I live in Katy, Texas, which is a suburb of Houston. Hurricane Rita is closing in on us. We were 1st going to leave Wed night, but after watching the major traffic jams, we thought we would wait till about 3:00 AM Thursday. So, we got up early and finished loading the Suburban to leave. We watched the news reports and the freeways were gridlocked. People had been in their cars for 12 hours and only gone 20 miles. People were running out of gas and had to pull off. In the heat of the day (100 degrees), dehydration became a huge problem for people trapped on the roads. The city officials finally opened the opposite lanes of traffic and made all lanes going out. This was yesterday. We decided it was safer to stay home then risk getting in the traffic with the kids. Throughout the day, weather forecast show the hurricane moving more east, which is away from us. Two days ago, the eye was directed right over us. So we are breathing a little easier. We are still very scared and will probably stay in the hallway most of the night while the main part of the storm passes by. We are expecting about 40-60 mile per hour winds where we are. I have alot of family on the Texas-Louisiana border, which is now where it is expected to hit. They have all evacuated. This has been a nerve wrecking last couple of days. No sleep- worrying if we should stay or go- knowing we really can't go because of the traffic. My main concern now is losing power. If that happens we will probably try and leave after the storm. Is anyone else out there in this area?

Hi, I'm in Texas but nearer to san antonio, t hings are looking better for us also...even for corpus a nd port aransas, my mom has a place at port aransas...hang in there...you will be in my prayers

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Brenda Kempf
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I am over here in Britain but wanted to let you know that we are all praying for you and all those families that are affected.

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I'm further up in Central Texas about 3 hours North of Houston. Two days ago we were braced for some Hurricane strength winds and lots of rain, and a big fear of tornadoes. It seems as though the threat to us has diminished, but we still have our guard up. Praying for the safety of everyone in Rita's path!

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Jodi



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Oh-you're all in my thoughts and prayers. Can't wait til this NASTY hurricane season is all over with! God bless you all!

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I'm further up in North Texas and it was heading straight for us 2 days ago, we were packing in supplies for a long stay, but now it's headed more east, and we are only expected to get a few inches of rain now. My mom is in East Texas though and may get pounded by it though.

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My thoughts are with you guys! As a native Texan, I have a ton of friends and family in the Houston area....I'm so worried about them tonight

Take care!!

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Roseanne

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Well- the storm has passed. Katy got a whopping 2/10 of an inch of rain. I'm very grateful that it turned east- however- I have alot of family east of here and the eye of the hurricane went right through their town. All of them evacuated north and now they are still getting pounded. My cousin in Lufkin had their roof cave in on the house the evacuated to. They are all safe but trapped in the house. Now the big problem is that all these 3 million people that left are going to try and come back and it's going to create major traffic jams again. There is NO gas anywhere. The aftermath of this storm may be worse than the actual storm. The mayor is telling everyone to STAY OUT for now so they can get emergency vehicles and gas trucks in. I don't know that people will listen. Nuts!!!