A new friend
Finding a new friend As we were preparing to hunker down for the storm this morning, my 17 year old took my grandson for a bike ride. They returned with a wonderful man who was fleeing again. A resident of New Orleans, Myron was out of town when Katrina struck. He was preparing to return when he was evacuated from Lake Charles. Arriving at the assigned shelter in DeRidder, he found it extremely rough and took a walk. My son, David, spoke to Myron and brought him home. Myron is now riding out the storm with us, instead of in a cramped and crowded shelter. He has been a blessing in our home and is a gracious guest. It has broken my heart to see him listening to reports of home being flooded again. But we will extend our hospitality and offer what assistance we can to this one individual.
--Maria Sanchez, DeRidder, La.

Thinking of home far from home
When our future is left up to Mother Nature, there's really not much we can do to prepare. My husband is a Houston Police Officer, therefore he is not able to evacuate. The officers have set up home inside of the sub-stations and they're just holding on tight. We boarded up our windows, closed storm shutters, and gathered necessities (food, electronics, pictures, etc.), packed both of our vehicles to the brim, and parted ways. He went to work, I left with our twins and am now in Alabama. Have you ever tried fitting a 120 lb German Sheppard into the backseat of a fully packed car with 5 year old twins? We certainly couldn't leave him. Please keep us and everyone else in your prayers. At least I was able to give my husband a kiss before I left, there were others who weren't so lucky.
--Wendy Kelley, Hitchcock, Texas

Forty minute trip takes eight hours
I live in Sugar Land, Texas but I left and went to my dad's place in Conroe. I left Friday night at around 8:30 p.m. and it took exactly three hours to get there, usually it only takes about an hour. I work for Christus Health System, which is a Catholic health system, I was scheduled to be at work at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, when I got there I was not able to get into the building with my ID badge for some reason, so I decided to head home, back to Conroe. Usually the trip would only take 40 minutes but due to the intense traffic, it took me around eight hours.

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Quan Vu
On the way home, I saw a lot of people standing outside of their cars walking the dogs, some of the cars simply ran out of gas or broke down in the middle of the highway. The frustrating thing is that the traffic was hardly moving at all, you can see children without shirts on or infants in diapers because the weather was too hot, some simply decided to pull into a gas station or parking lot because they either ran out of gas or have no money left. But everybody was very calm & very helpful to each other.
--Quan Vu, Sugar Land, Texas

Too late, and too little resources
Melissa my daughter, Josh my grandson and myself are hanging in here, watching the progress of Rita. Too late to evacuate, no gas, no money to buy gas. Old truck gets about 7.5 miles per gallon. I am an apartment maintenance man, I need to be here so I can try to put a band-aid on it temporarily. We have frozen water for drinking, for the ice chest to keep our food. We have a grill and charcoal. I am a little worried about Josh, this is his first hurricane, shucks he will hold up if for no other reason than being my grandson. My daughter is a rock, she is like a mother hen. We are looking after each other. With God all things are possible. Should things not turn out like we think it should, our God has his reasons. I am not going to question Him.
--Wesley P. Taylor, De Ridder, Louisiana

A frustrating, hot and scary drive
I live in Houston, which floods in a good rainstorm. I work in a restaurant with a glass frontage, which is great in nice weather, but poses a serious risk in this type of storm. We taped the windows, the only business in our little center to do so. I left there yesterday morning at 11, heading north to my grandmother's house in Clifton, Texas, a small town west of Waco. It took me eight hours to clear the Houston area and I arrived this morning at 5 a.m. at my destination. I brought my animals with me, as predictions of power outages range from several days to two weeks in Houston. The drive was frustrating, HOT and scary for a woman driving alone, not knowing if there would be gas when I needed it. I am grateful to be safe now but worry about my apartment, which is in an area usually ok with flooding but is an older place. The landlord would not board windows and I put plastic over them on the inside to try to prevent too much damage.
--Nicole Goodrow, Houston, Texas

On second thought…
We live in the Highlands section of Houston, near the inlet of water coming in from the Gulf. We live in a restored Victorian, and had no plans to evacuate. On Monday this week we were laughing that the media was making so much hype about what Rita could do to Houston; Tuesday we were paying more attention and by early Wednesday some friends in Galvestion and Port Bolivar had run for cover. Wednesday night we shopped for 2 large coolers, gas cans, ice, batteries, candles and spent $290 on food for 4 people. We have a 9 year old twins and are not taking any chances. We are on the way to Boston, MA to visit my sister and her family. We hope our beautiful Victorian will be there when we return...if we can return. God be with us all.
--Karan, Houston, Texas

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A fact of life
We are in Lafayette, La., where we are expecting 50-70 mph winds tomorrow. Some of our friends who live to the south and/or west are leaving. We are choosing to stay and ride out the storm. When you grow up in Louisiana hurricanes are a fact of life and you just deal with it. I would NEVER stay if we were getting Cat 4 or Cat 5 conditions but while the weather will be bad it's not anything that we cannot handle. A lot of people in the United States can't understand why we won't leave. We just love Louisiana that much. The people, places, food, music, culture and just the joie de vivre are things you cannot find anywhere else. I have full confidence in our President and local officials (if not our Governor!) that they will help us get through this. I have faith in God that he will spare us the worst of the storm. Please pray for our beloved state and all of the residents in it!
--Lena Styles, Lafayette, La.

Feeling prepared
Right now I’m in the path of Hurricane Rita. My family and I are preparing by cleaning out the bathtubs and filling them up with water, we also have a bread machine and the things to make homemade bread so since there is NOTHING in stores my mother has been making homemade bread since we have power and Rita has not hit yet. We also have taped up windows and boarded them up so no glass could shatter anywhere, and we have MANY gallons of water. So far, I think we are really prepared for Rita. Lets just hope Rita will change its path and Houston won’t receive the eye like it was supposed to!
--Summer, Houston, Texas

Advice for all
I'll be riding out the storm here due to heavy traffic heading out of the Houston area. My advice to people in similar situation is: a. Stock up on non-perishable food and water b. fill up your tub with water to use to work the toilets. c. If you have neighbors around, let them know where you'll be in your residence d. Stay in the inner most room in the house, away from windows and unplug all electrical devices e. Warn your family members that your cells/phone might go out for a day or two since they need power as well. If the cell towers are working, you can charge your cell in your car (hopefully you have a car charger). f. Finally, Do not drive during the storm or when it's flooding. Here's hoping for the best. Houston Rocks!!!!! :)
--Kay, Inner Loop (Medical Center Area), Houston, Texas

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CONTINUED : More reports from people preparing for Rita

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