Monthly Archives: September 2005

Getting Windy

I just stepped out to hit the small convenience store in my building. The guy who runs it lives here and he is going to be open until the last possible moment. I’m sure that it’s the only store open for miles. I’ve had my essential supplies in place for days but I’m glad that I could pick up a Negra Modelo six-pack.

The winds are already pretty gusty downtown. Nothing major yet but you can tell a big storm is approaching. I’m not nearly as nervous now that the eye looks like it will go in east of us but a lot of bad things could still happen here. Flooding is my primary concern. Of course, we are still looking at 75-100mph winds in downtown but those are manageable.

Hurricane Rita Police Scanner Activity

I’m taking care of last minute prep. I’ve started monitoring a few hundred channels on my police scanner. The radio traffic is heavy as you can imagine. Officials are scrambling with last minute evacuations, dealing with the hundreds or thousands of people who have broken down or run out of gas on evacuation routes, and there seems to be a lot of coordination with public safety officials assisting from other cities.

I should be picking up some interesting news with the scanner, including HAM radio operator reports, as the storm rolls in. When I do I’ll post it

Rita is Going to Hang Around

Rita’s immense size and slow movement means that we’ll be dealing with high winds and rain for 24-36 hours without a break. If the storm stalls it could last days. We are expecting tropical storm force winds (over 40mph) in downtown Houston early this evening and conditions should deteriorate for quite some time after that.

The good news is that I might have power throughout the storm if it stays to the east. I should at least make it into Saturday morning. Regardless, I’ll blog as long as I can once the action starts.