A prayer for our friends in Texas

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:36 am

Good luck Houston, who has decided to ride out the storm; I understand in an effort to prevent complete gridlock, Houston is being asked to stay put; a very noble act!! It's true what they say about Texans, you would not see any of this selflessness in many other places!

Also for the people of Galveston, good luck, I know you are well prepared. For many who don't know or are not from this country, Galveston, Texas is on the Gulf Coast and in 1900 suffered a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds over 135 mph. The hurricane destroyed the city and Galveston lost about 8000 souls (est. is 6-12,000), the deadliest natural disaster to ever strike the United States.
The survivors of 'Galveston' (which was what they named this hurricane), in an effort to protect their children from ever having to suffer such a disaster, erected the magnificent Galveston Sea Wall, about 10 miles of granite, 17 feet high, curved to deflect the waves straight up. It has been tested many times, always successfully, the last one in 1983 (Alicia). The 1915 hurricane it withstood was supposedly stronger than the 1900 event.

It must be an amazing feeling to know that your great grandparents worked so hard to protect you, even to this day. God Bless them!

otherstar · Post by **otherstar** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:01 am

As someone in the greater Houston metro area, I thank you. We are about 70 miles inland where I live, but we will still get lots of wind and rain. Should make for an "interesting" next few days. I hope we aren't without power for too long.

--Jeff

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:29 am

Good luck Jeff!

Reverend Jim · Post by **Reverend Jim** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:39 am

Thanks Zach! I'm home battening down the hatches. I think we'll be fine.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:40 am

I hope so, Jim; I'll be watching!

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:16 am

thanks for the thread. Good luck to all of you over there and be safe

Clive

Royal Flush · Post by **Royal Flush** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:36 am

Thank you for the best wishes and luck. I live in the south west area of Houston and apparently I should evacuate my zip code if it strengthens to a Cat. 3 or 4, but its not mandatory. I'm sure to experience the high winds and rain. My neighbors already left to head up north, but I've already thrown all the potted plants and herbs and junk inside of the garage. I'm going to pray at the Mosque, and hopefully nothing too bad happens.

I'm very worried if anyone had the nerve to stay in Galveston, you can see in the skycams that some people are still floating around there getting stuff, but by now with the surges already flooding the streets, they really need to leave.

It will indeed make out for an interesting few days. On a sidenote, I got a few bottles of Aqua Velva, just in case I need to "freshen" up a bit Hahahah!

jww · Post by **jww** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:31 pm

I just saw a clip on CNN about a family that only just now decided to evacuate from an area that was supposed to be evacuated several hours ago. They took the stand that "This is our home, and we don't have to leave if we don't want to." As the father was interviewed he came across as very arrogant and like he would be fine -- after all he had his sea-jet sleds, what was there to worry about?

Go figure -- there is nothing more ridiculous that the amount of hubris that hits people at times of natural disaster. If and when Ike hits, this family is not likely to have a home. I would think it is much more desirable to lose your home than your life -- but then, that's me, someone in the path of the storm could conceivably feel different.

Churchill · Post by **Churchill** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 1:42 pm

Hi gents!
Thanks for the well wishes for Texans.
I live about 30 minutes south of Galveston on the coast.
We evacuated yesterday to the hill country.I fully expect not to have a home to go back to,but I hope I'm wrong.I've told my family "We're safe,I have a good job and we can replace everything that was in our home".
I know this may sound strange but I also feel guilty.Being the Dad and husband I'm supposed to provide all the things that we may have lost.
My wife tells me I'm nuts to feel that way,must be a man thing.

Pray for the people who stayed behind on the coast...they're going to need it.
Bob

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:37 pm

Bob I hope the best for you and Syed for you as well. Although it sounds a lot worse now than this morning, take solace in the fact that post-Katrina weather sensationalism is in full swing. AND say that prayer! And please check back in with the good news in a couple of days, OK?

scaryshoes · Post by **scaryshoes** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:40 pm

To all of our friends in the Galveston area, you are in my prayers.

BTW, I was just watching the cable news and they showed some people at a place called the poop bar ( guess named after a poop deck) who were drinking and having a "hurricane party"

The news host was interviewing the bartender and telling her to warn the customers that they should be evacuating. I sure do hope that they come to their senses before it is too late.

Royal Flush · Post by **Royal Flush** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:58 pm

Yeah alot of people I know are having "Hurricane Parties" but I'm not the type who enjoys drinking to get drunk.

I'm gonna charge up my MP3 player, and enjoy my Dave Matthew's Discography, including their live stuff.

Right now my trees are constantly swaying and the sky has gotten much darker. Still no rain yet, just winds. I've also got a box of pizza to break my fast with. I wanted not to fast for Ramadan today because I've been so tired after cleaning and situating everything in the house, but I figure I don't want to be on God's bad side when this thing hits hahahah. This will be fun and I'll be sure to keep y'all updated on how its going, so long as I don't lose power.

GA Russell · Post by **GA Russell** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:28 pm

Prayers sent, everyone!

DEF · Post by **DEF** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:56 pm

Best wishes to all our Gulf members.

jr60 · Post by **jr60** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:12 pm

Good luck to you all....

Post by **Sam** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:24 pm

Wendell, with Hurricane Katrina not all that too far in our past, you would think people would heed government evacuations a lot more.

I am watching intently our broadcast on CNN and wow, it appears there will be devastating flooding in Galveston. THe local news is reporting that gas has gone up 60 cents or more on news that there may be no supplies and there were lines forming at pumps and some stations ran out. We have a small refinery in Memphis, and so I will wait until I wake up around 6:30 and go refill when everyone is sleeping as I am sure there are tankers making runs in the wee morning hours. Yet gas that was about $3.45 or so this morning is close to $4.00 when I saw it.

Reverend Jim · Post by **Reverend Jim** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:41 pm

We have lost power and the wind is really kicking up. I'm going to try to get some sleep but it is kind of hard to do with all this noise and no air conditioning. Wish me luck!

AACJ · Post by **AACJ** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:52 pm

Good Luck to all there!

On a lighter side, we were just watching the Weather Channel here at work (about 1:45 Eastern) and they had Mike Bettes I think in Beaumont. All of a sudden a streaker ran by behind Mike. At first I didn't think I saw what I did, but my shift partner said something, then he ran back around for another "showing." We all just broke out laughing.

AACJ · Post by **AACJ** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:08 pm

Correction, it was Jorma Duran not Mike Bettes.

texasPI · Post by **texasPI** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:34 pm

Good luck everyone. Was just out in Beaumont and Port Arthur last week and was supposed to be in Galveston this week but have been sitting here at home this week twiddling my thumbs with no work to do as I cancelled all my appointments in anticipation of the storm.

Was planning to vacation next weekend down in Corpus but I'm not sure now if we'll do that. We'll see how high gas prices remain after the storm.