Rita Missed Us

We are in Missouri City, just South of Houston, TX. Roughly half the people in the area evacuated as Hurricane Rita appear to be headed straight for us. It wasn't flooding most people were afraid of, it was the destructive winds. Luckily for us, Rita weakened and moved on Eastward. Not so lucky for the people in the areas it hit. We stayed. We prepared for the the worst. We hoped for the best and we got it. The worst thing that happened to my house was that my pool had a lot of small palm tree debris in it, which took a while to clean out. Actually, the worst part of this was the anticipation combined with waiting in line 8 hours for plywood and piling in line to buy gas. It was a learning experience and I have properly fitted plywood for my windows so I do not have to wait in line forever if there is a next time.

Tragically and ironically, several people died while evacuating. I say "ironically" because probably more people died trying to evacuate from Houston than the number of people that actually died where Rita hit the hardest. A good friend of mine's grandmother was one of the people that died. She had a heart attack and died while waiting in the long parkinglot-like traffic lines fleeing Houston. With no way to properly take care of this women, she died and Jenny had to sit in the back of the car with her deceased grandmother for hours until they got out of traffic.

These pictures here I took for insurance purposes and to show what my home looks like boarded up. I also took a few pictures of mother nature displaying some beautiful conditions as Rita skimmed us.

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