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Subject: Rita update

From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
Date: 2005-09-23

Looks like the storm is bending north-east and will hit right at the
Texas/Louisiana border. If this is the case, Dallas area will not see "much"
activity, probably 3-5" of rain on Saturday. Winds maybe 50MPH. I can still
solder and send email :)

My entire family is in Houston, however. They cannot evacuate due to over
300,000 cars jamming the roads. Gas was $2.65/gallon at 9AM and jumped to $2.85
by 3PM. Most gas stations from Dallas to Houston are out of gas. And the gas is
trucked in from ∗Houston∗. We will have to stay put all weekend just to have gas
to go to work Monday. And there will be 200,000 ∗more∗ people in the area over
the Katrina folks.

My family is in an older section of SW Houston: wooden houses and very large
trees. The main danger are the trees falling due to saturated soil conditions
and over 100MPH winds. I keep replaying a joke by Ron White: "In a hurricane,
it's not the fact that the wind is blowing: it's ∗what∗ the wind is blowing!"
Also, the telephone and power lines are all aerial (on poles) so there is a 100%
chance the power will be out up to 10 days. The irony of that is my sister is
the president of Reliant Energy, that runs all the power grid in the Houston
area.

Paul S.