Houston the next New Orleans?

Galveston?

First thing I did after work was get a room (2nd floor) near Bush IC 60 miles inland. I figure that will allow me to ride it out - better than if I stayed put in Galveston Yeah - it was one of the last rooms available in that area.

I stuffed all my guns in a large portable safe - so depending on what happens I'll have my G19 (50 rds) 1911 (25 rds) my 686+ (150 rds of hot Aguila .38 spl) and (count'em) 1100 rouds of Silver Bear for my Mak.

No - I wasn't stockpiling - just a happy circumstance of being too lazy to go to the range for about a month.

But I'm ready - if not for the hurricane, then I figure if the War of the Worlds comes to Houston then some Martians could get hurt

I am in Clear Lake. Not sure what I will do just yet. Need to get a little water at least. If it hits direct, I will probably go visit my parents for a day or so. I might have to look into what the procedures will be for getting back in the area afterwards.

I have friends in Clear Lake who are coming up to DFW for the weekend.

The last hurricane I sat through was Alicia in '83, albeit I was in the Cotton Bowl watching the Simon and Garfunkel reunion concert (don't ask) when the rain bands hit Dallas. I was staying in a hotel here in Dallas that night and although it rained intermittently through the 2 hour long concert (that was extended to about 6 hours with rain delays) it came a frog strangler just after the thing let out.

SWMBO and I secretly have a desire that it hits Corpus just because we want to pick up a cheap house lot on Mustang Island in the aftermath

Houston should do a little better than NOLA just because it's 50 miles or so inland. Alicia was only a cat3 but it popped a bunch of windows out of high rises in downtown Houston. The total amount of local graft in the municipal government doesn't begin to compare to Louisiana, though. We're talking about orders of magnitude with that. Houston, for all it's socialist faults, just can't compete with a career Louisiana polititcan.

Besides, we have Texas Rangers to keep folks in line in case things start going south. Anyone who has ever met the Houston SWAT teams should be able to tell they're all business. Their gear is worn and run-down because they always use it...it's not for show.

Of course, living in Dallas the only thing about hurricanes that gets in my way are folks passing through heading north and west. Most folks on the Texas coast, at least, those who don't live with their head in the sand or are 'kept' in Section 8 housing tend to fend for themselves pretty well and don't 'need' a whole lot of rescuing. Our bug-out plans are pretty well-thought out and Texas roads at their worst are better than Louisiana roads at their best..even when driving the 'wrong way' out of Houston.

Y'all come on up. The DFW group might even throw a range day.


Regards,
Rabbit.

Yeah ammo sounds like it is a little low. I tend to get nervous if I don't have at least a case of something or other in the house. And I don't have any class 3 toys to feed.

Water is a good thing. So is soda or gatorade etc. just to have something different to taste. A small supply of your favorite flavored drink that does not require refrigerated strorage will help cut the dust out of your mouth after a hard days work cleaning up. There will many of those.

The biggest things you will need for the aftermath of a hurricane is a generator, a good supply of fuel, something you can cook with using the generator (your microwave and generator will NOT get along don't let them play together), extention cords/power strips to reach your refrigerator, and some electric fans. The heat was the worst part about last year, after central Fl started getting hit every other weekend. Depending on the atmosphere of the city you may want to post a guard on the generator and fuel or find some way to secure them. My neighborhood is pretty isolated and we didn't have any problems, but quite a few people had theirs stolen.

Try not to drive around at all in the first few days after the storm. Four way intersections with four primary lanes of travel and multiple left turn lanes are deadly with out working traffic signals. Avoid adding to the casualty list, the local EMS types will appreciate you for it.

A chain saw will be useful after the storm for cutting debris up into managable sections. I made do with a hand saw. By the time I realized I needed a chain saw there were none available in the entire state. It should be obvious, but don't get an electric.

Get some cheap LED flashlights and a battery powered radio. You won't need to use your tac light to fight off hordes of looters more then a few times (if this is not the case you really should just bug out and find a new life elsewhere, I hear Costa Rica is nice). You will need to navigate to the bathroom without the ability to flip on a light switch or follow your night light. It also helps ensure tranquility in the home if you can aim your gun properly. The technique for this differs from both the Harries and the Ayoob techniques, (you'll have to figure it out). The radio will give you access to all sorts of information. I have a survival radio that works on AA batteries, an onboard solar cell, or hand cranking. I found it very useful, one of the best Christmas presents I ever got.

I am sure there is a lot more but it is almost 2:45 am and I need sleep. Good luck Texas, I feel for you.

I am curious, LHB1 and Art Eatman, if you can recall how much looting and rape occured in the aftermath of Celia.

Celia

The question wasn't asked of me, however I'll jump in anyway! I was in the "news media" in Corpus Christi at the time and don't recall ANY reports of looting. Rape? Not as a result of the Hurricane.

National Guard was on the streets of the "Sparkling City By The Sea" the same day Celia hit.

I rode with them in an Army jeep (from ARADMAC at C.C.N.A.S.) filing reports to the station and encountered zero looting, raping or pilaging. Just a lot of people wanting ice.

don't recall ANY reports of looting. Rape? Not as a result of the Hurricane.

Click to expand...

That's what I suspected.

I guess the phenomenon of tornadoes being attracted to trailer parks is catching on with the rest of society. Hurricanes are drawn toward welfare leeches, and earthquakes are "caused" by insane amounts of liberalism.



*Ducks for cover*

No Brakes,
There probably was some minor looting but I don't recall hearing anything about it and certainly didn't hear of any raping. Only negative things I recall were some outsiders bringing water and ice into CC and trying to gouge the public for exorbitant prices. The mayor took some Nat'l Guardsmen down to the T-Head, confiscated an eighteen wheeler load of ice from the gougers, and distributed the ice free to the public. He told the gougers they could sue him afterward if they wanted. Never heard anymore about that either. They would have been crazy to try and sue him in CC.
Mostly I recall strangers and neighbors helping one another in a tough time. Makes me feel good just remembering it.

No more Celia's or Rita!
LB

Worst case scenario for Rita: That it follows the track of 1961's Hurricane Carla, with equal force. The center of Carla came in around the Indianola area. The anemometer at the Victoria airport blew out at 120mph.

Carla pushed 17 feet of water up into Trinity Bay. There are now some 400,000 people in the area from the 17-foot contour on down to sea level.

The Intellicast five-day forecast indicates landfall near Freeport, which puts the highest winds and highest surge into the Galveston area. Anybody living near the north side of Galveston Bay and alongside Trinity Bay shouldn't plan on spending next weekend there...

Art

Intellicast:

Right now being in NO we are waiting to see what happens. As of right now it looks as if we are going to stay in place. However, we are getting a plan together to get the BN out of the AO of Rita decides to follow Katrina and come after NO. I really hope that it doesn't because I really am ready to go home. If Rita decides to come after NO we may just have to stay around awhile longer.

looking like a Cat. 4 into Galveston.

Be careful people and don't let them grab your guns

AFS

Air Force Shooter

Had a good friend who was a combat arms instructor at Lackland 20 years ago..maybe you crossed paths.

I'm going tp adjust my sights for windage and aim a tad ower: Aransas Pass-Cat 4 (down from cat 5 in the warm womb of the Gulf)

Headed for Corpus today..have a place in Flower Bluff to board up, just in case.

Take Care