August 5, 2008 (Tuesday)
I’m writing this on Monday night, expecting Edouard tomorrow. It’s still a Tropical Storm, not a hurricane, but such storms have wrought much havoc in Texas in past years. Fern and Allison come to mind as storms that produced massive amounts of rain as they wandered about, sometimes going away from an area only to return with more rain. So, until it passes through and goes on its way to central texas as forecast, I’ll just wait and see what it does.
I was in Houston in 2005 when Katrina’s fury in Louisiana was followed by Hurricane Rita whose threat seemed so great that thousands upon thousands of people flooded the highways attempting to evacuate. The roads were filled with vehicles either stopped or moving very slowly. It was a nightmare for those stranded, but could have been so much worse had the storm’s fury been unleashed on them. As it turned out, Rita stayed east of Houston, coming ashore on my 74th birthday just east of Sabine Pass, and did a lot of damage in Southeast Texas and East Texas.
Edouard is now forecast to make landfall around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday and follow a path taking it over Houston. We’ll know more about it as it arrives. This is not much of a blog, because it talks of stuff everyone knows very well, but it’s what’s on our minds, so I’m writing it down. Think of it as a diary, if you like.