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Hurricane Rita tonight

After Hurricane Katrina, I suspect no one will take hurricanes lightly for quite some time. However, on the heels of that truly devastating storm, we have one that could be even more powerful.

Tonight, I’m sitting out on my patio listening to shortwave radio (BBC World Service and Radio Taiwan International) and I’m taken aback by how calm it is tonight. There are crickets chirping and a couple of owls in the distance making a bunch of racket. Pretty peaceful.

Some of the forecasts that we’re hearing for our area suggests this will be the calm before the storm. On Saturday, we’re expecting a bunch of rain and possibly tornados. They’re expecting the power to go out and some flooding to take place. I’ve taken a few precautions, but truthfully I expect us to ride out this storm with minimal damage.

Houston, Galveston and our beloved Port Aransas will not be so lucky. They’re predicting the worst for the coast. Galveston will be mostly under water if Rita stays at a category 5 and Port A will be wiped out I’m sure. Luckily, most everyone in these cities (including Houston) have made arrangements to leave. Hopefully the loss of life won’t be close to New Orleans and Mississippi. We’re expecting Jen and Richard to come up tomorrow.

The truly scary thing is that we still have nearly 70 days of hurricane “season” left to go. If you don’t know about it already, NOAA has a great website for tracking hurricanes and finding out the latest.

As long as I’ve got power and an Internet connection, I’ll let you know what’s going on in Round Rock.