Cleaning Up After Rita & Katrina: Hurricane Rita blew through Texas and southwestern Louisiana northeast of us as a Category 3. The four of us took a safari of the city in the Land Rover last evening. Other than trees, branches and signs downed by the wind, greater metropolitan Houston suffered no major damage. Humble-Kingwood, our area, was the only one to that had sustained power loss, which was restored late last evening. Cable and internet services are still down and, therefore, here’s another post over a 28K connection.

Today saw us cleaning up in and outside the house. Chores included vacuuming, sweeping, collection of leaves and branches and the three guys putting up the blown-down fence. All while I wandered around the house in a Benadryl haze following a very violent allergy meltdown. Something in the post-Rita air has had me sneezing non-stop since 8AM. The dogs look at me like I’m possessed.

Once this house is back in order, D and I will hit the road to New Orleans for more damage survey and cleaning. It has been confirmed that the large tree in our backyard fell in the storm. Thankfully, it did not fall onto the house, but knocked the rear garden wall into the neighbor’s yard. I hated that sap monster anyway.

The refrigerator will be awful. *shudder* Insects were found living in the one downstairs. I heard from some people that refrigerators left with food in them for more than two weeks will have to be discarded, while others talk about cleaning theirs out for reuse. I believe the operative phrase is “We shall see.” If insects thrive in an almost-bare refrigerator, I’m pretty sure evolution and a few mass extinctions have already taken place in ours.

Otherwise, life is back to normal in Kingwood, Texas and most will resume work tomorrow.

Pictures of Houston during and after Rita will be available for viewing just as soon as we have a faster internet connection.

This marks the first VatulBlog post on a 28K connection using the one functional computer during power/cable loss – The Maitri Abides. Other unusual experiences of today include drinking coffee made in a French press (not bad if it didn’t taste like 10 parts coffee to 1 part water), listening to wind-up radio and reading by candlelight. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an unadulterated product of my generation, but only consider the situation prehistoric when it comes to the use (or lack thereof) of my computer. While no sleep came last night (creaking trees, chirping electronics and beeping alarms, portion of the fence falling over and dogs whining from anxiety), this is not the magnitude of storm that should cause two weeks’ worth of power loss, as the local radio station says we may. Oh, and as I typed this first paragraph, we lost water pressure. Swell. In D’s words, “This feels like a vacation at a bad Mexican resort.”

txyankee sums it all up very well. Click here for his full post from earlier this morning. Seriously, the first thing By The Bayou, txyankee and I did after “motivating” at 6AM and making coffee was to get online.

There are several lessons I have learned from this whole thing. First, when you’re in the possible path of a hurricane, the uncertainty of the predictions are extra unnerving. Second, they are actually pretty good at the predictions, uncertainties included. The stress and emotions come and go. Third, we all deal with this stress differently: I try to do little things and make things perfect, and then retreat to the computer. G-Hopp hangs with the computer. SHG talks. D goes nuts in the kitchen.

15% laptop power remaining – time to hook it up to the inverter and then the car. How funny – during the storm, I have all the time in the world, but not enough with the power-hungry computer. I leave you with a friend’s opinion on Rita’s rain hitting New Orleans:

Disappointed as I am about the renewed flooding in the 9th and parts of St. Bernard, I am also relieved that it wasn’t worse (and hope no new problems appear). Those neighborhoods were already total losses. And now it’ll be much easier to get the water out since 40% of the pumps are now working (vs. 0% after Katrina). I also read an article yesterday where a scientist claimed the renewed flooding could be good for N.O. b/c it will clean many of the toxins from the ground which will expedite a comfortable reentry process. I always look for silver linings.

Rita Hits Northwest Gulf Coast: NOLA and southwest Louisiana are getting thrashed right now. A complete list of mandatory and voluntary evacuations for Louisiana.

Another New Orleans Levee Problem (5:15PM CDT) – Following this morning’s topping and subsequent breach of the Ninth Ward Industrial Canal levee, the freshly-patched London Avenue Canal has two breaches. Water enters the Gentilly area from under the canal. In my sad, but honest, opinion, this is a good time for the Army Corps of Engineers to test the integrity of their repair work.

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The following satellite/radar image is a representative snapshot of Hurricane Rita hitting this part of the Gulf Coast (at 4:15PM CDT). For the most recent radar information, please visit this weather.com link:

Hurricane Rita Satellite/Radar 09/23/2005 12:48PM Courtesy NOAA

Meanwhile, Kingwood has something to say to the visiting hurricane.

Here she comes. After the power goes out, I have no idea how much blogging will happen in the upcoming days, but rest assured that the message will get out somehow. Wish us luck!

Ninth Ward Levee Topped By Rain Water: This morning, water poured into the Ninth Ward of New Orleans once again. Rain from Hurricane Rita went “over a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal.” The waterfall is now 30 feet wide and water is waist-high in most of the ward.

A point of clarification: Topping does not equal breaching. Topping may cause a breach because of scour at the base of the levee/wall; this depends on the volume and strength of the water. A true breach of the Industrial Canal would be unfortunate.

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Hurricane Rita / Houston Update: The gang up here in Kingwood (north suburb of Houston) spent all of yesterday afternoon and early evening preparing the house for high winds related to Hurricane Rita. Current predictions put the hurricane just northeast of here. We expect loss of power, strips of rain, street flooding and a bit of wind damage to trees and windows. Our preparations included: cleaning the house and garage, stocking all cars in case of an evacuation, gathering of pet supplies and carriers, organization of all non-power-requiring appliances and full-on inventory.

Just so everyone knows, we did not decide to stay in Houston out of childish bravado, but due to the sheer impracticality of leaving. With no gas in stations between here and San Antonio or Austin, and roads bumper-to-bumper with frightened evacuees, it is unfeasible to leave. Being on the road, especially with a herd of animals, while the hurricane hits is an exercise in idiocy.

As if the nerd quotient at txyankee’s house isn’t high enough (three people sitting around the dining table and one upstairs, all IMing one another), he has set up a webcam that overlooks the backyard. If you want a look, please follow these instructions:

While my computer is on and we have power/internet, I am going to show the backyard through my Yahoo! Messenger account. If you get on there and look for me, I am a_regulr_guy (no a in regular!!). It’s set for everybody to see it. Find me as a friend and then I will “accept” you.

The rain approacheth. (For reference, we’re right on the Harris Co. – Montgomery Co. line off Highway 59)