Living In The Cone Part IX: Ike's Shadow Looms Larger

Went out yesterday to get a few cases of water, just in case (pardon the pun.) I needn't have bothered. I go the last three cases of water in San Antonio, and had to go to three separate Wal-Marts to do it. People were stocking up on everything, and i do mean everything.





This is a typical San Antonio Sunrise; clear, bright, and gorgeous.





This is this morning's sunrise. It looks a lot like tornado weather in the Great Plains. The depression west of us in the Sonorra desert is meeting the feeder bands of Ike, with turbulent, ugly atmospheric consequences.





The Texas DOT activated the Evacuation plan along I-37 this morning at 7:00am. That means that all lanes from the coast at Corpus Christi to almost San Antonio (Pleasanton, to be exact) are running northward. While this helps ease the evacuation of the coast, this comes with small problem.





Current projection now have Ike veering northward away from Corpus Christi (which has a mandatory evacuation order in place) towards Houston (which has not begun to evacuate yet.) Add to this that Houston is a much larger Metro area with many more people than Corus Christi, and you now have the gargantuan task to stopping the Corpus evacuation in mid-flight, reversing that, and evacuating a much larger metro area -- all at the same time.

This could get really ugly really fast -- especially considering the northward turn of Ike is by no means certain. What if this turn is just a feint -- ad the storm re-turns to Corpus. Imgine the possibility for sheer chaos.

I'm really glad I'm not Governor Perry right now.




I have to say the state has respond magnificently to these one-after-another crises. Eacuation centers have been set up and, rather than simply shunting people willy-nilly into any available shelter, they are sorted by their needs into appropriate shelters. Care is taken to record each evacuee and attend to their medical o personal needs. FEMAis paying the volunteers this time, in order to guarantee they will show up, as well as to instill some continuity of care with staffing. Angel Staffing of San Antonio is managing the schedules of evacuees, and Baptist Child and Family Services is ensuring every evacuee gets what they need to make the time away from home bearable, if not completely comfortable.

We'll all live through this. We may not be comfortable, but we'll survive.

I'm working at a shelter tonight.

~~JD~~