The Weather Channel – A Country for Old Men
September 3, 2008 (Wednesday)
Of all the blessings for which we are thankful, I don’t want us to overlook CSpan, the channel that lets you listen to the conventions and make up your own mind. CSpan is best appreciated by listening to one of the other channels for about an hour first, then tuning to CSpan, the channel that sets up a microphone and camera and lets nature take its course.
Of course, a companion blessing is the Weather Channel, the favorite television fare for millions of guys my age across the country. So on the map last night we had Tropical Depression Gustav, Tropical Storm Hannah, Tropical Storm Ike, and Tropical Storm Josephine, like four vandals standing in line to do you harm.
Meanwhile, the traffic eastbound through Houston is something to behold, as people try to get back home after following orders to evacuate as Hurricane Gustav approached Louisiana.
I can recall no orders to evacuate the area while I was growing up in Houston. There were not as many people then, the land had not subsided yet, and the flood-prone areas were sparsely populated. No one considered leaving because of strong winds or driving rain.
When you live right on the coast, like Galveston or Rockport, the situation is quite different. In 1919, water was ten feet deep in the business area of Rockport. Many people died. Earlier, in 1900, more than 6000 died in Galveston, which had no warning and no place to run. Evacuation is the right course of action if staying put means you might drown.
We stayed put in Rockport in 1970 when Hurricane Celia destroyed many buildings in the area. It blew out windows, took off part of the roof, and blew down trees at our home, and the walls breathed in and out as air pressure went crazy. When the next big storm hit, we went to San Antonio, spent the time eating out, going to the movies and touring the malls. As it turned out, the storm weakened and changed course as it came ashore, so we had power when we went back home. If Ike comes our way, do what you have to do to stay safe.