RITA HAS GONE

Rita is gone.  Or is she?  She has left behind a MESS.  I have not heard for sure how our place came through all the wind and rain, but have heard from several people about their problems and observations.

First, to Baton Rouge.  They had power outages, and wind and rain.  There were tornado warnings, and some scary times for people who just went through all that with Katrina. This has been such an active year for hurricanes, and it seems more have landed (3) than any years I can remember.  Maybe we won’t be the target for a few years.

I am amazed at the destruction in Beaumont.  I knew it might flood, but what a mess.  Port Arthur is a mess.  A family member was to have a reunion there next week.  I think that is going to be called off…but maybe if they reschedule it, a lot more classmates will come, just to see how their city is doing.  Our friends in Lake Jackson, TX  left, and are already back home.  They said they traveled the back roads, and stayed off the main highways.

Wasn’t that a horror sight, seeing all the cars leaving Houston area?  Ohmigosh…they said it was horrible!  Of course it was.  Going 2 miles in 8 hours.  I think a bicycle could have made it quicker.  At least everyone went to safer parts of Texas, and that was good. Our friends at the Beach came to Austin, to be with family.  They had a longer trip than usual, but luckily, they were ahead of the snail paced evacuation that came later.

I think we learned a lot from the first storm.  Texas did a good job of getting help to people, and getting things done.  There are probably those that will complain about what went on, but all in all, things were done better this second time around, and God forbid, if there is a third time, it will go even better.

To all of those who have suffered from these storms, our prayers and wishes go to you.  Let’s all be happy that most of the people will live to fight another day!  

We will probably head to the beach next weekend to see what happened down our way.