Hurricane Rita,  Sept. 19 - 24, 2005



Preparations
 I had a call from Charlotte Pakenham-Walsh on Monday 19th,
"What are you doing about the storm?"

"It's still a long way off," I replied.

"Well I heard from Pat that her broker friend, who does commodities,  hires a special weather consultant,
and he said it would be a Category 5 and would Hit Texas." Charlotte warned.

"If it gets above a category 3 we will leave, otherwise we will stay."  I answered.

"Well, we are leaving in the morning for Austin to stay with Toni and Doug." she announced,  "You are welcome to join us if you decide to leave. They have a big house that can handle lots of people. Please come, It would make me feel better."

"Wow that's Nice of you to offer... We will certainly take you up on it if we decide to leave." 



CZC MIATCPAT3 ALL
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM
BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM RITA ADVISORY NUMBER   8
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
5 PM EDT MON SEP 19 2005
 
...RITA EXPECTED TO BECOME A HURRICANE BEFORE REACHING THE 
FLORIDA KEYS AND THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA...


AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL 
HURRICANE CENTER AT 8 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE 
ADVISORY AT 11 PM
EDT.
 
FORECASTER KNABB

I got off the phone with Charlotte and verified that the storm was expected to intensify.  I then visited Steve Revak, our Harbormaster, and Board Vice chairman, and discussed the situation.  I had put together a Marina Survival Plan several years ago and posted it to my web page.

I urged Steve to proclaim a State of Emergency so we could implement the Plan. He agreed to make it official.

 From: "Revak, Steve" <Steve.Revak@coair.com>
To: Edwin Herndon <ed@remedyandcrew.com>
Subject: RE: condo damage
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 18:21:28 -0500
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72)

Please send out the Harbor Hurricane Preparedness plan for us, Ed.
 
revak
 

The Marina Preparation order was sent out 11 minutes later

Within minutes responses started coming in

Yes, the trailerable boats would be moved...

There are Five boats in the Over 35 foot class. These are large enough to need special docking care to avoid being impaled on the tops of the fixed pilings.. One was away and would not need to return.

We were expecting water above the tops of the pilings. With any significant wave action the bow or stern of the boat could hit the piling. By placing one boat in two slips and placing the boat at an angle, this event can be eliminated (given lines and pilings stay intact.)  This also provides at least six vantage points to tied dock lines( instead of the usual four.)

By noon Wednesday all preparations were completed.

We made our farewells we were ready to leave:

 
HURRICANE RITA ADVISORY NUMBER  16
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
10 AM CDT WED SEP 21 2005

...RITA REMAINS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE
...WINDS NOW ESTIMATED 140 MPH WINDS...
 Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 18:32:03 -0500
To: "Seagate List"
From: Edwin Herndon <ed@remedyandcrew.com>
Subject: Hurricane Rita Preparations

This is Monday Sept. 19, 2005.

The Houston Galveston Area is in the projected path of hurricane Rita... It could become a very dangerous storm.

It is time to make Preparations Before Rita gets here.  It is expected to arrive here early Saturday Morning.

The hurricane preparedness Plan for Seagate can be found at

Please read this plan and Reply how you intend to respond..  Our Plan must be completed by Thursday.

Trailerable Boats should be removed from the marina no later than Wednesday
.Sept 21.

Larger boats will be moved to provide One Boat for every Two Slips as shown in the Plan.

Respond by replying to this Message.  And stay tuned for further Instructions,

Steve Revack, Harbormaster,     Ed Herndon, Assistant for Emergencies Only.


Remedy
Remedy with Bimini, Dodger, Enclosures and head sail removed .

She is tied off on the four corners plus two mid cleats. A long line added later went from the starboard winch to a piling two slips away.

For good measure the Fortress anchor was set in Burnies front lawn.

Across the way Sea Cruise is set in a similar arrangement.

Everyone pitched in to get the complex ready for Rita.

