Our plan for Hurricane Ike

Wanted to give you an update on what we are doing for Hurricane Ike...



Ike is pointed directly at the Houston-Galveston area now. I've been watching it for the last 24 hours and it has significantly shifted toward us from where it was yesterday. Instead of being on the outer fringe of the cone of uncertainty, Houston is now in the dead center of it.

You can visit the NOAA website here to see the latest 3 day forecast of the storm:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/143912.shtml?3day?large#contents


That said, Houston is inland by 50 miles. We are well out of range of storm surge, but we will get lots of rain, which will be bad for such a flood-prone city, and very high winds. Last estimate showed winds in excess of 78 mph in Houston - it takes 50 mph wind to uproot a tree.

Houston is NOT under evacuation, but pretty much all of the areas to the south and east of us are. We have decided that we are going to head to Louisana to my mom and dad's house in Lafayette. The likelihood for loss of power appears to be high, and I don't want to be in a position of no power for any period of time while I am pregnant.

Because everyone south and east of us being evacuated as of noon today, we have decided we are leaving today too. It appears that leaving tomorrow would be a waste of time. Landfall is estimated to be sometime in the middle of the night Friday, but the storm is so big we'll be feeling it way before then. Even leaving at noon tomorrow would be too late.

The only thing holding us up now is that as I type this I sit in the Dallas airport waiting for my delayed plane to arrive and take me home. Liz and B are both ready, and they are being nice enough to wait for me! :D

So, that is the plan. We do not think we are taking I-10 East - we will search for other eastbound routes north of I-10 to avoid those evacuees on the highway along the way.

We will return to Houston when power is restored. If Houston ends up not losing power, then we'll just come home!

We'll post again after the storm has passed and let you know how it all turned out!