Freaking Out in Houston

Things are getting pretty weird down here people. Every gas station I've been to has been sold out of gas (except diesel...God I love my Excursion). The shelves are bare in all the grocery stores. Schools citywide are already closed, or will be closing this afternoon. There's a line two blocks long to fill up your propane tank. No telling what it's like at the liquor store...I'm heading there now. I'm 90 miles north of the coast, and my neighborhood looks like that scene in Independence Day...all of my neighbors have already boarded up their windows and are throwing their stuff in the car and heading out. We're still 60 hours from this thing hitting...wonder what it's gonna be like by Friday.

El Pistolero said:

Things are getting pretty weird down here people. Every gas station I've been to has been sold out of gas (except diesel...God I love my Excursion). The shelves are bare in all the grocery stores. Schools citywide are already closed, or will be closing this afternoon. There's a line two blocks long to fill up your propane tank. No telling what it's like at the liquor store...I'm heading there now. I'm 90 miles north of the coast, and my neighborhood looks like that scene in Independence Day...all of my neighbors have already boarded up their windows and are throwing their stuff in the car and heading out. We're still 60 hours from this thing hitting...wonder what it's gonna be like by Friday.

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You sticking around? Not to make light of the situation, but got yourself enough homebrew?

Fun times.... :|

I remember going through all of that last year. 3 times.

Unfortunately, these things bring out the bad in a lot of people.. I remember people fighting over propane and ice last year.
On a good note, I met most of my neighbors and discovered they're all pretty nice people. Nothing brings people together like sawing through fallen trees.

Shmohel said:

You sticking around? Not to make light of the situation, but got yourself enough homebrew?

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No homebrew at all...poor planning has left me with nothing but 5 gals in the primary. I do have at least a weeks worth of store brew in the fridge tho, including a barleywine that should go well with the eye.

And lest anyone think I'm taking the situation lightly...I'm sending the wife and kids north. But me and the dog are gonna have to wait it out I think, at least until it looks like the eye is gonna pass right over us...then we'll skidaddle (note to self...don't drink barleywine till you know where Rita's headed ).

Eskram said:

Unfortunately, these things bring out the bad in a lot of people.. I remember people fighting over propane and ice last year.
On a good note, I met most of my neighbors and discovered they're all pretty nice people. Nothing brings people together like sawing through fallen trees.

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They're fighting over ice and propane already! Not to mention some little old lady offered to kick my butt over the last banana in the grocery store.

Eskram said:

Nothing brings people together like sawing through fallen trees.

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I suspect I'll be enjoying that pleasure this weekend...I just hope I'm not enjoying it while sitting in my living room.

It's amazing that we can go from a civilized society to one where Granny is going to kick your ass, in just a few days...

Chain saws are fun and all, but let's just hope this ***** takes a last-minute turn for Mexico. :|

Holy Hannah! Rita is now the third strongest atlantic hurricane on record!

I may not have enough beer after all.

EL P. , if you wait to see where its going to hit and that looks like friday. You are going to be stalled on the highway with everyone else waiting to see where its going to hit. Pack your chit and get the hell out now. I mean it Man, the roads are going to be thick with panicing people trying to get out at the last minute. There isn't anything that important. There is a good chance you might not get out.

Quite frankly I don't know if I'd buck and leave either El. I got to look at a map but when you say 90 miles north; that is 90 from the gulf/water? Could get rough but your in a ways. Never had that decision to make. Keep us updated on your decision. Oh, you got the diesel Excursion, are roads really necessary anyway if you do decide to skeedaddle?

I hear ya, but it seems as tho it may be too late to get out already. The wife left south Houston at 3:00pm for the normally 45 minute drive up here...she may get here by midnight if things go well.

Can you imagine...there are probably 2 million people heading north from here right now! That is a lot of people on the road.

Hey Airforce weather dudes, got any advise for El Pistolero?

desertBrew said:

Oh, you got the diesel Excursion, are roads really necessary anyway if you do decide to skeedaddle?

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Hadn't thought about that, but you're right...if I need to just head across country I can.

desertBrew said:

Quite frankly I don't know if I'd buck and leave either El. I got to look at a map but when you say 90 miles north; that is 90 from the gulf/water? Could get rough but your in a ways.

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Yeah, I'm 90 miles from Galveston, but if the meter maid comes up thru Galveston Bay, then it's possible the eye could be only 30 miles from me when it hits land...but that's a pretty far-fetched scenario, and as big as this sucker is she's gonna start dying out as the eye approaches the coast (Sam and Orrelse, please correct me if I'm wrong on this). Most likely scenario now puts her 100 miles down the coast, which will still leave us with some significant winds (75 knots or so), and a few feet of rain, but nothing we haven't seen before. Probably the biggest casualty is going to end up being the destruction of Matagorda Bay...one of my all time favorite fishing holes.

