September 24, 2005
10:59 p.m. Rita minus one
Rita is coming ashore soon, closer to Port Arthur, but hard winds and heavy rains already hitting Galveston.
Again, surreal. I’m watching Fox News broadcasting live from Houston and Beaumont and using Weather Channel video from a fire in Galveston near the historic Strand district. At the same time, I’m watching on my computer live, streaming video from the Houston ABC affiliate covering the same fire.
Wind and rain coming into downtown Houston. Fox reporting some power outages in Nassau Bay. All the while, Rita sits off shore teasing Texas and Louisiana with her evil eye.
The power outages remind me that I passed on my way here no fewer than seven convoys of power crews heading in the opposite direction, making their way to the Gulf Coast. Seventeen search and rescue teams have come into Texas, along with trucks of ice, water, and meals.
It’s 11:15 and CNN is announcing “Rita Strikes”. I’m not sure if that’s a noun or a verb. I’m not sure if CNN producers know the difference, either.
Fox now reporting police activity in downtown Houston, but the reporter doesn’t know what’s going on, except that he sees flashing lights. Now, someone in his ear tells him that it’s nothing more than a traffic accident. No sooner did he say that than they cut away to another reporter standing in the rain in Winnie, Texas, and not adding anything to the coverage, except that he’s another reporter standing in the rain with his finger in his ear.
11:20 and Fox tells us that Rita is expected to come ashore soon. I guess they aren’t watching CNN (or visa versa).
11:25, and the Houston tv station reports that Rita will come ashore in about 4 – 5 hours.
5:45 a.m.
I couldn’t stay awake and woke up about a half an hour ago. Rita came ashore about 2:30 local time. Still trying to find out what’s going on back home. I’m listening to a Shreveport reporter telling a Houston tv station that this area can expect tropical-storm winds and rain for the next couple of days, maybe as much as ten inches. Even if everything is ok back home, the weather may not allow us to leave until at least Monday.
Kemah still getting hard gusts of wind, but a local reporter says a police officer told her that the storm caused no major damage and no major flooding. The bridges in the area are ok and passable. And, the wind strength apparently lessens the farther one moves away from Kemah and toward the interstate and Houston. At least that’s what the reporter says. The rising of the sun will reveal the true extent of the damage.
A Houston weather guy says there is heavy rain east of the interstate and that could be the area that floods. Light to moderate rain from League City to Galveston.
CenterPoint Energy reports five hundred and seventy five thousand customers without power as of about five o’clock, forty-one thousand in Galveston county. Entergy officials say they expect substantially more than the fifty-five thousand they reported several hours ago.
Winds back home at six o’clock ranging from twenty-six to forty-five mph.
I’m typing this in partial darkness. Chad is sawing logs and I don’t want to disturb him unnecessarily. Only lights in the room come from the television and from my computer monitor, so please forgive the typos.
Will update later, but it looks as if our home and area escaped destruction. Too early to tell about those directly in Rita’s path. Thanks to everyone who kept and keep us in their thoughts and prayers. It worked.
jdp John David Powell is an award-winning Internet columnist and writer. He may be reached at johndavidpowell@yahoo.com
