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| YOUR
HURRICANE
RITA STORIES |
|
THE RITA STORIES
THE BEGINNING |
| Editors note:
Mom and I left
Kemah at 12:00 noon on Wednesday. I'm the primary caretaker of my
81 year old mother. Mom was in relatively good health. I never
thought...in the stop and go traffic...for 12 hours....with the air
conditioner cut off ...she would suffer so. She was going to die on the road for sure! She had a chance at home. I prayed and went back home. Mom did wind up in the Hospital for 3 days. The fragil and frail elderly were not factored into the evacuation equation!.. Claire D Worthington 832-347-8837 Kemah, TX 77565 |
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STORY NUMBER ONE
DEBORAH'S STORY Many of
you well know that the Hurricane Rita left our Galveston County many
stories of the long travel routes to get out of the area. My
route started twice leaving League City to approach the east route 146
was the plan evacuation route and after sitting in the line we started
up Red Bluff through the Clear Lake City route. We were in that
traffic route for 5 hours and had not even got to the Almeda Genoa
Road. We went back home and rested then left again at 11:15pm
thinking the 146 route had cleared based on a reporter saying all was
clear around the boardwalk area what she fell to mention that the
traffic was backed up as far to the other side of the Kemah
Bridge. Needless to say we remained in line and until 10:38 am
the next day we had made it to Livingston, but we were going the
direction that the storm would be traveling. We had thought about
going to Louisiana and were almost to Port Arthur when the evacuation
plan was put in place to evacuate Jefferson County. At that point
we had been on the road 15 hours and decided to go back home where we
could at least be protected from fallen debris and gas shortage.
Water, food and power were available at home. We were able to
ride the storm out and had only two little trees break. The house
did fine and we lost power only on Saturday morning at 4:25am and power
was restored by 2:00 pm.
Deborah Jolly League City, Texas 77573 |
STORY NUMBER TWO
ROBERT'S STORY Thanks to
good advise from Bill King,
Kemah’s previous wonderful mayor, I packed up the car and headed out of
Kemah at 9:15am on Wednesday September 21st 2005. I headed north on Hwy
146 planning on heading West when I reached Hwy 321, then West on Hwy
105 until I reached Navasota, TX. Navasota is about 125 miles NW of
Kemah. It took about 3 ½ hours with little to no delay along the
way. My daughter went with my best friend and “the kids” and they left
Kemah exactly 45 minutes later. It took them an additional 2 hours. I
was told later that another friend of ours left Kemah at 4pm that
Wednesday and it took them 19 hours to reach the woodlands. Big thanks
to Bill King. Though he’s not our current mayor, he will always be
Kemah’s Mayor in our hearts. I left Navasota at 11am Saturday taking
the same roads and again it took 3 ½ hours. The most amazing
thing I’ve ever witnessed was driving thru small town after small town
that were completely empty of electricity and people. It was like being
in a made for tv movie except it was very real. This time it was due to
Mother Nature. Pray it never happens again due to terrorists.
Robert Heitner Jr. Kemah, TX 77565 |
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STORY NUMBER THREE
Hello Everyone: MARY'S STORY This note is let
everyone that I’m okay.On Wednesday I started out with no idea as to
where I was going in Dallas. Later that evening, I received a
call from a young man who had been a coop at NASA while he was
attending A&M. Michael extended an offer for me to either
stay with him or his mother. This invitation was likes words from
heaven to my ears. I left Houston near Intercontinental Airport
on Thursday morning at 8am headed to Dallas with a full tank of
gas. It took me 16 hours to go 51 miles from I45 and Greens Road
to Conroe. Yes – I got to Conroe at Midnight with ¼ tank
of gas. Upon arrival in Conroe, all gas stations were
closed. Everyone was told to head to Huntsville. 2 more
hours to Huntsville and 5 gas stations and no gas. I went to a
truck stop and it to was out of gas. It is now 2am and I now have
even less gas – I got out of my car for the first time in 16 hours to
stretch my legs. I decided I should not continue to drive and
sleep in my car at the truck stop. At 7am the truck stop
attendant made an announcement that she would not have gas until
Sunday. Upon leaving the truck stop, I asked the state trooper to
look at my gas gauge and tell me where was gas. He said there was
gas in Madisonville which was 20 miles away. He stated that I
should not go on the interstate and that I should stay on the feeder
road. I took the feeder road to Madisonville and there was no gas
at 4 stations. I continued on the feeder road to the next exit
and there was nothing. I happen to see a farmer on a tractor and
ask where could I find gas. He indicated that if I coast 4 miles
down the road there would be stations a large Shell on the left and a
small station on the right. The Shell was out of gas. There
was gas at the small station. I was in line from 9 to 12:30 for
gas. God, His Angels, and mama were looking out for me. I got gas
and drove on to Dallas where a great friend Mrs. Gwen Finley made me
feel like a queen. I returned home on Tuesday afternoon. Good
news there was no damage at home. I am starting to unpack the car
and place the plants outside.