Hey Pistolero, good luck down there man. Will be watching that sucker and thinking about you. Can't believe your poor planning though. I'll down a homebrew(or 2) for you the next couple of days. If it looks bad don't wait too long to get out.

www.skeetobiteweather.com is a pretty cool lsite. I like their maps.

El Pistolero said:

, and as big as this sucker is she's gonna start dying out as the eye approaches the coast (Sam and Orrelse, please correct me if I'm wrong on this). Most likely scenario now puts her 100 miles down the coast, which will still leave us with some significant winds (75 knots or so), and a few feet of rain, but nothing we haven't seen before. Probably the biggest casualty is going to end up being the destruction of Matagorda Bay...one of my all time favorite fishing holes.

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We aren't allowed to do public forecasts so stop asking.







J/K.....

The latest graphic is here.



Typically we don't go against this forecast and I'm not going to start now.

Honestly, I'd get out. This has potential to be a Cat II storm (96-110 mph) quite a ways inland so damage could be extremely widespread. I'd recommend doing what you can in the next few days as far as moving valuables to a safe (and high) place and boarding up windows at least. I don't know your exact location but this one isn't going to be a storm to mess with. We will all have a better idea of what the strength of this thing when it hits land will be by tomorrow evening.

If you are sticking with your original plan of staying home--reconsider, IMHO.

And technically you are somewhat right--it will start weakening the closer it gets to land, and once it hits land it will weaken significantly. But if it hits land at a Cat III like they are saying it might, you are still looking at Cat II 100 miles inland. That's not cool.

Follow your wife, man. Think about how you'd feel if she insisted that you leave and take the kids with her. Think about what just happened.

This is how I know it's bad: when I logged onto the internet tonight, my ISP forced a pop-up telling everyone in the Houston area, including all employees, to leave ASAP. I've never seen an ISP be so bold as to make an announcement to its entire service area. It also mentioned how they have a huge hub there, so EVERYONE on their network may lose their internet connection.

There's absolutely nothing that you own, that you can't take with you, that's worth what could happen. Pack up the dog, grandma's jewelry, "Beauty and the Donkey" DVD, cash, Picasso's, your really cool Trixter t-shirt collection, photos and hit the road jack.

ORRELSE said:

The latest graphic is here.
<huge freaking graph>

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C'mon, that graph is smarter than the lot of us. You can't argue with the graph.

Hey man, keep us posted.

If you have any damage, or need anything, PLEASE don't be afraid to let us know. We are beer drinkin'/making brothers. We'll take care of you. I'd send you some chocolate stout right now if I thought UPS would make it there.

Good luck - you'll be in our prayers.

gibfried said:

Hey man, keep us posted.

If you have any damage, or need anything, PLEASE don't be afraid to let us know. We are beer drinkin'/making brothers. We'll take care of you. I'd send you some chocolate stout right now if I thought UPS would make it there.

Good luck - you'll be in our prayers.

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Better drive by the strip club to make sure those poor, overworked girls know that they need to leave. Be a nice guy and offer them a ride. Strippers are nature's most mis-understood specimins. Best yet, let her know that you have a lovely wife who would more than welcome her into your home, but she might need to work on her at first.

Cheesefood said:

Better drive by the strip club to make sure those poor, overworked girls know that they need to leave. Be a nice guy and offer them a ride. Strippers are nature's most mis-understood specimins. Best yet, let her know that you have a lovely wife who would more than welcome her into your home, but she might need to work on her at first.

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They were evacuating the strippers in private helicopters yesterday afternoon...taking em all to the various sugar daddy shelters in Austin and San Antonio. They tried to send some to Dallas also, but the Cowboys already have all they can handle.

The current forecast track has it going to the north of Galveston and Houston. This is a better scenario than last night's, posted by ORRELSE, which had it going to your south.

With you being 90 miles inland, I wouldn't be too worried about flooding, unless you live in a bowl that's prone to flooding under a heavy rain. Winds with this system are another matter. On the 24th, when the storm will be closest to you (approx 8AM-8PM), the winds are forecast to be gusting to 120-150 knots. Of course you'll be a little ways from the center, so your winds shouldn't get that high. Still there will be damage.

If I saw a window of opportunity, I think I'd probably bail, but I wouldn't be terrified if I had to ride it out where you are.

Please keep in mind that this is just personal conjecture on my part!

Oh yeah....I've been thinking of this thing as "Meter Maid," too.

Sam75 said:

Oh yeah....I've been thinking of this thing as "Meter Maid," too.

