texasaggie2015 said:

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I grew up in Angleton and remember the Rita evacuation. Dad worked at BASF and was on the storm crew so he stayed behind. I was probably 13ish and was so freaked out about the Katrina mess I thought I was never seeing my dad again.

It took us around 14 hours to get from Angleton to Katy. We said screw it and stayed at my grandparents place there (we had an extra key).

To this day I'll say those 14 hours on the road with panicked masses was probably more dangerous than the storm itself.

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Angleton resident here, and yes that evac really sucked. One of the (many) lessons learned from that debacle was not to funnel everyone onto "official" evac routes. We were able to get to San Antonio in under 12 hours … I was able to take some back roads to Alt90A and stay on that to Seguin (but I had to get around a deputy in Ft. Bend County who was upset that I wasnt staying on the official route).

I hope someone is keeping track of which model is proving to be the most accurate w regard to Beryl.

bluefire579 said:

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Bad Poster said:

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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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For the benefit of folk that may be new.

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I was a teenager when rita came. We tried to leave and was in standstill traffic near liberty for hours. We decided to turn back and wait out the storm. It was a complete nothingburger where we lived (north shore). So i dont really have the storm anxiety. I live in Bryan now. Have a plan. Stick to it. Yall stay safe!

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I was in school at A&M at the time, living in Bryan, and there was a pretty big panic even there. Went to the grocery store just for normal shopping and had trouble getting what I needed. Ended up not even getting a drop of rain at the house I was in.

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It was my 5th year. There was panic because the tracks had shown it going through College Station after landfall in Houston, but it swung east at the end and nailed Beaumont instead.

My buddy worked at Sonic at the time and we went and filled up all our coolers with sonic ice to keep things cold in case the power went out. Since Rita needed up not coming our way, we had a big party since we had all that Sonic ice. It rained for a little bit at about 3AM and that was it. The next day was the nicest weather day college station ever had.

Got stuck on 290 for like five hours trying to get to College Station that Thursday for the Texas State game. Finally made it to an exit and made a u-turn back home.Twas terrible.

We somehow dodged all rita traffic by going to magnolia then out 1488 to 290. Made it to Austin and we're drinking beers by sunset iirc.

For Rita I left Texas City the day before I thought they would call for evacuation. Made it to Austin (my daughter's house) in less than 4 hours. My son and his wife left TC 12 hours later and it took them 14 hours.

Dr. Doctor said:

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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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For the benefit of folk that may be new.

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My old roommate was one of the idiots; except he drove FROM CS to Cypress, since his mom said she wanted him and his brother with her through the storm.

So he was one of like 5 cars the whole way going INTO town. Took him like a week to get back home, because of the cars, no gas and clogged roads.

~egon

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Do they not do contraflow in a situation like Rita? So that both sides of the highway flow out of the Houston area? I haven't lived in Houston long enough to have a situation like that, but I always assumed that was the case.

Well part of the problem was you couldn't go east, Katrina had all of LA in a mess. If you went west you then could be going into the storm since it was projected to hit further west. So north it was and it turned into cluster

In theory now you'd still have a east option to travel as well as north

It wasn't a planned or organized evacuation. Bill White, mayor at the time, panicked on camera in response to reporters' questions and said get out if you can.

People were still freaked out by Katrina, and way too many followed his advice. It was a disaster.

Been a long time, but I don't believe any other agencies were expecting him to call for a total evacuation, so I don't think there was time to implement contra flo. Also would have been difficult because of all the areas in the cone trying to evacuate at once, in different directions.

There was a LOT of discussion about contra flow afterwards.

Quote:

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In theory now you'd still have a east option to travel as well as north

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A lot of folks got caught in the trap of heading up into east Texas during Rita which turned out to be right in the direct path of the storm. Fallen pine trees had power out for weeks.

They did, hence the photos. But they still had like 1 or 2 lanes going into the city.

~egon

Dr. Doctor said:

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Just as friendly advice for those in a direct path or those wanting to prep.

