My God what a Mess!

[KatDaddy]

I have spent 2 days preparing and on the road. We left League City at 7PM last night and got to Highway 6 and Bellaire at 12:15AM! We stayed at my co-workers house last night and back on the road at 7AM. At 11:40AM I was in Katy. At that point with no movement, low gas, and a overheating baby I said screw it!. Back at my co-workers house in Bellaire for the duration. The worst traffic jam I have ever seen. It like this all over SE TX. Cell phone networks unable to handle the call load is extremely frustration.

Yesterday was hell enough putting up storm panels and packing what is important to in a 12 hour period. This has been very trying time for KatDaddy and Mrs KatDaddy.

[decgirl66]

Sound very frustrating! Glad you were able to get to some form of safety, though! Will be thinking of your family and all in Rita's path!

[decgirl66]

Sound very frustrating! Glad you were able to get to some form of safety, though! Will be thinking of your family and all in Rita's path!

[Canebo]

Hey Katdaddy, sorry to say your nightmare is being shared by many. I've been talking to several of our fellow League City neighbors who are stuck on various roadways. My nextdoor neighbor left at 4 am this morning and stil had not cleared Sugarland by 2PM today.
My wife and kids made it to Longview yesterday morning after a long ride w/2 unhappy babies.
I got boarded up yesterday and will be riding it out here in the house. Seems like a better option than 12 hours on the road to nowhere.

[janswizard]

Sorry to hear that, Katdaddy.

It appears that many have learned from Katrina and I'm so glad to see so many people take the warnings seriously. Looks like the counties/states still have some planning to do on how to move huge amounts of automobiles when evacuating becomes necessary. Not only the backups on the roads but also the problem with cars running out of gas while stuck in all that traffic.

[Roxy]

I hear ya KatDaddy, we had to turn around. We would have been out of gas in no time if we'd have stayed on that road. And there was no gas to be found anyway....So now we are back at our house by Ellington Field and we are staying here.

Canebo are you riding it out in League City? You are certainly safer there than in traffic right now.


I am kind of pissed because so many people who didn't NEED to leave left, now they are crowding the roads and using all the gas. I know people are freaked out because of Katrina but this could be really bad.

[Houstonia]

I hear ya KatDaddy, we had to turn around. We would have been out of gas in no time if we'd have stayed on that road. And there was no gas to be found anyway....So now we are back at our house by Ellington Field and we are staying here.

I am kind of pissed because so many people who didn't NEED to leave left, now they are crowding the roads and using all the gas. I know people are freaked out because of Katrina but this could be really bad.

Meanwhile my siblings up north are screaming at us to leave (we are above the flood plain in southwest Houston). There iis no point in trying to explain to them 1) that we don't need to leave and 2) it would just cause problems to join that horrendous, history-making mass exodus that is stuck on the freeway right now.

I drove into Houston earlier today from the cy-fair area. I haev NEVER seen anything like it before.

It's post-katrina mass hysteria. It's people who've never been through a hurricane before. It's people who are watching or getting the WRONG information.

It's very upsetting. Last night I was one of those people - thinking, man - I should leave too since everyone else is. I drove by all of these people headed out of town and i thought - if everyone else is leaving - what am I doing wrong?

but now I'm satisfied that we're making the right decision in staying.

[Brent]

Yeah... it's been on the news as well. Jim Cantore just said you can walk faster than the traffic is moving.

[Roxy]

Houstonia, we are barely on the edge of the evac zone, I feel a little apprehensive about staying...it seems we are two of the very few who did except my parents a mile down the road who encountered the same problem we did and turned back..

We should be leaving, I guess...but I really feel it's too late.

We are pretty high, and it's never flooded here...so I think we will be ok.

[Houstonia]

Houstonia, we are barely on the edge of the evac zone, I feel a little apprehensive about staying...it seems we are two of the very few who did except my parents a mile down the road who encountered the same problem we did and turned back..

We should be leaving, I guess...but I really feel it's too late.

We are pretty high, and it's never flooded here...so I think we will be ok.

You're out by Ellington Field? I can understand your concern. I will be thinking about y'all out there and trying to keep up with the news.

