Mercifully, at first glance it appears that Rita was nowhere near as devastating as Katrina:
Hurricane Rita made landfall this morning near the Texas-Louisiana border, raking the region with up to 120-mile-per-hour winds, dumping more than two feet of rain and sending 20-foot storm surges crashing onto coastal areas.
Officials at the National Hurricane Center said that Rita officially made landfall about 3:40 a.m. EST with the storm’s eye hitting just east of Sabine Pass, Tex., about 32 miles southeast of Beaumont.
As the eye of the storm came ashore, the winds blew out windows at the hurricane command center here, ripped up trees and brought down power lines, leaving at least 250,000 customers without power. The storm was blamed for at least three fires in Beaumont – one in the north end of town and two in the port area.
Officials said that they would make a full assessment of the storm damage at daylight.
From what I have seen on the news, it does not look as bad. Right now I would be concerned about tornadoes and flash-floods inland.
Mason
Maybe we’ll get lucky and find that Vidor TX was wiped off the map. It is a Godforsaken little town near the border of LA packed full of proud racists and klansmen; it has been known as the whitest city on earth. Jasper (scene of James Byrd dragging) is just a bit to the north.
Horshu
I live in Houston, and we got worse storming 3 weeks ago in a routine summer storm. Things looked really ominous around 8:00 CST, but the worst it got was about 2 am when the wind would gust every few minutes for a little bit. We didn’t even get that much rain. Guess with all the people out of the city, I should go around town and take advantage of any errands I have to run.
=0=
President Bush said at a press briefing this morning in Colorado Springs, where he was monitoring the federal government’s response, that “the first order of business now is to find the appropriate photo op, which we will do decisively, just as soon as Karl gets back from that fundraiser thing.”
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Laugh more.
betsy
hey mason
have you ever been to vidor. i have lived in vidor since 1985, did not grow up there, and there are very nice people there. i know that vidor has a bad rep i live with it all the time. you know there are prejudice people in vidor. there are prejudice people everywhere. mason you can look in the mirror and see one for your self. there are people who come from out of town to vidor to conduct klan rallys. the people that go to the klan rallys are mainly those that come with these people from out of town. i am not saying that there are no people from the vidor area that go but it is probably less than 20 people in attendance, that is all they ever show on the news when the tv covers it, vidor does not promote it. vidor has about 17,000 people i think -the vidor area compomises more that just the city limits. we have tried to stop the klan from being able to come in but there is such a thing a free speech – so we do not have a choice. by the way, what does the james byrd deal have to do with vidor? are you saying because jasper is 60 miles north of vidor that vidor was some how responsible for for those 3 men killing mr byrd. so does that mean if i get close to you i will be come a prejudice person that condems a whole city for a reputation that was true years ago. you know that when they integrated a public housing complex in vidor years ago that black man that moved out and moved back to beaumont did not get hurt in vidor but moved back to beaumont and was killed by a black man the next day. did you know there is a black boy on the hs basketball team. he is a freshman so probably will be on the freshman team this year but he seems to do fine. i guess i have said my peace and by the way mason please stay out of vidor. we do not need prejudice people like you in a town that is trying very hard to build a new reputation.
RITA
HEY MASON, TODAY IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE VISITED THIS WEB SITE AND CERTAINLY WILL BE THE LAST. HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? HOW DARE YOU, THERE ARE RACIST BIGOTS EVERYWHERE- PROBABLY WHERE YOU COME FROM TOO! I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE YOU WOULD WRITE SUCH AN UNEDUCATED NONFACTUAL STATEMENT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE, IF I HAD SUCH A POOR OPINION OF SOMEONE OR SOMEWHERE MAYBE YOU SHOULD KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. IT IS NOT A GOD FORSAKEN TOWN, GOD LOVES THAT LITTLE TOWN. MY GRANDMOTHER WHOM IS 95 YEARS OLD HAS LIVED THERE HER ENTIRE LIFE AND HAS NOTHING BUT GOOD TO SAY ABOUT IT. SHE IS A GOD FEARING, CHURCH GOING LADY. MAYBE YOU SHOULD VISIT IT AND MEET SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK CARE OF PEOPLE- BLACK-WHITE OR WHATEVER AND SEE JUST HOW CARING AND NONPREJUDICIAL THEY ARE. JAMES BYRD WAS A VERY, VERY TRAJIC AND HORRIFIC CRIME, BUT IT WASNT THE ENTIRE TOWN.HOPE TO SEE YOU IN VIDOR SOON.