Category 5 @ MindSay

As Hurricane Rita grows into a powerful Category -4- 5 hurricane Wednesday morning afternoon aiming at the Texas Gulf Coast, city officials and authorities are urging the city of Houston and many cities located near the state's coastline to evacuate. (Corrections and strikethroughs effective as of 3:03PM).

Galveston began evacuating residents on Tuesday. Further inland, Houston Mayor Bill White ordered a mandatory evacuation of residents in areas prone to storm surges or major floods. Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged residents along most of the state's coastline, from the Louisiana border almost to Mexico, to leave. -ABCnews

As some of you may know, I'm from Missouri City, TX (Fort Bend County). This city is only 2 miles from Houston, TX. and it is located near Stafford and Sugarland. The news on TV is considering this side of Rita's Path "The Dirty Side"...



The following images are the screenshots of Houston's Evacuation Zones as of Wednesday:




As of 3:03pm, it was reported that Rita is NOW a Category 5 Hurricane. I'm currently watching the news because I'm very, very near the Evacuation Zone C. I am in a zone meteoroligists consider "The Dirty Side" of Rita, which will be getting HEAVY rainfall. Southwest Houston, as in Harris County and Fort Bend County (including Sugarland and Katy) has been requested Voluntary Evacuation. However, that may change and right now, I'm getting ready.

My fellow Houstonians, I wish you all the best of luck. If you have to evacuate, please do so. I will be staying here to protect and watch the family property. Update: (09/21/05 9:00pm) Ok, nevermind. I'm convinced. I have packed my survival gear necessary for evacuation. Depending on the family's decision, a friend of mine and I may be headed to San Marcos, TX (Wimberley, TX to be exact).

I might post more about Rita later. The 90's Song of the Day will be postponed all throughout the weekend. Consider this my "Emergency Broadcast System" interruption. THIS ENTRY may be updated with newer information.

If there's anything I learned from Hurricane Katrina, after saying and thinking "Pssh, I would've just evacuated if I were them", it's actually NOT THAT EASY! Now that Hurricane Rita is on her way here, this is what I learned and I would like to share it with everyone:

Evacuation is easier said than done!

Don't get me wrong, I thank you all who suggested for me to leave Houston. Thank you very much. Missouri City, Stafford, Sugarland, Alief, Meadows City, Richmond, Rosenberg and Southwest Houston is still under voluntary evacuation. UNLESS it was made MANDATORY, I HAVE A SURVIVAL / EVACUATION GEAR and I'm READY for evacuation at any time, carrying the most important belongings with me.



Call me crazy, or call me Roger, but my family has been here in America for 13 years of struggle and hardship to just watch our home get smaller in our rearview mirrors. I have made a decision to stand my my family's side during these fearful times. The home we live in now, which is a fruit of our labor from the day we came to the US, if it goes down, I WILL GO DOWN WITH IT.

You guys KNOW I don't have a job, I don't have any cash for gasoline, motel, and food. Unlike many of the Houston evacuees, I don't really have much choice. The mayor of Houston emphasized to use our common senses. That's exactly what I'm doing.



With half a tank of gas and no cash, I think I'll use MY common sense.

Just so you guys know, I'll be ok. I'm a survivor. We are currently working on securing everything indoors and outdoors and we have enough food and water supply for the weekend. A power outage is a GIVEN and I might just miss a few days of blogging. Expect delays in my response to your comments and replies. Please don't worry about me. I'll be just fine. :D

This just in: My son and his mother just arrived at the Dallas / Fort Worth area. I spoke to my son and his mother last night and told them that we will be riding the storm. I promised my son that I will be finishing our unfinished business of our lightsaber duel next week. I have something to look forward to so, survival is NOT an option. I spoke to Meina, my son's mother, and told her "God bless you, our son and your family." She said the same to me in a much sincere manner I haven't heard since we were together.

My Fellow Houstonians: If you have already evacuated, you did the right thing and I'm very happy for you guys. For those who are riding the storm; Godspeed, GOD BLESS YOU and take good care. By next week, I expect to hear from the following Houstonians in my network:

• Myclette


• Claudia


• Pricilla


• Vanessa


• Roxie (Pasadena, TX)
• J0hnny P Nguyen (Alief Hurricane Rider, Houston, TX! Fcuk ya dude! ALIEF REPRESENT!!! :D)
  


• ...and for those Houstonians I have not met yet (comment so I know) God bless you all!

