Howdy, Blast here. (long time lunker, hardly ever poster).

Some background: I live on the north side of Houston, about 72 miles from the coast in a neighborhood where my house is four blocks from I-45 and three blocks from the Hardy Toll Road. We planned on evacuating to Austin Thursday morning but the roads were already blocked Wednesday night. We ended up hunkering down, luckily we only received 50 mph winds and a little rain from Rita. I slept through the worst of her! Anyway, this is what Iearned:

1. Stocking up on water, food, and batteries at the beginning (June 1st) of hurricane season saved me a lot of hassle. I did buy some more duct tape, tarps (in case of roof damage), and fresh cleaning supplies including bleach. It was interesting to watch others shopping.

2. If 2.5 million people are evacuating a hurricane, it's best if I stay home.

3. If you are evacuating, bring spare gas! Cars were dead along I-45 as early as Wednesday night. Some neighbors and I brought water to the stranded people, but most had plenty. What they wanted was gas.

4. They also wanted directions to Red Cross shelters. Next time(!) I'll print up maps showing all the churches and schools used as shelters this time. These can then be passed out to stranded evacuees.

5. Buy plywood for the windows! I always meant too, then it was too late. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

6. It's better to have several 7-gallon water jugs with spigots rather than filling dozens of other containers.

7. Don't give out ALL your spare gas to stranded motorists, because you assumed you could siphon gas from your 2005 Honda Pilot or your 1997 Toyota RAV4 (both with full tanks) to fuel you duel-fuel camping stove.

8. Neigbors love it if you check on them to see how they are doing.

9. Patio furniture can be tossed into a pool if there isn't room in a garage.

10. 22 caliber nail-guns damage bricks.

11. One should always have a crowbar.

12. Give the one flashlight that uses C-batteries to your child to play with. Keep all the flashlights that us AA out of her hands.

13. Never trust the weatherman. If you are EVER in a hurricane's "Cone of Uncertainty" get ready. People in Beaumont thought they'd be safe and ended up having less than ten hours to prepare!

14. Double check the yard for stuff. Then check one last time. You'll be suprised by what missles are lurking under your bushes.

15. We have NO IDEA how our preps would have worked if the full force of the storm had hit us.

16. If the power goes out it will go out for days. We didn't lose power but six homes across the street from us did when a transformer blew. They are still without power and may be until Friday. They are the only homes to lose power in a neighborhood of 400 houses, so getting them on-line is low priority to the power company.

16. Afterwards, don't water your plants with water containing bleach. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

17. Your mind slips into slow gear. There were times when I when felt so overwhelmed by all I needed to do yet that my mind would just shut down and I couldn't even tie a decent trucker's hitch. Checklists were vital.

18. It takes a LONG TIME to prep a house for a hurricane.

19. I-45 was at a standstill Wednesday evening and remained gridlocked until Thursday after midnight. Friday morning it was clear except for dozens of abandoned cars.

20. The abandoned cars had been broken into by Friday afternoon.

21. There may not be gas at the stations right along the main roads, but you can find it if you go off a ways. Maps of "off the main path" gas stations would have been useful. Yahoo maps is nice for this if you are planniing an evacuation route.

22. When 2.5 million people are evacuating even the back roads get clogged. One neighbor showed me his "secret" way to Austin on a Texas road map. They were in the car for 15 hours before turning around and heading home. If you can see it on a map so can someone else.

23. People drive like idiots during an evacuation. On the shoulder, in the wrong lane, not caring about the safety of others. Be VERY careful if you step outside the car to pee.

21. Most people are really nice.

22. There was some concern about hordes of evacuees storming our neighborhood but the Houston ayor sent buses out early Friday morning to rescue anyone stranded along the main roads.

23. Houston's mayor (Bill White) knows what to do in an emergency, unlike the mayors of some other cities.

24. cell phones in our neighborhood became useless wednesday night due to all the people on I-45 overloading the nearby towers.

25. Text-messaging on the cell phones could usually get through.

On Thursday afternoon we held a block meeting to organize a "heavy-lifting" work party, found out who had first aid training, who had a chainsaw, and prayed. We also had everyone with FSR radios bring them along. The radios were passed out one to each family and set them all to channel 6. If someone needed help they could call the other neighbors. I'm lucky because we live in a great neighborhood where everyone knows and watches over everyone else.

Finally, a funny story. Thursday afternoon my neighbor came running over in a panic, desperate for cake mix! His son was turning 9 on Friday and there were no stores open to buy a birthday cake. Luckily my wife is a great cook, so while I was finishing up preps she baked a birthday cake/frosting from scratch.
Well, it seemed funny at the time.

Hopefully there was a useful nugget of information in this post. I've been lurking on this forum since just after 9-11, but I rarely have anything worth saying compared to the quality of so many others here. I figured I was actually in this event, so maybe experience will count for something.

I'll try to answer any questions y'all might have about this situation.
-Blast