Boats in the Marina

 
dinghy
 db
b1
 b2

Off to Austin

We packed a week of clothing, valuable papers, cat and camera. We had a full tank of gas and were carrying water, beer, wine, Ice and Lots of snack food. Last, but not least, we had Beauregard and all his supplies.

We left at 2 PM Wednesday.  By 2:20 we were in a mile long line on Almeda Genoa at Space Center. We got to Beltway 8 by 3:00.

The radio report said I-10 was One lane near Columbus and long line of cars. We had a report of good conditions on 290 from Birgit Green so we decided to go that way to Austin. It took 4 hours to make it to Cy-Fair where we stopped at Wendy's for a Burger break.

Traffic was slow but moving 5 to 15. Occasionally we took the feeder and got a spurt of 50 MPH to the next light.. It was a little faster.
At the turn off to College Station the traffic eased considerably.  It was 9:00 and we still had 90 miles to go.  After one wrong turn onto 473 North of Austin,  we switched roles... Marion Drove and I navigated. We finally made it in at 11:00.  We later found that the nine hours we took was good time... Others who left an hour after we did got into much worst traffic.

We both had restless sleep with lots of Nightmares... It was High Anxiety time.

Next Morning we found out that Randy Paula an Mark had not been able to make Austin. They had slept in their cars and were on their way in the morning. They went to Karen's Apartment in Down Town Austin near UT.

Life In Austin

retreat


This is the home of Doug and Toni McMullen. Let me say, if you are an Evacuee,  find a place like this.

Toni is Charlotte's daughter and that's
how we were invited.

Five Families called it home over the three day period.  All were traveling with pets so you also had a population of seven dogs and four cats.

For an Extended tour Click Here

Thursday I filled the tank with gas. We went with Sam and Charlotte to lunch at Chili's then on to buy food at Albertson's.

That evening Marion and I visited the rest of the family down in Austin. We ate out at the Mongolian Bar B Que.

By Thursday night the storm track had moved further East and it appeared that Galveston would be spared a direct hit.

Friday we had Lunch with Jay and Birgit Green at the TGI Friday in Arboretum Shopping area.  The Ladies also got some Great Buy's at The GAP. 

Later Friday Charlotte and Marion put together a Turkey Feast complete with Mashed Potatoes, Dressing, Gravy, Garden Salad, and Green Beans. Other Guests brought a Casserole, Cherry Cobbler and Ice cream.

All evening we watched as Hurricane Rita headed for Port Arthur and Beaumont.

EP

At about 10:00 pm on Friday the Instrumentation at Eagle point stopped reporting.

Interestingly the data showed winds out of the North at 50 Kts and the Tide had been falling since about 10:00 am as the North winds on the Clean side of Rita was blowing the water out of the Bay.

Ritagif
  Here is the tidal history for the storm with landmark times over the four day
visit by Rita.

There was Hardly any flooding. the worst being only 3 feet above Mean Low Lower Water.  That is not enough to get over the piers.

The winds blew so hard that the tides Fell to about 2.5 feet below MLLW. That's a half foot lower than the recent record of the Xmas Boat Parade.

We left Austin around 9:00 am when we heard the storm had caused no significant damage.



To avoid traffic we headed South out of Austin and Picked up Alternate Hwy 90 in Gonzales. we then headed East as far as Eagle Lake. There we again went South on HWY 41 to get to Bay City on Route 35.  The rationale for this move was to go to Sam and Charlottes House in West Columbia. We could stay there if Houston was inaccessible. Randy and Paula were traveling about an Hour behind us. When we got there we rearranged the furniture they had stored. Then had a Pizza and some wine.  Refreshed after an Hour or so rest we went on Home.

Once Home we found everything just as we left it There had been uninterrupted Power for the whole time so there was no spoiled food to contend with.

We were very fortunate.

Our special Thanks to Doug and Toni for a very pleasant stay in Austin.