Thanks for the ideas Gloftoe!! Also, thanks for the offer Brouhaha! I have a smallish safe that I will move to my parents house in Pasadena tomorrow if need be. I will take a few with me if I have to. We are only taking family pictures and things the kids will need. Trying to keep the load small enough to stay in the van.  3 kids and two dogs is going to be tough though...lol.

Thanks for the ideas Gloftoe!! Also, thanks for the offer Brouhaha! I have a smallish safe that I will move to my parents house in Pasadena tomorrow if need be. I will take a few with me if I have to. We are only taking family pictures and things the kids will need. Trying to keep the load small enough to stay in the van.  3 kids and two dogs is going to be tough though...lol. Thanks again.

Quoted: Quoted: I never imagined a earthquake could strike the west coast, appalachians or northeast.  Its a good thing nobody would be foolish enought to live there. Why do people consult Carfax and edmunds before buying a car than cost 1/2 a years salary but they wont check earthquake trends before buying a home that takes 30 years to pay for? There ya go. Or, how about: I never imagined a tornado could strike the plains states.  Its a good thing nobody would be foolish enought to live there. Why do people consult Carfax and edmunds before buying a car than cost 1/2 a years salary but they wont check weather trends before buying a home that takes 30 years to pay for? Hmm...shall I go on with volcanoes in the northwest/Alaska or flooding along the Mississippi River?

Of course. There are places you can live that have much less risk of natural disaster.

Quoted: Quoted: I never imagined a Hurracaine could strike Florida, the carolinas, or the gulf coast.  Its a good thing nobody would be foolish enought to live there. Why do people consult Carfax and edmunds before buying a car than cost 1/2 a years salary but they wont check weather trends before buying a home that takes 30 years to pay for? I have to take issue with you on that. There is no such thing as a place safe from natural disaster...

Some places are much safer than others.

Rita is rapidly strengthening now. As of the 11 AM advisory, she is packing max sustained winds of 85 mph.

Quoted: Quoted: I never imagined a Hurracaine could strike Florida, the carolinas, or the gulf coast.  Its a good thing nobody would be foolish enought to live there. Why do people consult Carfax and edmunds before buying a car than cost 1/2 a years salary but they wont check weather trends before buying a home that takes 30 years to pay for? Yeah I know what you mean... pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/index_map.gif

Are you assuming i live in an earthquake zone?  I do not.  My home is also uneffected by mudslides, flooding, wildfires or tornadoes.  i did my research before i decided where in southern california to buy.

Bush created Rita and sent it to Texas to kill more poor people

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I never imagined a Hurracaine could strike Florida, the carolinas, or the gulf coast.  Its a good thing nobody would be foolish enought to live there. Why do people consult Carfax and edmunds before buying a car than cost 1/2 a years salary but they wont check weather trends before buying a home that takes 30 years to pay for? Yeah I know what you mean... pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/index_map.gif Are you assuming i live in an earthquake zone?  I do not.  My home is also uneffected by mudslides, flooding, wildfires or tornadoes.  i did my research before i decided where in southern california to buy. So you pretty much have a weather void around yur house.

Yep, nice mediterrainian climate. 55-90 degree year round. Rains once every two or three months. During the last "El Nino" Some streets as close as 20 miles away had 2' of water but i never had any standing water in my neighborhood. During the 38 flood that killed 50, this neighborhood did not flood.  Didnt even tremble during the nothridge or San Fran quakes. No mudslides or widlfires like laguna.

Quoted: Bush created Rita and sent it to Texas to kill more poor people

It's all a conspiracy that implicates Bush, Cheney and Halliburton. You see, the evil Bush and Cheney created the hurricanes so Halliburton can profit by getting the nod to rebuild the disaster areas. Can't you see it? It's so obvious!

Quoted: Hell yes...some much needed rain.   I like stormy weather.

