Rita

I was just wandering if anyone has had to evacuate or know anyone who has had to. I have had to evacuate myself from Houston and I am currently in Dallas. It took us 16 hours to get here and it was crazy. People everywhere were looking for gas because the trucks were stuck in traffic and could not make it to the stations. They have had I-45 opened on both sides going from Houston to Dallas to try to help flow but still there is traffic everywhere. First time I have driven on the wrong side of the road it is kindof odd seing red reflectors on the ground. It is all a mess right now and it will affect us all greatly because the Texas coast line also has a lot of refineries so the gas prices may go up again. Hopefully it will not be as bad as we expect it to be.

Be in prayer and good luck

Hope you & your family stay safe & sound !

Kody...my old college roomate lives in Houston and it took him 11 hours to get out to his hometown in Mississippi. He said he left Wednesday night around 8:00 pm.

i'm in texas and have friends in Houston. Humble is about 20 minutes north of houston it was a 12 hour trip. And I talked to another friend earlier that decided to turn around and just sit it out because he made it about 30 miles in 6 hours. Gas prices will be worse than Katrina. refineries that were in repair stages have been evacuated, along with the remaining undamaged platforms and refineries. Oh yea, levees broke again in New Orleans. Bad situation...

I live in the Dallas area. My older brother and his family live in Spring (burb of Houston). They were unable to get out. By the time they decided to leave they couldn't find gas anywhere. The streets around their house were gridlocked as well.

As it turns out, they are probably better off where they are. It sucks seeing all of those people on the news who are stranded in the parking lot that is I45. That is no place to be when Rita hits.

I'd like to go ride tomorrow morning before the winds pick up, but I have to admit that it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. I'd feel really guilty being out there burning gas and having fun while people just a few hundred miles away are stranded on the side of the road because they ran out of gas.

I'm in Montgomery (Conroe area) just north of Houston...hoping for just some winds and no falling trees!! We won't get any storm surge this far inland, and unless the storm turns around and comes back for Round 2, we should only get 8-10" of rain... Keeping our fingers crossed...

Thanks for everthing. I live in The Woodlands which is basically Conroe and I have several friends that stayed and I have talked to them and they said that it has not fully hit yet. I am probably going back very early sunday morning to try to at least get past some of the traffic it is just all a mess and it would be nice not to get caught in it.

Good Luck and God Bless anyone who is caught in it.

im a galvestonian, but am in denver now for school. my parents evacuated to sugarland. everything is alright now, the boat is just full of leaves. i cant hardly believe this second hurricane showed up.

I was doing some work in Houston whenever the city was asked to be evacuated. I was part of the mass exodus of people going to San Antonio and can only say that I've never seen such chaos. It took me 8 hours to go less than 50 miles. You do the math.

Moreover, I witnessed a sad display of total disregard and disrespect for the fellow man. At the gas station I happened to stop by (another hour ordeal), people were rude, aloof, and violent even. It's sad to think that when people need to pull together the most, they forget to love thy neighbor.

Paz y amor!

i'm up here in Ruston at LA Tech, but i live in Lake Charles, where the hurricane hit hardest. My family went to Baton Rouge and are at my aunts house right now. The mayor is asking everyone not to return to their homes until at least OCTOBER 18th. the Calcasieu PArish School Board hasnt posted anything about when schools will open again. Places are pretty torn up. A tornado touched down in our neighbor and beat things up pretty good. lots of people have trees on or through their houses, luckily ours is ok, there are only trees down in our yard. if yall want to see some of the damage there is a 30 minute long video of South Lake Charles at http://www.tarvermedia.com

it shows alot of what happened in my part of town. no word on the boat or my truck yet though.