people will not be able to get out.

[newspeak]

35. the highways blocked

there should have been away to do major traffic control and open both sides of the freeways, with only one lane used to get into the city. With enough traffic personnel they could have controlled traffic to the other side then merged out of the city at different points. Couldn't something like that help the traffic flow? I'm no highway engineer, but it does seem plausible.

[VolcanoJen]

36. Stay up high, hang on, and we're thinking about you!!

I wouldn't risk trying to get out at this point, either.

Have you seen those photos of the "contraflow" in Houston? Whatever. Pretty pathetic evacuation process.

I think you'll be ok... do you have water, a manual can opener, and enough food for 3-5 days or so?

[Fleshdancer]

2. is there any possible way for you to get out?

I don't like the idea of you staying. :(

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bicentennial_baby]

4. that's fucking uncalled for

did you miss the word "stuck"? :eyes:

[Squatch]

8. "too late"?

And the OP also said that it's reached the point of too late. Why is that? People knew this storm was going to be a doozy days ago.

[CascadeTide]

14. really only the last 24 hours has it strengthened

and nobody really knows where it's going to go. Houston has 5 million people in the area, that's about 70,000 people you have to move every hour for 3 days to get them evacuated. That's a lot of people in a short amount of time...

[dogday]

29. Then there is the matter

of everyone at one time going to the same place. You ought to see it. People's cars on the side of the road have run out of gas, have over-heated. People are getting over-heated. Back to Back not moving. One man said it took him 13 hours to take a trip that normally took 30 minutes.

[Paladin]

19. What People Didn't Realize.......

....was how effective the evacuation of the Houston area was going to be. There are estimated to be more than a million people trying to get out right now; what were 4-hour trips to Dallas or San Antonio are now all-day treks; the highways are like parking lots. Gas has run out, and it's rumored that the only place in the state with hotel space is El Paso.

But I guess you probably predicted that all this would happen, now didn't you? Those of us in Rita's path really appreciate your smug attitude. Is it because we're Texans? Given some of the drivel I've seen in DU the last couple of days, it wouldn't surprise me.....

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Squatch]

26. What, in that message, pray tell, warranted its deletion?

[npincus]

13. Not nice

[intheflow]

7. What's your house made of?

And is it a multi-level?

[Mugsy]

12. Apartment. First floor.

I'm on the first floor of a two-story apartment complex.

[faithnotgreed]

30. do you know your upstairs neighbors and is anyone else still in the bldg

[peekaloo]

10. Are they opening up any shelters?

What about the ex-Compaq Center? (ooohhh shades of Super Dome).

I used to live on the West Side and it flooded rather easily.

Stay safe.

[LynzM]

11. I hope you have a basement to hide out in

Please stay as safe as possible, if you cannot possibly leave :hug:

[Gruenemann]

18. Basements pretty much unheard of

in that part of the world.

[progressivebydesign]

23. I thought of the basement thing, but remembered flooding.

That might not be wise after all.

[Zynx]

37. A hallway in an upper floor is better, yeah.

[cfield]

16. Our thoughts are with you

Be safe and keep us updated as long as you are able!

[Mizmoon]

17. west side seems okay to me

isn't that pretty far from the coast? Sugarland is at more risk than you are, right? I'm going on shakey Texas geography here ...

[Zynx]

22. You should be out of range of the worst of the surge. Houston is huge.

Board up windows and ride out storm as far away from the exterior of the building as you can get.

[dogday]

24. We are also on the west-side of Houston

there is nowhere to go right now, traffic is not moving, people are getting out of their cars and going to the walmart and coming back. Oil Trucks can't get into the city because of traffic, nobody can get out of the city cause of traffic.

A lot of people are staying. We are on the second floor of a two story brick building. If we go, it will be tomorrow. If not we have our water and food for a week and will hunker down. We live right off I-10 so our power will be fixed pretty fast if it goes out.

[bear425]

25. I wish you would leave, but if you don't -

please stay safe and inside the most interior room in your apartment. If you can, stay inside a bathroom with a mattress to put over you for protection from flying debris. I'm not kidding. I am trying to scare you into leaving.

Whatever you decide, I'm going to think good thoughts for you.

Please let us know as soon as you can after the storm passes that you're ok. :hug:

[dogday]

27. You can get in your car and get on the highway

but you are going to sit for hours upon hours. It took a man 13 hours to go thirty miles. From Clear Lake to 290 in Houston. The traffic is pretty bad, people are saying forget this and dropping out, running out of gas, cars are overheating.. A big mess....

[bear425]

32. I understand. Living in South Florida, we have the same problem.

So, the best thing to do is stock up, board up and stay in the most interior room. Good luck all; my thoughts are with you!

[KharmaTrain]

31. Now How Can Busses Get Around Or Out

As I'm watching the congested traffic out of Houston...and what appears to be a poorly planned evacuation plan...how would this picture look with several hundred busses added to the exodus?

Also, aren't there any side roads...state highways or other back roads that can get you away from the city?

[Eurobabe]

33. Damn, I went through Alicia in Clear Lake in '83

it was the scariest shit I ever experienced. 90mph sustained winds, tornadoes all night long. We had no basement either, I would get on ground level and stay someplace in a northwest room board up the windows or put mattresses against anything glass.

Our neighbor's tool shed slammed into our bedroom on the south side of the brick house we were renting, thank stars we weren't staying in that room!! All the windows shattered.

No power, no water for days. We left to come back East for a job transfer that very week, weird timing. Godspeed mugsy!

[Samurai_Writer]

34. My family left Sugar Land at 10 pm last night...

it took them 12 hours to get to Texarkana (usually a 5 hour drive). They finally found a hotel room in Little Rock, AR. There were NONE to be found in all of Texas -- my sister and I searched on the internet and the phone for hours last night. You can read my rant post here -- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=20580&mesg_id=20580

Good luck and stay safe!