hurricane Ike update

Just to give you an update on how we're being affected by Hurricane Ike...

Looks like it will turn and head north of Houston once it makes shore. This makes us in a Tropical Storm Warning since we are northwest of Houston. 35mph sustained winds with 70mph gusts are what we're expecting during the night & early morning. 80% chance of rain here tomorrow & 40% chance on Sunday. Weird that such a huge storm is coming & we'll only get this much. We're still preparing for power outages and LARGE influx of evacuees in the area.

Here's something I learned today: When the weatherman says "When Hurricane Ike makes shore..." means when the eye of the hurricane makes shore. The hurricane is placed according to the eye of the storm, not the windy arms of the hurricane. The winds right now are at 110 mph, ONE mile per hour shy of a category 3 hurricane. I kept thinking that the radar indicated the winds had already come ashore.... but it's the eye they're talking about. Got it.

Scott got home yesterday. It took Scott 6-1/2 hours to get home! It's usually a 3 or 3-1/2 hour trip. He took an alternate route to get home since the main highway from Houston was so crowded. Lots of buses and vans on the road. Many of the gas stations were out of gas in the Houston area. Wouldn't that be scary to get stranded without any gas?

My kids got out of school at 2pm today because their high school is one of the shelters for evacuees. Many of the schools & large halls are being used as shelters. The football team went to Waco (north 1 hour) to play tonight, but left behind the half-time entertainment because the buses were needed to transport evacuees. Wow! There are alot of extra people in Round Rock & Austin tonight!

Tonight we filled up the big orange water cooler & bought batteries for flashlights. We also got plenty of milk & bread for the weeekend. I'll post some more tomorrow to keep you updated!