The mayor of Houston - Bill White reminds people that folks should be in their home or shelter today and not on the roadways. Most important items you should have:
- 1 gallon per person a day of water.
- Plus be prepared with food and other supplies for many days without water, electricity and access to grocery stores.
Our family is staying put as well as most of the neighbors on our street. As we mentioned, after Hurricane Alicia, we were without power for 10 days but had running water and land-line phone service.
Items we have stocked for the whole hurricane season or bought earlier this week.
- We have two large brand new plastic trash cans that we are filling up with water for drinking, bathing and flushing water for toilet.
- Many batteries - all types - D, C, AA, AAA. Wish we could have located more of the large lantern type batteries.
- Bottled water, Gatorade, canned goods and many other food items for two weeks.
- Plastic sheeting and tarps with duck tape to repair holes in roof or other parts of house along with nails and hammers. We gave enough nails to our neighbor to board up his house.
- Ice chest but could not locate any ice in the neighborhood stores.
- Our important papers, insurance policies and family photos in a safe, dry place - we hope it stays dry inside our house.
- Electronics and computers are being moved off the floor and onto the second floor when possible.
- Several battery operated TVs and radios.
- Clothes are washed and dried.
- Loose items outside house such as lawn furniture have been put into the garage.
- Clean up supplies such as mops and buckets.
- All of our prescriptions were refilled.
Originally posted 2005-09-23 09:17:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
KTRE TV of Lufkin and Nacogdoches is publishing their blog of Citizen Journalists: Reports and Comments on Hurricane Rita with local updates of the aftermath of Hurricane Rita and the affects in east Texas. Plus here is KTRE TV Full Coverage of Hurricane Rita Web Page.
Originally posted 2005-10-03 15:08:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Hurricane Rita traffic update: So far the re-entry traffic from returning evacuees inside Houston is very good according the speed reports but there are reported bottlenecks on I-45 north of Houston. Slow traffic west and northwest of Houston but traffic is moving fairly normal speeds. Once you get in Houston freeway speeds are normal - 55 to 65 mph.
Gas supplies in Houston are building so the lines should going down. Restarants and grocery stores have slowly started to open if they in are an area with electricity.
The biggest question you should ask if you are returning to your home - call you neighbors on their cell phone or home phone and ask if they have electricity. There is no use going home to a sweltering house in the 90 to 100 degree heat.
Originally posted 2005-09-26 11:19:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
The Houston Chronicle has a useful blog for Houston area residents returning from the "Largest evacuation in United States history":
The Road Home - What you need to know for a safe return.
Originally posted 2005-09-25 21:27:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
The Beaumont Enterprise newspaper has published a new book capturing historic pictures and photograhs of Hurricane Rita and the aftermath called "Rita Captured". A portion of the proceeds from the book will benefit the United Way. The photograhers of the Beaumont Enterprise has documented the effects of Hurricane Rita in the historic book.
For those who are following the news about the problems with hurricane evacuations in the United States during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, watch the ABC Nightline Special Town Hall live in Houston tonight!
South East Texas Live has more October photos of the Hurricane Rita aftermath:
Gov. Bush Takes Blame for Slow Wilma Aid - Yahoo! News.
Look at this news out of Florida. Looks like Hurricane Wilma relief efforts have problems in Florida, just like the slow disaster response after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We suggest that a national commission be set up to come up with a comprehensive local, state and national plan to respond national disasters once and for all - no more half measures.
From Yahoo News - "Many Floridians were still struggling to find food, water, ice and gas on the third day of recovery from Wilma, waiting in line for hours — sometimes in vain. Miami-Dade's mayor called the distribution system flawed and said at least one relief site of 11 in his county ran out of supplies..." [read more]
Link: HoustonChronicle.com - East Texas Rita victims say they're overlooked.
From the Houston Chronicle: "All the counties in the disaster declaration area" should be given the same "carte blanche" in disaster relief from the Red Cross as Katrina victims and other coastal ZIP codes, said the statement signed by the six county judges. They felt the relief agencies were too focused on coastal counties and New Orleans..."[read more]
Link: The Beaumont Enterprise - News - 10/07/2005 - Power restoration nearing 80 percent.
From The Beaumont Enterprise: "Entergy Texas hopes it will have reconnected as many as 80 percent of its customers by Saturday morning, two weeks after Hurricane Rita tore up the Texas and Louisiana border along the Gulf Coast..."[read more]