• Water (from the faucet) can be stored in many things. Cooking pots, bathtubs, jugs, etc. This water can be used for personal needs as well as drinking water.
• A bathtub filled to the brim with a solid, no leak stopper (rubber type) can be used to fill the toilet when going to the bathroom. Can also use for water to sponge bath.
• A stock pot for cooking holds 2 to 3 gallons of water. Can be used for pets or drinking.
• Put drinking water in a freezer NOW for 2 reasons: provide additional thermal mass (to keep temperatures cold in freezer) and to have drinking water once it is thawed.
• REMEMBER WATER EXPANDS 9% WHEN FROZEN COMPARED TO LIQUID. So if refilling a used bottle (which is a great idea, because you can control the amount you put IN the bottle), fill about 90% full then cap. Larger bottle (not the 0.5 L ones) are good, like 2-L coke bottles, 1 gallong jugs, etc. You might mark the cap with a sharpie to denote 'old' vs. new bottles.
• Pick up any loose stuff in the yard. Toys, potted plants, etc.
• Disconnect any powered items you want to make sure don't get fried in any weird lightning issues. Computers/laptops that won't be used, unplug them so they are 'safe' from power surges.
• Get cash form ATMs or the bank. Places may be open, but CC might not be used. Couple Benjamins (but in smaller demoninations) work best.

~egon

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"Couple Benjamins (but in smaller denominations). "

Insert confused face

The one factor that could hold #Beryl back in the Gulf is mid-level dry air. 12Z GFS shows this wrapping into and around the core, and so it never deepens significantly. If it's able to wall off a core, though, it could intensify much faster. Tricky forecast for sure. pic.twitter.com/rLGZBQWXgE

— Andy Hazelton (@AndyHazelton) July 5, 2024

Recon aircraft flying into #Beryl found the 700mb circulation center just offshore of the northern Yucatan Peninsula. Max winds on north side in the 50-60 mph range. pic.twitter.com/gp5wLvWD8c

— Dr. Levi Cowan (@TropicalTidbits) July 5, 2024

994 MB. Lower than expected but mid and lower not stacked. Gonna take a while before it starts strengthening.

The best time to evacuate from a Hurricane is when the winds at your house are 30 plus MPH. This means the storm is still hours away but by then everyone else is gone. We did this for Ike in 2008 and it was clear sailing to Austin in no traffic. The two days before it was a 10 hour drive.

DDub74 said:

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The best time to evacuate from a Hurricane is when the winds at your house are 30 plus MPH. This means the storm is still hours away but by then everyone else is gone. We did this for Ike in 2008 and it was clear sailing to Austin in no traffic. The two days before it was a 10 hour drive.

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This is what I did for ike as well. Pretty sure the Balinese room was already gone when we left.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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One has to remember that was fresh off the heels of Katrina. Everyone was freakin out.

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Also pre-social media and pre-smartphone era.

People were on the road communicating via SMS ... "We've moved 1/10th of a mile in the past 3-hours." Now 20-years later people got the ability to live stream 4K video from their car.

We also looking at the total level of hysteria being amplified at light speed, see Covid.

During Rita it seem like the tipping point was when schools and employers started to cancel and send people home mid-day. Nobody knew what to do so people got in their car and started driving all at the same time.

As I recall emergency management pleaded with people that everyone north of Dick bayou stay put and allow costal dwellers to get north first.

As we saw, human nature took over and it was everyman for themselves. Mad Max on every road north out of Houston. Then what mad it even more ****ed was them reversing the traffic on all lanes going north. People tried to turn around and there was simply nowhere to go.

Complete gridlock.

Was wild to watch it all go down. Turned out texags was the best source of info as people were posting info they received by text from people out in it.

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Yeah man.. wild times. I actually got to CS from Houston in 4 hours during that (because I wanted to booze it with my buddies still in college).

But yeah, patience was rewarded on that one… it wobbles just a bit for houston to not be directly hit. (Sorry beaumont)

The ICON has been locked in to a solution taking Beryl right at Galveston/Houston metro as a major hurricane late Sunday PM/Monday AM.

Hard to ignore its consistency.

Corpus Christi to GLS/Houston Metro all in play… pic.twitter.com/9vnCXYQwvj

— Garrett Bastardi (@garrettmb) July 5, 2024

Couple hundred in cash but not large bills.

$20, $10, $5....

Now add the 18Z Euro to the camp of an intensifying Hurricane Beryl directly impacting Galveston and the Houston Metro Sunday night and into Monday.

A high impact event Verbatim... pic.twitter.com/H43Aw85ms3

— Garrett Bastardi (@garrettmb) July 5, 2024

Is he related to Joe?