Hurricane Rita : Where are you and what are the conditions?

Victoria, Texas - about 150 miles south of Houston. Nothing. Barely some wind, no rain, nothing, zilch, nada...

If all goes well, I will do my best to sneak back in to Houston tomorrow.

 

W. Belfort and Hillcroft

Moderate rain, moderate wind. Strong but not overpowering gusts. I even have small branch in my yard.

 

Beltway and West near Jersey Village

A little bit of wind and rain, nothing major so far. Everyone is asleep. We had a tiny brownout around 10 PM that lasted half a second but other than that power has been fine. I'm guessing we'll get some heavier bands of rain and wind as the eye pushes its way further inland, but I doubt it gets more than 50 mph.

 

NW Houston/Cypress Area-Jones&1960

Steady winds but nothing dramatic. Picking up gradually. Same with the rain-just like a normal shower would be. Lights flickered a few times, but staying on steadily.

Ill try to update if I dont fall asleep.

 

Richmond/Grand Parkway

Strong gusts of wind, but very little rain. I just finished walking my dog. He seemed to get a kick out of it.

 

I'm at Washington and Westcott, and very unimpressed.

 

On Lake Woodlands, in the Woodlands (update)

Strong gusts of wind, rain but not hard rain, the wind is making it worst than what it seems.

Gettin' pretty ugly outside.

 

Timbergrove (just West of the Heights)

Brisk winds with mild rain. Nice for an evening stroll.

 

Montgomery, Texas (15 miles west of Conroe)

Rain with light winds - occassional gusts to probably 35-40mph.

Also, I've gotten a couple power surges/flickers, but I've got my two universal power supplies up and running and I'm pushing through til this thing is done.

 

Watching radar is pretty interesting. Go to http://www.wunderground.com/ and put in your zip code at the top. Then, click the "local radar" link. It shows you your area and the bands of rain sweeping through.

It's interesting to see that the rain bands start to dissipate just past about highway 59 and then even further after you get to the western edge of Harris County.

 

Downtown right here...getting a little windy now...

 

Just lost power here. They lose it easily out here. But, I have a full laptop battery and my first universal power supply is running the modem and router with the other just waiting in case I need it. So, I'm all good.

 

College Station.

Been pretty windy the last few hours. Just started raining too.

Getting the outer bands of the storm. It's awesome outside.

 

Still here... in Bellaire

Power is not going out yet. This whole thing is becoming historic...

"How many people can we evacuate?... Let's do a test run!"

I don't agree with that at all, of course. People shouldn't need to be told what to do.

But.......

This makes me think news-junkies and tabloid journalists--- in this day and age--- makes people idiots.

 

Checking back in from Pasadena. The wind has been very heavy and steady for the last two hours and we're hearing transformers blow left and right, but we're still good to go with the power grid in this neighborhood...just praying we can get through another hour or two of this, IF this is truly the worst of the backside of the storm. Praying hard that the power stays put.

Very heavy bands of wind/rain that rattle the windows. I did stand outside for about 20 minutes watching the clouds and I gotta say Mother Nature is the chit. I've never seen clouds speed by that fast. Ever...and I was here for Alicia. [/Please AC, don't leave me.]

It's almost over kiddos. We were truly blessed with a great amount of luck this time.

 

west side of houston I-10/kirkwood.

rains been sporadicly drizzling but not much more.

we are getting more wind occasionally. nothing serious but for a few seconds every now and then you can really hear the trees.

 

Spring Tx ( 77389 )

Still have power I really cannot believe it with all the freaking trees around here.

Lots of wind, little rain.

Keep seeing flashes here and there ( transformers ? )

 

Rice Village - 4:12 am - just went outside to clear some branches from the street. Very little impact at this site. A strong thunderstorm shakes the house and drops branches, but none of that tonight. Tree tops blow, but nothing at street level. My cats are sleeping right through. They sort of meow when things are strange. Nothing strange tonight.

Prayers with those really affected at landfall site, tornado sites, etc. Hope we learn something from this. Right now... Methinks we need to tell people who are NOT in evacuation zones NOT to evacuate, to keep the roads open for people who really need them.

 

The Woodlands - 5:10am. Gusty winds and rain. Picked up a few broken branches late last night before going to bed. Still have power but suspect it could go as the winds continue or pick up steam.

 

W. Bellfort and Fondren

Nothing much really, small amounts of rain. Couple strong gusts but nothing to worry about. Just woke up and I slept like a baby. I hope it stays this way and doesn't get any stronger though. Counting my blessings for sure.