Boing Boing readers in Houston and other areas in Rita's projected path — and yes, spaceships, I'm talking to you too — y'all stay safe out there. Reader Bruce Heerssen in Houston says,
I am currently in the Heights in Houston, which is at the highest elevation in the city; about 50 to 60 feet above sea level. I'm still not sure if I'll evacuate. If not, I'll be at Fitzgerald's on White Oak Drive, which is a very strongly built building that has weathered several strong hurricanes and has never flooded. I will make a final decision this evening. In any case, I will try to be back as soon as possible to provide any assistance I can to my neighbors, many of whom are going to ride it out in their homes or in substantial buildings in the area. I will provide reports and pictures when and where I can.
I will have my computers (including a laptop) and my wireless networking gear and I am willing to provide wireless service wherever I can get power and internet. If you know anybody that has an electricity generator and/or satellite or wifi gear in the area, please get them in touch with me and we can work on providing internet services.
Local news stations report that TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) is opening inbound lanes to outbound traffic on I-45 North now, and Highway 290 West and I-10 West later. Traffic is now moving at a crawl when it moves at all and some people have run out of gas after having been on the road for 12 to 24 hours. There is now almost no gas left anywhere in the city. Thankfully, I was able to fill my tank last night. Emergency workers are doing what they can to reach those stranded people and move them to emergency shelter or at least give them a little gas to get them a few more miles down the highway.
And Bruce passes on some info from Moveon.org:
If you are being evacuated from your home due to hurricane Rita and need a place to stay, please visit HurricaneHousing.org or call 1-800-638-4559.
Right now, there are over 265,000 spaces being offered to evacuees all over the country. We estimate that between 15,000 and 30,000 hurricane Katrina evacuees have already found temporary housing through the site.
By all reports, hurricane Rita threatens to be devastating–and after Katrina, we'd hate to see anyone take a chance staying in the path of the storm for lack of another place to go. If you're in the affected area and need a safe place to stay, please take advantage of this resource. (…)
-– Noah, Justin, Carrie, Micayla and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
