I survived the Hurricane Rita Exodus!!

[1tallbassguy]

I am so freaking tired guys and gals. I've had about 8 hours of sleep in last 3 days.

I have many storys to tell. Most are about the atrocities I witnessed in the way the evacuations and the shelter situation were handeled.

I will tell those tomorrow, cause I'm going to bed.

 

I am home and safe, my home has electricity, and I am fine.

My family and friends are also all ok.

 

Has Lug checked in?

 

Others in the path of the storm?

 

See yall tomorrow..stay tuned.

[Deville]

Glad you're safe. Any gear damage?

 

Lug's OK. He checked in yesterday.

[DerekDRP]

Originally posted by 1tallbassguy I am so freaking tired guys and gals. I've had about 8 hours of sleep in last 3 days. I have many storys to tell. Most are about the atrocities I witnessed in the way the evacuations and the shelter situation were handeled. I will tell those tomorrow, cause I'm going to bed. I am home and safe, my home has electricity, and I am fine. My family and friends are also all ok. Has Lug checked in? Others in the path of the storm? See yall tomorrow..stay tuned.

 

woot +1 I am glad your ok dude.

[baracuda2004]

good to see your ok, but our show got called off cause of this stupid HURRICANE the other band cancelled so we did too and it really pissed our singer off so he might be looking for another band but i hope not...

[Texas Noise Factory]

Man. I hear ya... I haven't gone home yet, although I know my home still exists... Had a buddy go by and check my home out.

And it seems okay... I only got to take my main RD Artist with me, so I'm glad to hear everything's okay. Hopefully Lug

's stuff and family and crib are okay too. Glad to hear you're okay 1tall... Had a 12 hour drive to Dallas on wer/thursday myself. Unless I get a gasscan, or a guarantee I'll be able to get to H-town, I won't go home... Should only be a week or two at most. My Explorer just won't make it there on one tank...

 

Still holed up in Dallas and waitin to get back to normal.

[Perfessor]

Glad to hear you're alright and your stuff's alright. Hope you never have to go throught that again.

[MageZ]

Good news, man!

Welcome back!

[1tallbassguy]

Thanks everyone.

 

One thing that I hope I have learned from this is that I will be very reluctant to evacuate in the future.

I will wait until the last 12 hours to make a decision.

 

I was stuck in traffic for more than 18 hours to make a trip up to Lufkin TX, and when it was all over there was much more destruction there than there was at home.

 

I was in a shelter, a school called Hutchinson Intermediate. Supposedly a red cross facility at first, but there was no one there from the red cross. The leadership was other evacuees who happened to be EMT's, (They had no medical supplies) and a couple of cadets from the police academy. We had no water, no food, very unsanitary conditions, and after we lost power things went down hill from there. Now I was prepared. I had my own water, food, blankets, etc. But there were so many people. Over 600. Many who had young children, with no water, no milk, no food, and no prom ise of any supplies either, such as toilet paper, and some disinfectant. (the bathrooms were skank city)

 

Ok when things got bad, there was no power, etc. the cops came by, yes the Huthinson Independant Schoool District police sent someone by. Many folks were irate and started shouting and hollering about the lack of necessities. MF this and MF that.

The place was getting close to a riot. I left as soon as I could. The storm passed about 30 miles to our east, and I was outta there, with 80 mph widns still going.

 

Well thats half the story, because earlier in the day I had stopped at a church miles back in the 40 mile line of cars, and asked them if I could stay there. They said I could. I donated some cash to them and some of my food. There were several other families doing the same and when many people were working together, there was plenty to go around.

The pisser! The authorities came and told us we had to leave because the church was not a red cross facility. WTF is this {censored}!!

 

I was invited by the church to stay. Well I had 1/4 tank of fuel at this time and many othere were the same. To get out in the 40 mile line of cars was suicide. Finally the church told us to siphon gas from the church vans. We did and we all left. I was able to finally find some more fuel in Kountze TX and make it to the school before the storm came, but only gtot there a few hours befor the storm made landfall.

 

My biggest problem with all this is the authorities would not let me get to where I wanted to go the night before because they had closed the road. Thats how I ended up at the church. Then I had a place to stay and the authorities were redy to put me on my way without enough fuel. BTW the fuel trucks that were out would not give fuel unless you were already sitting on the side of the road broke down.

I was given enough fuel, thank God to get somewhere where I could buy enough to get to the shelter. But the shelter was worse than the church.

 

As long as I did what the authorities told me I was given their blessing, but I was not as safe as I would have been if I was allowed to do what I determined my best course of action.

 

There is somthing so wrong with all this because there are probably a million otheres out there who tell similiar stories of this betrayal of trust.

 

I am sick and tired of the authorities telling me what is in my best interest.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Crescent Seven]

The autorities are trying to keep things organized, but you should have told them to {censored} off and stayed at the church. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I've never been in that position, so correct me please if I'm wrong, but could they have taken you into custody for staying at the church?

I dunno, that sucks, man. The states need to take a hard look at their evacuation plans and find ways to improve them, for sure.

C7