aaaggghh!
It's Friday - september 23 - and we're in Lufkin. A 2 hour trip took 4 1/2 hours and the only reason we got here this quickly was because we went north in the southbound lane. There were many trials during our trip...including dead dogs on the side of the road, 40 - (40!!! we counted) broken down cars due to heat exhaustion or lack of gas, and policemen jumping in the middle of the road trying to flag us down and make us stop. (Don't worry, I floored it and passed them anyway). If we did what the mayor, newscasters, "voluntary" evacuation, and city officials said then we would all be dead in a matter of hours. Yes, they did declare a mandatory evacuation YESTERDAY but a lot of good that's done to the thousands of people stranded on the interstate on IH 10. So now we're in Lufkin where we thought we would be safe and the electricty has already gone off once and the storm hasn't even started yet. Not to mention the eye of the storm is headed STRAIGHT for us. We're stuck. At least we won't flood here due to the storm surge. I left my car at my parents so it will probably be floating in the pond when I get home. We're expecting the worst - snakes in the house and ants piled in the garage. Maybe some alligators and broken windows due to the neighbors not packing their bricks and spools of wire in their front yard. Sigh. What am I going to do? My sister's house in Bridge City is GUARANTEED to flood. My house in Beaumont is in low-lying levels and the apartment building is over 30 years old. My parents house is almost certain to be gone. And everything that we own and have are all inside these 3 locations. All our stuff....our jobs....my car...everything will be gone in a matter of hours. It's very very hard to think about right now. But we have our pets and we're okay for now. Yall stay safe.