<< "SHE WAS CALLED MARGO KINGSTON" ~ MAIN ~ PARADE INCLUDES FIREWORKS >>
RITA HITS
An early ABC report:
Rita made landfall early Saturday as a Category 3 storm just east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana line, more than 275 miles from New Orleans. Despite the flooding in New Orleans, meteorologists said the gravest concern was in southwestern Louisiana communities, particularly the port city of Lake Charles.
“I know we’re all concerned about New Orleans, but I’m more focused on these other communities right now,” said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “That’s where people are going to die.”
Lake Charles was a virtual ghost town, its residents among up to 500,000 people in southwestern Louisiana who headed north. The hurricane center had no information about conditions in Lake Charles at landfall.
“Those sensors went down” hours earlier, meteorologist Dave Roberts said. In New Orleans, water poured through gaps in the Industrial Canal levee, which engineers had tried to repair after Katrina’s floodwaters left 80 percent of the city under water. The rushing water spilled east into St. Bernard Parish, where ducks swam down Judge Perez Drive.
Those ducks are faring better than poor Mayor Noggin, now trapped on the last short bus out of New Orleans. Once he escapes and finds another job, he can tell his story to the world. For further Rita info, Instapundit points to the WSJ and Houston’s Bill Dyer.
UPDATE. Kathy from Austin, God bless her, writes:
My city of about 1MM has swelled to about 1.3MM. It is really putting a strain on our resources. But hey, what can you do? It could be us for some other reason. What you do is open your arms and welcome them to Austin.
While I’m not a big fan of our Governor, Rick Perry and team have done an outstanding job of handling the evacuation and preperation for Rita (vis a vis a “boo-hooing” Gov.
BlankBlanco). Contrast his take charge attitude, with specific instructions and preparedness with the Louisiana losers. Granted, we thus far have not had the level of flooding that N.O. did, but I think most Texans know that if we did, we would have been O.K. While the idiotic Mayor Nagin screams profanity laced tirades, Texans calmly evacuated over 2.5MM people. Sure there were issues with traffic and gas. We will calmly discuss those matters after this is said and done. I can assure you, unlike Louisiana, that our discussions will be rational and focused on results, not blame and finger pointing. That is who we are here. You will note that the looters who were stupid enough to come out WERE ARRESTED in Houston. Not appeased. Also, we moved our prisoners before the storm. We did not realease them, like they did in New Orleans. I’m not dissing the citizens of New Orleans, who are victims here, but city and state officials which are inept and deranged.On another note, Austin (app 250 miles NW of Houston) is just bursting at the seams. We were already filled to the brim with evacuees from Katrina and now all the Texas evacuees. Traffic is awful and there is not a bottle of water to be had in this town. Many local schools are shut down, possibly until mid next week because they are being used as shelters. My city of about 1MM has swelled to about 1.3MM. It is really putting a strain on our resources. But hey, what can you do? It could be us for some other reason. What you do is open your arms and welcome them to Austin.
Posted by Kathy from Austin on 2005 09 24 at 02:57 PM • permalinkKathy—Maybe you can use those displaced, hungry, cranky, traffic-maddened hordes to kick some avademic ass on the Humanities and Poli-Sci departments while they’re up there.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 24 at 03:59 PM • permalinkKathy - my Dad was from San Antonio.
I had no doubt Texas would do it bigger and better. ;-p
Y’all stay safe - I’m going to make another donation to the Salvation Army next week (don’t want their religion, but agree they do GREAT relief work), and double the donation to the Red Cross that I’m giving through my place of business (usually the partners match employee donations, so it’s better to give through them). Hope it helps in some small way.
I’ve also decided that, with a couple of exceptions (which will still be cut in half), I’m going to lay off blog tips for a while and donate that money to hurricane relief instead. Maybe thru Mercy Corps, Samaritan’s Purse, Soldiers’ Angels, or more to the Sallies. (Sorry, bloggers.)
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2005 09 24 at 04:46 PM • permalinkI’ve been working overtime and throwing that little bit of extra $$$ at the Gulf. My company matches donations, so my little bit helps twice. While I don’t necessarily think that Louisiana would do the same for me & mine, I dang sure think Texas would. God bless Texas.
And hey, even if Louisiana wouldn’t work overtime for me (or anybody else) they’d buy a round of drinks if they could win the pot in a game of Bouray. Everybody knows that’s pretty much the same thing.Richard,
You are so right. Those idiots (Jensen, Palmiro—sp?) are socialist nuts. I have written brutal letters to the Austin American Statesman urging them to “fact check” these weirdos to no avail. They print my letter and then, golly gee, run yet another column by them. It is presented in our local rag as a sermon delivered from the mount. Sheesh.
As it relates to donations (Thank you so much!!), last week my daughter (8) and her friend sold Mardi Gras beeds to raise money for Katrina evacuees. Trust me when I tell you that it is hard giving away cash. I tried to get her to let me write a check to cover the cash but Nooooooo! She didn’t earn a CHECK. She earned CASH. So off we go to the Salvation Army which is in, shall we say, not such a great part of town (my husband and I had already made a donation to the Red Cross and another local shelter). So here we are, going into the belly with our Ziploc bag with note (beautiful rainbow, heart picture and love, kisses message) and $36. My daughter was petrified. We had a great conversation about race and destruction, and our responsibility to each other.
Thank you, Aussies! You guys totally rock!
Posted by Kathy from Austin on 2005 09 24 at 07:03 PM • permalinkWell done Kathy, and well done to your daughter. Kudos to all of you in Austin for taking in so many people in need.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2005 09 24 at 07:22 PM • permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Houston Galleria area resident: gusty winds, light rainfall, and no damage. Pretty interesting to stay awake through.
The wife and I live in an area of Houston that was not recommended to evacuate. We didn’t add to the congestion of people trying to leave. I’m just tired of the scenes from Thursday’s congestion being played over and the stupid weather people standing outside with their ball caps constantly being blown off. The highways were clear by the time the storm hit and besides the tragic bus accident was without a serious incident. The Texas effort successfully moved out 4 to 5 times as many people as Katrina in New Orleans. Will the same people who blamed Bush for the mistakes the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana made give him credit for this lifesaving effort? I doubt it. But Bush, unlike Clinton, doesn’t take credit for successful efforts. Most Texans will tell you what they can do and appreciate any extra help.
Like my experiences in the Navy, a million dollars worth of experience, 2 million dollars to make me go through it again.