Hurricane Rita T-0day!

10:11am
Electricity is back!!
Slept late last night but the storm woke us up at about 2:30am. We moved to the mattress fortress to avoid possible broken window glass. The kids really enjoy the mattress fortress. We were really lucky to avoid the eye. In fact being on the clean side of the storm, we have avoided a lot of problems, such as flooding and tornados.

There are numerous debris on the ground, mostly vegetation. A few shingles but I did not see any broken glass. The neighbourhood seems to work hard to clean up all the potential object that would be carried by the wind from their yard.

The wind is still strong out there but no where near and wee hours of the morning. Most importantly we were spared by the force of nature. Hurricane Rita's eye missed us, but she set her force onto other communities.

I shall see what I can do to help when the storm subside. I do have a lot of non-perishable food in stock. The only problem is that Rita will turn into a tropical storm and linger for another 5 days or so. That spells heavy flooding and endangerment of lives.

00:42am
This is it.

This is the day of landfall.
A portrait of her nearing Lake Charles area.

So far, we are quite sure that Houston has been spared. We will be getting about 75 mph wind maximum, when Hurricane Rita landfall in about one hour time.
Meaning we will get some shingles flying away from our roofs and most probably land on our neighbours' windows. No major structural damage is expected though.

We might lost water and electricity, but according to the various mayors, it will not be more than 5 days. I hope my baby will not be too fussy during these days without AC in Texas summer.

A curfews had been issued at various part of H-town and vacinity. Looks like it should be relatively peeaceful since there's National Guards deployed sparingly around the city.

The wind is blowing fiercely at times and rocks the windows at times and take a break or two the next... the cycle seems to repeat itself. It's like the worst thunderstorm, but without lighting. I was surprised by the "without lighting" part.

I am getting tired... so tired... need to get some zleep...

Oh! thanks for the notes, BLB, whoever you are.

It's wonderful to get a few phone calls from friends that I have not talked to in years. Mostly from Oklahoma and one from D-town. They must be wizards to find my current phone number.

I will be sleeping under a couch tonight... no seriously... really...

My thoughts goes to all the folks at Port Arthur, Lake Charles and Galveston. Be safe.

Well, before I lost my electricity... good night/morning.