But I can understand why you turned back too... it's a hard decision, isn't it...

[jujubean]

I'm starting to get nervous for all the people on the highways. I heard someone on msnbc say the traffic was backed up for at least 100 miles. If this is true how in the world are they going to get to safety in time

[wlfpack81]

Just got off the phone w/my cousin. She gave up (after 12hrs on the road) and is now going to stay w/a friend in Humble, TX near the airport. I just hope Rita doesn't pull a fast one on us and decides to come in farther left than expected.

[HouTXmetro]

I'm starting to get nervous for all the people on the highways. I heard someone on msnbc say the traffic was backed up for at least 100 miles. If this is true how in the world are they going to get to safety in time

I'm afraid people will be stuck on the Highways. An additional 500,000 has been ordered to leave SW Louisiana.

[Roxy]

Houstonia, we are barely on the edge of the evac zone, I feel a little apprehensive about staying...it seems we are two of the very few who did except my parents a mile down the road who encountered the same problem we did and turned back..

We should be leaving, I guess...but I really feel it's too late.

We are pretty high, and it's never flooded here...so I think we will be ok.

You're out by Ellington Field? I can understand your concern. I will be thinking about y'all out there and trying to keep up with the news.

But I can understand why you turned back too... it's a hard decision, isn't it...

Hey the only good news about being near Ellington Field is that that is where they are staging the millitary, so at least help is near.

But with each new track I feel a little better.

We will be ok.

[f5]

this is why she should make landfall east of the Texas border beacuse i see a catastrophie(Houston) that would make whats happing in NO and mississippi look like a picnic

[Canebo]

Canebo are you riding it out in League City? You are certainly safer there than in traffic right now.


I am kind of pissed because so many people who didn't NEED to leave left, now they are crowding the roads and using all the gas. I know people are freaked out because of Katrina but this could be really bad.

Yes, I'm on the West side of League City.We didn't flood here during Allison, so with it moving farther east the storm surge is less of a threat. We are in the Cat 4 storm surge evac zone here.

Ellington is a good place to be. They are flying out some people that they could not bus out earlier there. They also have Natl Guard, HPD airport officers, Coast Guard, and other resources there. If somehow it went to heck very fast, you are close to many people whose job it is to help you.

Almost anything is better than being on the road right now. My neighbor made it to Wharton and is coming back. He has about 100 miles worth of gas left and 200 miles to reach his evac destination. He has contacted all of the PD's in that area and they all said NO gas in the direction he is headed for at least 100 miles. They will have to rip up the evac plans here and start fresh after this mess.

Stay safe everyone who is staying behind. Prayers for all of those stuck on the roads somwhere running low on gas, time, water and patience.

[Shoshana]

I45 is now on contraflow from Conroe to ? (I've head all the way to Dallas w/o confimation) and I10 is contraflow from Katy to Seguin - but there's a huge mess where people are trying to turn around on 110 itself to get to the HOV exit lane, then u-turn IN the HOV lane to keep going west into the normally eastbound side of I10 ...

See Gridlock: I-10, I-45 contraflow lanes implemented for info and videos

live webcast at

khou I was watching this earlier on Austin's KVUE digital channel 24.2

[inotherwords]

Local authorities were way too late in implementing contraflow lanes!

I feel so sorry for these people. They are running out of gas sitting in traffic. This is just ridiculous.

Good luck in Bellaire, Katdaddy. A good friend of mine is hunkering down in Meyerland near you. I'm hoping if it goes in north of Houston you will be spared the worst of it.

[azsnowman]

I can ONLY imagine Cell phones for the biggest part are a very useful tool but it's at times like these, they suck!!

Being involved in law enforcement, we have a dedicated tower just for us to use in case of emergencies, when we evacued our town 3 years ago due to a wildfire, getting 50,000+ residents out was a ROYAL pain, to me, this is incomprehenceable

Best of luck to you folks, rest assured you've got my prayers with you!

Dennis

[Stratosphere747]

Well it is beyond insane...

It's to the point that there should be a call to STOP evacuating...

This time tomorrow evening the absolute worse case scenario may be unfolding if the track deviates to the west...