I will be back later on to post personal pictures of our preparation for the storm. Greenie will be taking over the 90's Song of the Day while I'm working through this. I might assign a few people to run this blog while I ride Rita... wait, that sounded bad.. lol

All day long, we were preparing ourselves for Hurricane Rita, turning our home into a fortress. And we're still not done. But as far as stocking up on food and water supply, we got that covered.



Hurricane Rita has been downgraded to a Category 4 as she takes a "sudden" turn towards East of Houston, East of Texas, and is still currently changing. From previous posts, I mentioned that I was located East of Rita's path, also known as "The Dirty Side" of the hurricane. Not anymore! We are now West of Miss Rita's reach, meaning we are considered to be at "The Clean Side".

But still, we are NOT lowering our defenses. We're ensuring our safety and our survival. We are still within her reach and we will still be experiencing winds traveling over 100MpH. Rita seems to change her mind a lot... sounds familiar.. ;)




For now, I wanna share some pics of what we have been doing here at home in Missouri City, TX.




If they don't order a mandatory evacuation in our area by 9:00am, that means any kind of evacuation is NOT an option. We will be taking care of some last minute reinforcements and preparations. Houston will be feeling Miss Rita's touches by tomorrow afternoon.

My Fellow Houstonians (and Mindsayers): There is no doubt that we will be experiencing a long power failure. In case you want to know how I am doing, visit http://kuyaroger.blogspot.com. I will be sending text message entries (moblogs) to THAT blog to let you guys know how I'm doing.

As Hurricane Rita approaches the Texas / Louisiana Gulf Coast, people who are here in the Houston area can feel her fingertips reaching us. I woke up this morning and stepped out to stretch my arms in the middle of my street and I felt Miss Rita's whispers. The morning sunshine was worth taking a picture of, as we won't be seeing the same sunshine for at least the next 48 hours or so...




Galveston, TX is now a ghost town. As I was watching the news, they mentioned that Miss Rita relaxed a bit and downgraded to Category 3. But the footages that they are showing in the news dudn't look too good. The sea wall is now battling the waves. It reminded me of a picture I took over there 10 years ago:



(Yes, I like sitting on daring high edges with my guitar, like my userpic. ;))

All day long, we did the hardest move-around of our stuff, no matter how dirty we got. Now, I can assure you guys that I am well prepared and everything "should" be just fine.

WHEN THE POWER FAILURE TAKES PLACE: I will be "moblogging" entries at http://kuyaroger.blogspot.com. They are entries with less than 100 characters sent using my cell phone. I already have a "moblogged" entry posted there so you will get an idea of how I'm doing. At around 11:00pm Central Time (12:00am EST); I will post a short update to let you know how Rita is like. If I don't, that means the power is out.

My Mindsay Network: Please be patient and expect delays on my replies to your comments and replies to our current threads. Some of you are getting all upset and all because I have not replied to you or responded your comments. Please, just understand. Thanks.

My Fellow Houstonians (Harris County, Fort Bend County, and others): I know that many of you are riding the storm. Saddle up, Texan Cowboys and Cowgirls! It's only a few more hours before 9:00pm. Stay indoors and think of safety first. I'm assuming all you hurricane riders know what to do. Take good care and God Bless Y'ALL! YEEHAWW!!!

From sometime around 6:00pm until 6:00am, we are NOT allowed to leave our homes. And at any hour now, we are expecting the inevitable "power failure" that would prevent me to blog about my "front row" experience of hurricane Rita.

We can here the Rita's loud whispers on our windows. We can feel her fingers slighly nudging our walls. We're trying to keep calm at the moment, as we keep our eyes on the news.

Here are some pics that I took this afternoon:




I took these pics before sunset and the winds were pushing me out of balance. But yeah. I'm gonna be unplugging the computer after posting this entry, to avoid strong power surges when the power failure takes place. It's only a few more hours until her eyes reach landfall and I'm trying to avoid falling asleep. The last thing I want is for things to be breaking and stuff while sleeping. More coffee for me!