This Just In . . . . (The Bitch-Slapping of South Texas by Rita; Part III)

MSNBC'sw Website captioned this "Thousands of cars slowly make their way out of Houston, Texas, on Wednesday to escape Hurricane Rita." I'd say that's about right.

Rita is still a Cat-5 storm, and has started to shift to the Northwest. While that's something of a relief (since we won't be hit head-on) I'm feeling more than a little guilt as she sidles up towards already-devastated New Orleans and the bulk of the Katrina refugees in Houston.

So, that's a bad thing. Fotunately Texas has a no-nonsense governor in Rick Perry who started evacuating those refugees earlier this week to Arkansas and (sigh) San Antonio. And unlike New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin (who seems terrified that he'll lose his constituency and is trying to re-populate his city frantically) Perry has expedited placement of the refugees in permanent housing through Section 8 vouchers and Housing Loans for refugees. Lotta these folks are here to stay, whether Ray Nagin likes it or not.

The sun also rose this morning; with apologies to Hemingway. The high overcast is reflecting glare everywhere and makes the sky appear bright white. Governor Perry has ordered the Southbound Lanes of I-45 and I-10 to be turned around at 9am to double the flow of traffic outbound from Galveston; which means it's getting VERY serious.

And Fox News has just reported that draining groundwater from the aquifers und Houston has lowered the elevation of the city fifteen to twenty feet in the last century; which could be catastrophic if Cat-5 Rita comes ashore there.

An interesting aside for the Global Warming conspiracists lurking out there. Several years ago I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where they have the U-505 German U-boat on display. I asked the tour guide why there was so little German U-boat activity in the Caribbean during the war. He replied the Germans were terrified of hurricanes; that a U-boat could only stay submerged 12-16 hours, and if they had to surface in a hurricane, the crew would all be killed. This made little sense to me (Hurricanes? How often are there Hurricanes?) until I heard on the TV Joe Bastardi from Accu-Weather saying that his father (who was also a meteorologist) saying that there used to be a LOT more hurricanes in the gulf in the beginning of the 20th century. Houston/Galveston had hurricanes in 1900, 1909, 1918, 1926, 1935, 1946, and 1954 -- then no hurricanes until 1983.

Apparently the cycle has swung around again; and considering the sunspot cycle just completed a major upswing a year or two ago, it seems likely we're starting back toward that cycle again.

Just don't spout the pop-psych answer of "Global Warming, Dude!" I'm not in the mood right now.

~~JD~~