Im with you. Haha whats so funny, I went to HEB last night and they were completely out of bottled water. People think the same thing is going to happen to Houston LOL Im thinking to myself, is lake Ponchetrain (or however you spell it) gonna drain into Htown when our levies (what levies?) brake? Geez...and Im out in Katy 30 miles from the brunt of houston.

Quoted: Quoted: Even a small change in track can make a huge difference to Austin (if you're on the Western side of a system, you may get nothing). Been watching the maps as they get updated and the track keeps inching westward towards Austin.  However, a lot can change in the next couple days.

Model consensus puts it pretty close to the middle Texas coast and VERY close to the Austin/San Antonio area. Looks kinda like mother nature is pitching a nasty slider right at us. No way there's going to be flooding around my house, even in a worst-case scenario though. If it ends up as a cat 3-4 hurricane, it'll be a minimal hurricane or a tropical storm (most likely) when it comes close, so I figure power outages and stuff like that, but nothing major. That part of Texas is not inhabited by many people. There was this powerful but small category 4 hurricane which hit down there 5-6 years ago, and there was like $27.50 worth of damage with one cow drowned. (I'm under-exaggerating here, but you get the idea)

Quoted: Bush created Rita and sent it to Texas to kill more poor people

No, he created it kill off the ones he didn't get in NOLA.  I heard he has its guidance system aimed straight for the Astrodome.  Of course no Jews will show up to work in Houston on Saturday when it is supposed to hit.

From what I hear it's going to hit somewhere between where my mom lives and my sister :( my mom lives on the coast in Matagorda, and my sister near Galveston in Friendswood.   I'm going to be a worried about them till this is all over.  

nuke it from outer space

Via Drudge, its just now entering the Gulf and its a Category 2 already.  Now I know nothing about hurricanes, but isn't this a bad sign?  Don't they usually strengthen substantially in the Gulf because of the warm water?  

CNN just had some breaking news on the hurricane. The National Hurricane Center is now forecasting this storm to reach Category 4 status by 2 PM tomorrow. And the bad news, they keep it at Cat 4 status all the way across the Gulf until landfall in Texas. This thing may even reach Cat 5 status at some point in it's life, as it has the same exact conditions to work with as Katrina had.

Folks in the path of thing, don't take chances. Once the path becomes more and more clear, get out if you are in or near the danger zone. We don't need to add you to the list of statistics.

Rita is now a Cat 4, packing max sustained winds of 135 mph. It is expected to make landfall very near the Galveston area with winds that are estimated to be in the 140 mph range. It could be even stronger or a bit weaker depending on timing. But it appears this one will come ashore with every bit as much power as Katrina did.

Things are definitely getting more interesting around here....

There is a tacked thread at the top of this forum with info for hurricane preps.

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=391837

Max winds are now at 145 mph. This thing just keep strengthening 5-10 mph with each new update.  

tag

Quoted: I've got plenty of supplies and if I run out of water, my parents aren't too far away with a water well and a generator.

Yeah, but do you have any AMMO????

Quoted: Quoted: Just so SOMEBODY knows, I'm staying put. I live on the northside of Houston in Oakridge.  It'll be windy for sure, but I'm not going anywhere. No flooding expected here since there was no problem with TS Allison in 2000. I've got plenty of supplies and if I run out of water, my parents aren't too far away with a water well and a generator. You're going to blow away.  Not your house, not your car, not your stuff.  You. Stake yourself down.

I'm stayin'.

I love this stuff.

I'm sitting tight too, up in the northeast.  Plenty of supplies onhand, and the storm models all seem to show the track trending SW of Houston now.  Canned goods, generators, gas cans, plywood, and regular unleaded gas are getting very scarce around here though.

CNN web site -- Rita has just became the 3rd most intense hurricane in recorded history.

Quoted: I'm stayin'. I love this stuff.

What Schedule  III medication are you currently taking?