Mary Proudy Kemah, TX 77565 |
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STORY NUMBER FOUR
My family and I traveled approximately 14
miles in 7 hours with our cat. DAVID'S STORY We headed out of Houston at 3 p. m..Wed, The orders were to evacuate from Dickinson, and ... we left thinking only areas in harms way were evacuating. We ran into people evacuating from Katy? So we soon understoodout why we were in a parking lot. David F. Dickinson, TX 77539 |
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STORY NUMBER FIVE
We are sad to say that we have a story to
report...CASH FAMILY TRAGEDY After
leaving on Wednesday afternoon at about 4:30pm, we arrived in Spring
after driving over 26 hours. My husband and I had been traveling in
separate cars and had gotten separated from each other in the traffic.
I had my son and 9 month old cocker spaniel and he had with him our 18
month old boxer, our 11 yr. old cocker spaniel and our 4 yr. old cat.
Our cell phones quit working and we were not able to contact each other
to say where we were...
I finally realized that I would not make it to Dallas, after 26 hours and had only 1/4 of a tank of gas left. So, I parked at a Walgreens parking lot in Spring and waited to hear from my husband. When I did, he told me that our beautiful boxer had died of a heat stroke and he was crying.. God, I was alone with my child and was losing it. He had about an 1/8th of a tank of gas... but somehow found me in that parking lot about an hour later.. where we miraculously heard from a friend of his, who lives in Spring.. and offered up a room for us in his home. Rob, his friend, came and found us and got us back to his home safely... This was a terrible tragedy, but one of many, many stories of people who have lost their animals. Our hearts go out to everyone who did. It was not worth it.. we will never go through that again. Rick and Kim Cash Bacliff, tx 77518 |
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STORY NUMBER SIX
DODSON FAMILY SEE-YA-RITA! She came,
we ran. A mass
exodus of gulf coast residents scattered out in all directions in an
effort to escape the threat of hurricane Rita. A small group of us
headed back to the Texas Elks Children’s Services facility in Ottine,
TX where we had been just a few days before for the annual Homecoming.
Executive Director Jack Shanks and his staff graciously opened up their
doors to evacuees, and made everyone there feel welcomed, including the
pets. When the state parks were turning away evacuees with RVs because
they had not made reservations, they were welcomed with open arms at
the Doyle Pollard “Elks Care” RV Park across from the TECSI center.
Rita
could have very well
made landfall further south on the Texas coast, which could have
eventually taken it through the Ottine area. Jack made sure that
provisions were available in the event that happened and we had to go
into lockdown. The building is well capable of holding up to at least a
category 3 hurricane, and possibly even a category 4. Thank God it
didn’t have to be put to the test.
Running
from this
hurricane is an experience that none of us are likely to forget any
time soon. Both the Elk and non-Elk evacuees will forever remember the
hospitality and care shown to us by Jack Shanks and his staff at the
TECSI center in this time of need. Once again it is proven that “Elks
Care – Elks Share”.
John Dodson & Family Seabrook, TX 77586 |
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STORY NUMBER SEVEN
LISA'S STORY "THE DISASTER WAS THE EVACUATION" When I heard the reports
of Hurricane Rita's strength and approximate direction, I decided the
safest thing to do would be to evacuate. I packed, loaded
up my cats, and took the Beltway to pick up I-10 to
Sincerely, Lisa M. Butler |
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