Ike
Friday September 12, 2008
Categories: Ah, Texas
Here in Dallas, which is five hours by car from the Texas coast, the wind is starting to pick up. The freeways are jammed, presumably with Ike evacuees. I'm hearing that many, many people who should have evacuated have not....
Filed Under: Hurricane Ike, Texas
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Stay safe.
The word on the TV news is that while this one is a Category 2 or 3 in terms of wind, it's a Category 4 or 5 in terms of storm surge, for oceanic weather reasons I don't pretend to understand. Likely serious damage to Galveston, even with its seawall, as well as other areas right on the coast. Quiet in my (very inland) part of Houston right now, but sure to get plenty noisy later, I'm sure.
I have an aunt and three cousins (with families) who live in the Houston area and none of them have evacuated. I think people are ignoring the size of Ike and only focusing on the Cat 2 rating thinking, "It's only a Cat 2!" Right now, the weather guys are hopping map because they can't get people to take this storm seriously. God have mercy on them!
C.M.W., to be fair, the recommendations from all the public safety officials has been that if you aren't in a mandatory or voluntary evacuation zone (and those zones are very well-defined), you should shelter in place, unless there are major concerns regarding harms from loss of electricity or dangers unique to your area (like if you have a very large rickety tree pointed toward the middle of your house).
During the Rita evacuation, a lot of people got hurt or killed, many of whom did not need to evacuate, like people from the western or northern suburbs of Houston. While there may be some people underestimating this because it's a Category 2 or 3, I think those are the exceptions, not the rule. The city pretty much shut down yesterday for people to evacuate or hunker down. I live pretty far inland in sturdy (I hope) brick home, so I'm staying, as are most of my neighbors. People in Galveston or the coastal communities, on the other hand, need to get out of there.
I put a prayer request up on my blog earlier today. I'm on the Alabama Gulf Coast and Ike passed several hundred miles south of us over the past day or two. Even at this distance we've had tides several feet above normal and resultant flooding in low-lying areas. E.g. the causeway over Mobile Bay is closed right now due to flooding.
Hey Rod,
I'll pray for you and your family, along with everyone further south along the coast. In '05 our city (Calgary), along with cities around the continent, sent many volunteers to help in Louisiana. If things go badly, I know we will again.
Keep safe.
Amen.
Keeping the people affected by this in our prayers--it looks bad.
Please pray for these folks:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,421742,00.html
Lord forgive our foolishness and have mercy on us.
A lot of people in Galveston in particular have not left -- maybe 20,000 - 25,000 people. Some will be in concrete structures more than 2 storeys tall and will be safe. It's extremely dangerous for everyone else there. Please pray that the storm center will wobble north here at the last minute and come ashore on the Bolivar Peninsula. If it wobbles west and comes ashore at San Luis Pass, much of Galveston Island will likely be scraped clean.
My elderly parents are in a solid old brick house in a part of Houston that won't flood -- but there are a few big old oak trees that could come down on the house.
I'll be keeping everyone in the area in my prayers, too.
Some people in 2-story concrete structures died in Hurricane Camille, because the whole structure was wiped off its foundations. Maybe the Galveston seawall will lessen the impact enough to keep that from happening. Some of the Camille casualties were having hurricane parties. There's another story on Fox now about some people at a bar in Galveston doing the same thing. I hope it's on the higher end of the area.
On the way home from work, Kai Ryssdal on Marketplace was quoting some expert, saying that Ike will probably cause around $50 billion in damage; in comparison, Katrina was roughly $40 billion. This is gonna be a bad one, folks. At least Galveston has some warning this time, though.
actually, part of the reason is because of Rota fatigue. As I mention in more detail at my blog, I was in the evacuation from Hurricane Rita 4 years ago and that was a massive screwup. Then, Rita was deflected by the hand of God at the last minute and there was only minimal damage. Many people in th eHouston area vowed never to go through that again, and having gone through it myself, I really understand the sentiment - my home in Galveston county lost only two shingles from Rita, we spent a brutal afternoon boarding the house and then a 9 hour drive just to reach Katy (northwest Houston, 60 miles away). Then we had gas, milk, eggs shortages galore for a week to boot.
Rita looms large in everyone's memory. Thats why people arent taking this storm seriously. But I've been telling anyone who'd listen that its more analogous to TS Allison than H Rita - and Allison hit Houston with billions of dollars in flooding damage.
My family and I will pray for those people.
Lord, preserve them and keep Your Elements from hurting them too much.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
But I've been telling anyone who'd listen that its more analogous to TS Allison than H Rita -
My sister was in school at Baylor Med then and lived in an apartment near the Med Center which had a raised carport so that she was parking about four feet above the street. She had water up on her hubcaps. If this storm is that bad, God help them.
Is there a patron saint of storms, or will St. Jude hafta do?
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