Good for you!G'mornin', folks. Just a quick drive-by to say we're almost back in Texas.
Been working to convince a family member to get out of Venice, Florida, ahead of Milton. That's in southern Sarasota County, about 55 miles south of Tampa proper. She and her husband live in a manufactured home, and were obstinate that they could ride it out. Told 'em they'd be under a mandatory evacuation well before the storm arrived, but they didn't believe me.
I flew out Sunday evening 'cause it turned out one of the hang-ups was that she no longer drives, and they have a pickup and car. I helped 'em batten down the double-wide as best we could on Monday, and then we left with them and the dog in the pickup and me driving the car.
Will be leaving Baton Rouge in a few minutes and expect that we have 5 or 6 hours to go to Houston, including traffic. We were also able to get on the road before I-75 started clogging up and stations started running out of gas. The late start Monday had us staying the night in Tallahassee, then the leg to Baton Rouge yesterday.
Just saw on the news here at the motel that Milton was a Cat 5 again with sustained winds of 160 mph with landfall expected late tonight. I'm afraid the storm surge alone is going to swamp the double-wide, but at least they--and 2-year-old the pit-bull mix--will be safe.
Most of the rain from "Helene" went just South of us...adding to the billion gallons/daily on the headwaters of the Ohio.
Hurricane Agnes in '72? Well it had the CONEMAUGH DAM chock full!
This is more normal..