Thanks for the information, Honeykiss. :) I have no idea about Texas geography. All I know is that Texas is BIG!

Plano's north of Dallas - I live east of there, in Wylie. When Rita makes landfall it's expected to head north. Depending on how strong she is when she makes landfall we'll more than likely get lots of rain, gusty winds and maybe some tornadoes, but by then Rita will have lost most of her punch.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/grap...tml?5day?large

Good visual representations from the National Hurricane Center.

An email with a list of hotels w/vacancies was sent out by our company. I'm not sure how many hotels were called, but from this list there are about 3 or 4 hotels in the Metroplex area w/vacancies. The rest of the list is comprised of hotels in Oklahoma.

My old roommate/pledge sister just called to notify me that she is evacuating from Houston. She is headed up my way to Dallas w/her 11 year old sister. Her mom works at a retirement home and is staying there with her residents. Her dad insists on staying. Her other sister is staying with her mom at the retirement home. They are in the northern parts of Houston, but I'm still very very very very concerned!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(

I like to follow the updates on this web site:

boatus hurricane

The "Current Wind Field" graphic is really interesting.

All of the residents of the Gulf Coast are in my prayers. And hey, I have space up here in Michigan.

I have finally convinced my dad to leave, so thank you for the suggestions- they worked. I know when all is over and our house is okay he will say "I told you so" but that is A-okay with me. It is far better than the alternative.

I am so sad. I keep thinking about what if my house isn't there on Sunday. This is the house I grew up in. And of course I am so thankful to God that he has made a way for my family to be okay, but it is so sad and disheartening to think that all of my childhood memories may be washed/blown away. I cannot even comprehend a cat 5 storm. Alecia was only a 3 and TS Allison was just a TS and I know first hand the harm they caused.

I went to a church day school for 7 years of elementary. In 2001 the church part was leveled due to a tornado produced by Allison. That also happens to be the church where my grandfather was funeralized and I get so sad when I drive by and see the school...and land- no church. I keep wondering if that is how I would feel if the same happens to my house- except when I wonder about seeing a plot where my house used to be the sadness is much more profound.

I am staying prayerful- for everyone's safety and everyone's sanity- God is powerful and so are His creations.

They are saying that 1.2 million people have/are evacuating the Texas coast.

My sister and her husband are evacuating SugarLand for Brenham. I don't know yet how my aunts and uncles are getting out of Houston. :(

We still haven't been able to get ahold of our other best friend and her family... They live in northern Houston, but I still want to know what their plan of action is.

All plans for me this weekend are officially off. I am going to hole up here in Austin. News tonight said that it will be category 1 by the time it gets to us.

This is f-ing crazy...

Stay safe Texas.

everyone please stay safe!!!

i heard on the news that the hurricane will still be a tropical storm when it hits NORTH TEXAS

what's going on? 2 major storms less than 2 months apart?!

Timing is in the eye of the beholder -- or maybe how events affect each of us.

Remember last year when a series of hurricanes hit Florida?

Not much difference, but it's more noticable when it's closer to home, isn't it?

I read today that forcasters expect higher than normal hurricane activity for the next ten years or so.

katrina's girlfriend rita wants revenge. stay safe!

I heard the same thing that DeltAlum heard. They were talking about a 20 year cycle of warmer temperatures of the Atlantic and lack of wind sheer to break these storms up and that this is simply that time again. They said that this cycle started around '95, which was before Andrew, so that surprised me. It does seem that there have been a lot more in the last 10 years. I thought it was just that I wasn't as aware of what was going on in the rest of the country before then and that the media was more focused on it. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

Ironically, they called the Galveston hurricane of 1900 that killed 8000-12,000 people the "100 year hurricane). It's been 105 years... Lets hope we can save the loss of life and get people evacuated this time.

Dee

Slight correction... Andrew hit south Florida in 1992. The last active cycle of hurricanes occurred during the late 1950s and 1960s, ending in the early 70s.