You picked a great place to hurry up and wait. Are you otherwise ready for a rough week or two?
Houston, Texas
Houston Warning of damage to that city
HURRICANE LOCAL STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
534 AM CDT THU SEP 22 2005
...RITA IS A DANGEROUS CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE WITH WINDS NEAR 175 MPH...
...HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE UPPER TEXAS COAST...
...INLAND HURRICANE WATCH FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS...
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE...
THE MAJORITY OF MOBILE HOMES MAY BE SEVERELY DAMAGED. THOSE THAT
SURVIVE COULD BE UNINHABITABLE. HOUSES OF POOR TO AVERAGE
CONSTRUCTION MAY RECEIVE MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING PARTIAL WALL
COLLAPSE AND ROOFS BEING LIFTED OFF. MANY COULD BE UNINHABITABLE.
WELL CONSTRUCTED HOUSES MAY INCUR MINOR DAMAGE TO SHINGLES...SIDING...
GUTTERS...AND BLOWN OUT WINDOWS. UP TO ONE QUARTER OF GABLED ROOFS
MAY FAIL.
PARTIAL ROOF FAILURE IS POSSIBLE AT INDUSTRIAL PARKS...ESPECIALLY TO
THOSE BUILDINGS WITH LIGHT WEIGHT STEEL AND ALUMINUM COVERINGS. OLDER
LOW RISING APARTMENT ROOFS MAY ALSO BE TORN OFF...AS WELL AS RECEIVING
SIDING AND SHINGLE DAMAGE. UP TO ONE QUARTER OF ALL GLASS IN HIGH
RISE OFFICE BUILDINGS MAY BE BLOWN OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS MAY CAUSE
DAMAGE...INJURY...AND POSSIBLE FATALITIES.
NATURAL DAMAGE...
ALL TREES WITH ROTTING BASES MAY UPROOT OR SNAP. NEARLY ALL LARGE
BRANCHES SHOULD SNAP. BETWEEN ONE QUARTER AND ONE HALF OF HEALTHY
SMALL TO MEDIUM SIZED TREES MAY BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED.
I'm prepared for a rough weekend and a day or two more - but not a rough week or two!
Hopefully, the worse case scenario in College Station will be loss of electricity and street flooding.