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I don't know how many people are going to be calling her Lovely Rita when this thing is all said and done...

Hey El P. Try to get some pictures of the stuff flying around. I've always wanted to see what you are about to go through, in person. But, Maybe that is not such a good idea. Hope you have a bunker for your excursion.
Good luck

El P, if you really insist on staying, see if you can get a job with the weather channel. Those guys seem to like to hang out in these storms.

He's gone quiet which is a good thing. The wife probably started beating on him with his racking cane to get the hell out of there.

desertBrew said:

He's gone quiet which is a good thing. The wife probably started beating on him with his racking cane to get the hell out of there.

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No, I may have to beat her to get her out of here...the prospect of a 16 hour drive with two young kids somehow doesn't appeal to her. I just heard some guy on the radio say he had left Clear Lake (15 miles south of Houston) at midnight, and by two pm he wasn't out of houston yet...14 hours to go 40 miles! Oh well, they just (finally) closed all the south bound roads into Houston in order to divert north bound traffic on to them, so maybe things will ease up within the next few hours. In the meantime, Rita seems to be wanting to go further east...if my bookie hadn't already left town I think I'd be playing the long shot and bettin she doubles back on herself.

Hey El.P, you're a braver man than me sticking around! Listen to the (weather) experts and make like a shepherd (get the flock outta there)!

Someone over the dirty pond that cooked her up is keeping their fingers crossed for you dude.

EL. P. If you need a place to go my home is open to ya Man. Got 2 spare bedrooms and a fenced back yard for the pooch. Let me know and I'l give ya a phone # and an address.

Got Beer Too!

Thanks for the offer...that would certainly be my first choice. Unfortunately, I've got family up in OK, and they'd be eternally offended if I didn't spend this disaster with them.

Just checkin ..wanted to make sure you had some place to go. Cat 4 hurricane..Oklahoma....family.. hummmmmm, that's a tough one.

Here's hoping DeRoux has headed northward already...latest forecasts have Rita taking dead aim on his beer.

El P.- Don't forget the fact that Bro. Sudster has homebrew at his house. Tell the relatives that you went to stay with a sick ( and he is sick) friend. Last I heard, the winds were around 170 mph. That was this morning. I've seen 98 mph in some of the hurricanes we've gotten here. I can't imagine 170 . The upside of stayin is that you'll see the awsome force of nature at work. Oak trees not only falling, but crumbling as they crash down. Power lines bursting into flames. Clouds moving faster than you thought possible. Not to mention the effects of low barometric pressure on your body. I don't know if it's the storm, being stuck indoors, or the beer, but I always feel wierd in a hurricane. Don't forget the tornadoes that can spin off from it. If you live, it'd be a hell of an experience. You might even brew through it. Bet they aren't fighting at the local HBS. If you get your ass kicked by it, don't go to the shelter. Bring the family up here. We'll fix you up. Our community is in dire need of a professional psychic who understands brewing.
Take care of yourself Bro.

Hey,
The family and I evacuated at 3 am this morning. We finally arrived in Nacagdoches at 2 pm. It took me 11 hours for what is normally a 2 hour drive and I took some backroads that probably shaved several hours of not waiting in bumper to bumper traffic.
I just got off the phone with a friend who spent 19 hours on the road and still hasn't reached Dallas yet. That is normally a 4 hour drive.
EP- did ya split or ya holding down the fort?

Hey Wayne...haven't left yet, and not sure if we're going to or not. Near as I can tell our choices are to sit on the hwy south of Dallas, or ride out 50 to 70 mph winds. Looks like you may get more rain than we do.

Stick a bucket outside and collect some rain water. See if you can get enough to brew with. You could have Rita In A Bottle Ale by the time everything is cleaned up.

Might not taste great, being rain-water and all, but would be a novelty.

Cheesefood said:

Stick a bucket outside and collect some rain water. See if you can get enough to brew with. You could have Rita In A Bottle Ale by the time everything is cleaned up.

Might not taste great, being rain-water and all, but would be a novelty.

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Well, I live in a jungle, so I imagine it would taste like pine, bird poo, and squirrel pee.

Besides, I've already renamed my next batch to Meter Maid's Scotch Ale.

those of us in asia (me) hope you brew is even tastier after the storm. (a typically asia thing to say).

catfish said:

those of us in asia (me) hope you brew is even tastier after the storm. (a typically asia thing to say).

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We're gonna slap Rita around like our first wife (a typical Tejas thing to say )

The loblollies are a rockin.
Rita's a knockin.

Sit back and enjoy the ride...

Just don't drink too many homebrews - you still need to be able to think clearly if anything bad happens.