TheBanyanTree: Gustav Moon

[Dale M. Parish]

Looks like Gustav is heading our way-- through yesterday, the six major
models at the Weather Underground, which I think are the most accurate--
were of two general tracks-- one set east of us and one set west.
Today, they've converged into a much tighter band, but the National
Hurricane Center states that the eye must be within 12 hours of shore
before their predictions have better than a 50% accuracy of greater than
100 miles of coastline.  A lot can happen between now and then.

I got called this morning by my boss to come to Beaumont and pick up my
hologram for my badge.  There is expected to be a lot tighter security
on those attempting to get back into the area after the evacuation order
was given, which it was before I returned from Beaumont.  Jefferson
(Beaumont) and Orange County are both under manditory evacuation orders
effective 0600 tomorrow. Without the hologram on a company ID badge
individuals are not supposed to attempt to return to the area until  
the all-
clear is given.

My sons are living in apartments in Beaumont, so I expect them to come
over tomorrow.  Likewise, my step-son and his wife and daughter have no
place to go-- there's no vacancies within 500km or more now, and the
line of no vacancies is moving north rapidly.  Expect they'll be joining
us, too.

I almost feel guilty-- I have so  many places I could go-- friends from
Army days and kinfolk in Dallas and northern east Texas who have
called or emailed to say we're welcome, but I can't go, and the next
generation has so few apparent connections away.  I'm wondering
what that says for the society.  Maybe it just says that it takes a
lifetime to make all those connections, and they're still young?

I spent the afternoon finishing removing from the shipping pallet and
assembling the new generator.  We got burglarized down at the shop,
where my old one was stolen, and I just found a replacement with the
insurance money last month, but hadn't made time to assemble it till
now.  Out here, there's no city water or sewer, so I can be
self-sufficient as long as I can get the fuel.  Have two water wells--
the old shallow well and the new deep well, and a self-contained sewer
system.  Just the fuel will be a problem-- the stations here are drying
up.  When I loaded the tractor and stopped to top off th diesel tank on
it, I threw an empty drum in the truck, but the station on the freeway
had already sold out of regular and it ran out of the middle grade
before I finished filling the drum.  I have another full drum of gas and
diesel at the shop, but that's only a couple of days worth of fuel.  I'm
counting on Gustav not coming here, but better safe than sorry.

I feel for all the evacuees.  I saw so many at the station tonight
expecting to sleep in their cars.  During Rita, it took too many of them
24 hours to get two counties, and many ran out of gas sitting idling in
stalled traffic, so it will be interesting to see the statistics after
this is over with identifying the bottlenecks and the traffice flows
plotted against time before landfall.

Cindy and I walked down to the freeway later tonight to watch the
traffic- westbound IH10 is varying between almost stopped and bouts of
thirty, and infrequently fourty miles per hour.  What makes it bad is
that almost all of Orange County's IH10 is under construction and bound
up in narrow lanes on which there is no shoulder whatsoever.  Someone
stalls-- has a flat, runs out of gas, they stop all the traffic in that
lane until their vehicle can be removed.  The wreckers are out in force
trying to snag victims.

The bridge over Cow Bayou near here is under construction, and someone
decided to go around the barriers this afternoon and try to beat traffic
for some strange reason-- they ran into the bayou and drowned.  Took
several hours to fish the vehicle out so the victims could be recovered.
Happens every 10 years or so here, and never nakes sense.

Won't be much Labor Day holiday weekend this year here on the Texas Gulf
Coast.  We hear that Louisiana will be turning eastbound traffic around
tomorrow-- the TV news people are choosing their words carefully since
it's apparently not official yet, but Texas has announced that IH10 will
not be closed due to the evacuation order, but that motorists will be
prevented from leaving the freeway and going south until they have
travelled out of the area that emergency officials think may be in
danger from Gustav.  Which probably means west of Houston.

Hugs,
Dale
--
Dale M. Parish
628 Parish Rd
Orange TX 77632
parishdm at att.net		http://parishdm.home.att.net