CATEGORY 5 and GROWING!!
As of 8:00 PM EDT Wednesday, Rita has become the third strongest
hurricane ever recorded at 898 millibars or 26.52 inches. Rita is still a category 5 hurricane with is packing sustained winds of 165 mph with gusts to 185 mph. This is the season's second catastrophic hurricane. As of 8:00 PM EDT, Rita was centered near 24.4 north and 87 west. This places Rita 680 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, or 580 miles east southeast of Galveston Texas. The minimum central pressure has fallen to an incredible 898 millibars (26.52 inches of mercury). Rita was moving to the west at 13 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles from the center of circulation. Given that Rita will continue to intensify the wind field will probably expand further over the next 24 hours.

Hurricane watches are now in effect from Port Mansfield, Texas to Cameron, Louisiana and tropical storm watches are in effect from Cameron to Grand Isle, Louisiana and from Port Mansfield to Brownsville, Texas. The government of Mexico has issued a tropical storm watch from Rio San Fernando northward.

Rita will continue to track westward through the southeastern Gulf of Mexico Wednesday evening and night with further strengthening expected as it crosses the same warm waters that helped Katrina strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. So, it is no surprise that this hurricane has become a catastrophic hurricane.

Rita will generally track to the west as an upper-level high pressure ridge over Texas expands eastward across the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The track that Rita takes will depend on how this high moves, weakens and strengthens. We currently expect this upper ridge of high pressure to remain strong and steer Rita on a general westerly course across the southeastern Gulf of Mexico through Wednesday night into Thursday. Then we expect the high to either split or move eastward causing Rita to move west-northwest early Friday then more northwestward Friday night and Saturday. We are estimating landfall between Galveston and Corpus Christi sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday. Ocean water analysis shows some cooler water in place about 300 miles off the Texas coast, then warmer water again right near the Texas coast in our primary projected landfall area, so the intensity forecast at landfall will be a real challenge. After Rita makes landfall, it will head northwest between Austin and Houston then track between Dallas and Tyler Sunday. We expect hurricane force winds to spread over a large area of eastern Texas after landfall. In fact, high-rise buildings in the Houston area could experience wind gusts to near 100 mph. This could cause some windows to shatter. In addition to possible damaging hurricane-force winds, tornadoes might be spawned by the cyclonic rotation from Rita mainly east and northeast of the center of circulation.

As of 5:00 PM EDT Wednesday, Tropical Storm Philippe is moving to the north at 9 mph. The tropical storm was centered near 21.3 North.. 57.1 west or about 420 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands. Philippe has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1002 millibars or 29.59 inches.

Philippe is expected to remain a tropical storm over the next 24 hours but could become a hurricane again within the the next few days as it moves to the north-northwest. This will keep the tropical storm well to the northeast of the Lesser Antilles. It will move into the central Atlantic by midweek; those with interests in Bermuda will have to monitor this system over the next several days, but it appears most likely that the storm will remain east of Bermuda.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

A tropical low near 49 west, south of 20 north was moving westward at 10-15 knots. Showers and thunderstorms are accompanying this wave, and development is not expected for at least the next two days. A tropical wave was along 33 west, south of 20 north, moving west at 10-15 knots. Nearby, African dust is limiting convection with this system, so no development is expected in the near future.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Just so SOMEBODY knows, I'm staying put. I live on the northside of Houston in Oakridge.  It'll be windy for sure, but I'm not going anywhere. No flooding expected here since there was no problem with TS Allison in 2000. I've got plenty of supplies and if I run out of water, my parents aren't too far away with a water well and a generator. You're going to blow away.  Not your house, not your car, not your stuff.  You. Stake yourself down. In fairness, I'm the same height/weight as brouhaha, and I'll be doing the same.

Brouhaha,

We had a member here, called either Yellow6 or Yellow5, who lived near New Orleans, near Gulfport, IIRC.  He said the same thing you did.  He said he was going to "ride it out".  I advised him against it.  He has not been seen or heard from since Katrina hit.

Quoted: I'm stayin'. I love this stuff.

Have you filled out your Darwin Award application yet?