<p>My s. made it to San Antonio. What should have taken 2 1/2 hrs took 12 1/2 hrs. but they are there. Unfortunately in all the scurrying around he forgot to put his books in plastig bags or in drawers, though they are supposedly away from the window... They moved things away from windows, but sounds like they didnt have the opp'ty to cover furniture or anything. Hope the mold doesnt do them in-- all that stuff in their apt is brand new! Sigh......</p>
<p>My daughter and her roommate (who lives off campus) decided to leave to stay with relatives in Waco - less than 200 miles. They left yesterday at 7PM and arrived today at 2PM. She reports that several of her friends who left last night returned to Rice after 4 or 5 hours and moving a couple of miles. If she had to do it over - well she wouldn't do it over. But she is safe now. I think Rice's non-evacuation plan is smart.</p>
<p>Just spoke with my son. His college (Will Rice) had a meeting tonight to go over the plan. He said there are about 100 students left at WRC. New dorm will be evacuated and those students will be staying in Old Dorm. Sounds like he'll be staying in the hallway beginning at 6 p.m. tomorrow. He hasn't really done any packing up yet. Hopefully that will get done tomorrow during the day. </p>
<p>Tomorrow is going to be a very long day...</p>
<p>Absolutely miserable hazmat. </p>
<p>I think we'll learn a lot about evacuation such a large city....TxDot/Transtar has to immediately create contraflow lanes in a situation like this. They'll need to contract law enforcement services from neighboring states to help close all ramps. And the State of Texas was supposed to have portable refueling along all evacuation routes...which never materialized. And school districts need to take a more conservative approach. Our school district wouldn't call it until the last minute. Schools were open Wednesday and the district would not commit to closing the schools on Thursday until Wednesday afternoon. (We have a lot a people obsessed with preserving week long breaks at Thanksgiving and Spring Break which is why we start school so early and why they are so loath to close schools in cases of emergency imho.)</p>
<p>But hopefully people will get off the roads and find shelter somewhere tomorrow. And hopefully, I-10 won't turn into the Superdome tonight.</p>
<p>It's nearly impossible to evacuate that many people -- they'll leave when they want. This time, when they wanted to leave was pretty well in advance and it was still 100-mile gridlock, cars overheating, and gas tanks (cars' and stores') empty.</p>
<p>It took me 18 hours to get from Houston to west of San Antonio; at least I was blessed with a Prius hybrid and GPS navigation to find back roads. My heart goes out to all those that have no choice but sit in the parking lot that is I-10, I-45, etc.</p>
<p>With the storm tracking as it appears now, I'm not too worried about inland Houston residents or those on the roads to the west. Rice should fare quite well, considering the current forecast.</p>
<p>On the whole, people are mostly keeping their patience, their spirits up, and there's a sense of community among those people on the road. Now we just need the storm to pass and then refuel thousands of vehicles... this will take a while.</p>
<p>So if my D went to family friends in Katy and then decided to stay there, she should be OK?</p>
<p>If I had to guess, given Katy's location and the current track of the storm, it'll be a nasty storm but they should be OK.</p>
<p>Hi USmominUK-
I was thinking about you today- wondering how you were handling this from far away...
Katy is just west of Houston. With the way the storm is turning, it looks like thy'll get wind and rain, but won't get the brunt of the storm. Leebron has already cancelled classes on Monday, to give people a chance to get back, and to get things back to normal, assuming things go OK this weekend. If your d. is with friends, she'll get to eat normal food. If she stayed on campus, if the power goes out and the serveries can't prepare food, they'll get MRE's! (the dried "meals ready to eat" -- its used by the military and campers). Yummm.....</p>
<p>Just to let everyone know, we are all safe and calm here at rice (and mostly still asleep!). The power didn't go out and there looks to be just a few downed branches and such. Looks like we'll get to keep the MRE's for another rainy day.</p>
<p>jenskate, So glad to hear that all is well at Rice! We haven't heard from our son yet, but I suspect that he's sleeping. The Rice website indicates that they allowed students back in their rooms at 6 a.m. Just curious, was it a party atmosphere in your college or was everyone pretty subdued?</p>
<p>I'm at lovett. It's pretty much always a party.</p>
<p>My s. got back Sun. night. Very little damage, except to their street parking, which is currently occupied by a large tree. Anyone know what's up with the Time-Warner cable in downtown Houston? Anyone having trouble?</p>
<p>Not to hijack the thread or anything, but school finally starts back up for me tomorrow. I've been out since last Friday, and I'm ready to get back to school. I feel horrible for the people who've lost everything...Louisiana is such a disaster right now...it's just getting crazy. Our city has doubled in population since the two hurricanes, and making a call from a land line will lead you to the infamous "all circuits are busy, please try again" recording.</p>