Eight Feet Deep

In fact, it is quiet throughout Beaumont, Texas, save for the giant parking lots that are Interstate 10 East and the Eastex Freeway. The order to begin evacuating Beaumont started roughly 90 minutes ago. Here is the official National Weather Service forecast for Jefferson and Orange counties in Texas and Cameron Parish, Louisiana:

“FRIDAY…RAIN LIKELY AND NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MORNING…
THEN OCCASIONAL RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. STRONG
WINDS. RAIN MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. HIGHS AROUND 90. NORTHEAST
WINDS 20 TO 40 MPH INCREASING TO 30 TO 55 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
CHANCE OF RAIN 80 PERCENT.
FRIDAY NIGHT…OCCASIONAL RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS. HURRICANE
FORCE WINDS. RAIN MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. LOWS IN THE UPPER 70S.
NORTHEAST WINDS 50 TO 65 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 80 MPH BECOMING
EAST AND INCREASING TO 60 TO 90 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SATURDAY…OCCASIONAL RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS. HURRICANE FORCE
WINDS. RAIN MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S. SOUTH
WINDS 50 TO 95 MPH DECREASING TO 35 TO 70 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
CHANCE OF RAIN 80 PERCENT.”

“Decreasing to 35 to 70 mph.” That sounds like it’s just a gentle breeze compared to the 60 to 90 mph after midnight.

I am still unsure where I am going. Well, I am not going to Sabine Pass or Bolivar Peninsula or Galveston. That’s for sure! And I plan on going north. But that is about all I know for the time being. I was thinking about going to my brother’s place about 60 miles northeast in Newton County. Now they’ve got a mandatory evacuation. I still think I’d rather face a 100+ mph wind gust there than a 90-mph sustained wind here. At some point in time I will load up the wagon and ride. But I might as well fret a little more.

It’s 7 a.m. I awoke at 4 o’clock and slowly decided I would stay up. My first glance at the National Hurricane Center’s information on Rita showed what no one around the Upper Texas Coast wanted to see. That is Rita has taken a jog to the right and now is expected to make landfall around Bolivar Peninsula. At its closest that is only about 40 miles away. Obviously, the situation has changed.

A mandatory evacuation for Jefferson County was called an hour ago. It’s a staggered exodus with those in the southern part of the county leaving first and those of us in Beaumont able to leave around noon.

This presents me with an obvious quandary. I am on tap to provide coverage for a publication, yet I am still unsure just where I shall do that. Meteorologist James Brown on KFDM-TV Channel 6 this morning said the storm surge could be as much as 20 feet. I don’t know if flooding would be that bad at my apartment, in which I reside on the second floor of a two-story building. I am not too worried about storm surge but am concerned about wind because we will be receiving gusts of at least 70 mph. But a lot of rain is also likely. Tornadoes are also a distinct possibility. So I have pretty much decided to bail from my apartment. I am still trying to evaluate where I might go.

I had been looking at two separate buildings in which I might be able to stay since I will be working media, more or less. But both are downtown and closer to the Neches River than I would really like to be. I would think a big storm surge at both of these buildings, which are located in the same area, is quite possible.

My other possibilities include Newton or Jasper counties, both a bit north of here. I will just have to do some checking to determine my options. I have a lot to do. Time’s a-wasting! Head for the hills!

Well, not yet but it’s getting there.

That is one hell of an eye in this NOAA photo. It looks as if it is the Great Gulf of Mexico Drain. All ye who pass through get sucked right under and end up in … I don’t know … Tijuana. Watch out for the donkey painted as a zebra. And beware of taxi drivers who ask if you’d like to see the donkey, umm, perform.

I worked for a certain publication today and looks as if I may do so throughout this ordeal provided I have everything I need to do so. (pulse, communications, etc.) Rita doesn’t look so good as a Cat 5 and watching one of my more trusted weather guys, Greg Bostwick at KFDM-TV Channel 6 in Beaumont, Texas, it appears Rita recently took a little jog to the north. It, Rita, needs to stop doing that because the more north it goes the worse it will likely be for us.

Voluntary evacuations are under way here. Mandatory evacuations start at 6 a.m. tomorrow for Sabine Pass. I visited there yesterday to work on a magazine story and to see what it looks like before the storm. I know that’s rather morbid, but you got to be realistic. Officials locally say they still could order mandatory evacuations. Not that it will mean much to me except I may end up roaming the nearly-empty, debris-strewn streets of Beaumont like Don Johnson’s dog in “A Boy and His Dog.”

Looks like it might rain. If only I could dance like Gene Kelly.

Subtitle: Should I stay or should I go?

It would be misleading, well more like a lie, to say that mind is focused on anything other than Hurricane Rita right now. Actually, the answer to the question posed by The Clash circa 1980s has been asked and answered. Unless something drastic changes I will be staying regardless of whether an evacuation is ordered. The question is how bad will the situation get here in Beaumont, Texas? That remains the million-dollar question.

Local officials will likely make a decision on evacuations by noon tomorrow. Galveston already has issued a mandatory evacuation, but they are an island and not 35 some-odd-miles inland as we are. Right now a lot of unknowns exist. Where will the storm make landfall? How big will the storm be? How powerful will it be, a Cat 3 or Cat 4? If it continues on its present track what are we in for on the ‘dirty side’ of the storm? Will I have enough to eat? Are Kenny and Renee really splitting up?

I know that if an evacuation is ordered I will almost surely not be going as there is a very likely possibility that I will be covering it for a publication I have done some work for recently. I’m already down to do a story for that publication tomorrow on preparations for the storm. So, we wait and wonder what we can expect, where I will be going during the storm, how I will communicate with my publication, what will happen to my apartment, what will happen to my truck, and so forth. I did stock up on a few canned goods this afternoon and bottled water was flying off the shelf at the local K-roger’s.

Depending on what happens I will try to keep the blog up and running as much as I am able during Rita’s rampage. I got a busy day tomorrow so I am going to chill awhile. Catch you all tomorrow.

I keep forgetting to celebrate national “Talk Like A Pirate Day.” Today, Sept. 19, is the day. Arrgh, matey, yeel walk th’ plank fer that one.

Two years ago I planned to celebrate Talk Like A Pirate Day. I even thought about getting a pirate hat and eye patch and talking like a buccaneer. But I had to fly to El Paso on assignment and I thought I’d probably end up getting strip searched and detained since I wasn’t flying Southwest.

I completely forgot about it last year. And now it’s only hours away from the end of Talk Like A Pirate Day. For the rest of the day, however, Arrrgghhh!