Reflections on Dolly

So, we are getting some rain now. We are on the "dirty" side of the storm. This means that the bulk of the rain bands come out all the way here.

We have a few people in the ward that have moved to the gulf area this year. Their questions remind me of what it was like to go through my first bad hurricane season when I moved here. The big storm that year was Allison. There are initiatives created because of that particular storm! And, I was stupid, and got off the freeways on the way home, and almost floated away in my little neon. on a fairly large street it was flooded so bad that we were down to two lanes down the middle, and the water was up to my door. When a truck or suv would pass me, water would wash over my car. Not the best way to get a car wash!

And then there was Rita. Jenny was a week old when everyone heard that it was coming. It had been 3 weeks from Katrina, so we had a lot of Katrina People in the city. I went to get diapers at Sams Club on that Monday, and everyone was going crazy. I had not heard the news yet, so I had to ask what was going on. We ended up joining the fray, and bought some water. That was crazy! They would bring a pallet down and the water would be gone within 30 seconds. All bread products and non perishables were gone by Wednesday, as well as the milk, and there were long lines at the gas station. We ended up going to stay with my mother in law, because they were prepared to house everyone, and we just brought what we had. The storm hit on Friday after noon, and thank goodness it did not hit Galveston directly, like everyone thought that it would. The Freeways were at a standstill with people trying to leave, which turned out to be a joke, because everyone ended up running out of gas. I am SO grateful that we decided not to leave! And I am glad that my parents made that choice as well. They took a huge gamble, because if the storm had come through Galveston, the storm surge would have come within 4 miles of their house. They would have had a good reason to leave! And if you do not know what I mean by the storm surge, basically the ocean would have come within four miles of their house when at normal times it is about 40 miles! At least all those people did not have to deal with the hurricane on the freeway! Talk about a true dress rehearsal. The city has learned 5a lot from that experience as well.

Storms, as you can tell are a serious thing where I live. And every year we go though this. We go and look at the hurricane center every other day, hoping the big storm is not on its way. And yet we still live here. And why do we do this? Because this is where the jobs are and the reasonable housing. I guess that it is just a risk that we have to take. At least we are not as close to the coast as my parents are and maybe now that we are going to have a house, we are going to be able to have them come to stay during the next big storm scare. And hopefully 21the 5storms 5do not 5mess 5with our buying of that house. Apparently if there is a storm that looks like it is going to head straight for us, we can not bond insurance to the house and that means we do not close until the storm passes. Wish us luck in the loveliness of hurricane season!