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DAY
1 | Sep 22, 20:00
Houston was suffering the worst traffic ever, drivers ran out
of gas after crawling for 14 hours and looked in vain for a
place to stay as hotels hundreds of miles away filled up. Having
the hurricane gradually making its way to the east, it can be
an unbearable sight if the eastbound traffics continue to stay
stalk up & stagnant. A few of us here made a call for not joining
the 'bandwagon' but we better be sure the hurricane is not going
to slam into us right in town.
A small article on today's Houston Chronicle claimed that the
high-rises in downtown are designed in mind to withstand the
extraordinary strong winds and earthquakes, and category 5 Rita
is still fall short of creating the menace of tearing down the
stable structures, what a great relief to hear that, but windows
can still be blown away, creating holes everywhere. This unpleasant
warning, however, has created a very unique sight in the town,
buildings regardless of size, have their glass windows covered
with plywood to safe guard the properties from the unwelcome
hurricane.
Just had my 'buffet' dinner, nothing interesting, a burger with
some garnishes, guess we have to suffer for days on this unfavorable
food, ashamed of me, we are lucky to have this downtown hotel
continues to take care of its occupants. I was surprised to
see so many in-house guests queuing up for the food, thought
many had evacuated. Apparently many checked back in to the hotel
as a result of giving up on the worst metropolitan escaping
traffic in American history, and a colleague of mine was one
of them, he made his way back to the hotel after a long day
drive heading to nowhere. Someone told a story of a hotel patron
who spent 6 hours on road to airport but to find that his flight
was cancelled. Airport continues to be a mess. This boutique
hotel has obviously gained popularity overnight, too many disappointed
faces of outsiders I have seen who walked with hopes for rooms
but in vain. Some police officers are staying in for immediate
emergency response, and countless news crews from numerous channels
can be seen in constant hurry in preparing themselves for the
first hand downtown hurricane updates.
Houston city mayor Bill White ordered everyone in downtown to
leave except those without transportation. Unlike Galvaston
and a few other counties, city Houston is not yet a mandate
for evacuation. Hotel management nevertheless carefully drafted
a 2-page emergency evacuation procedures to all occupants, a
mandatory meeting will be held tomorrow 1pm at the ballroom,
followed by a 3pm evacuation drill, not good, I'm at 16th floor.
Lets pray hard for no commercial power outage, otherwise we
will all be stranded without outbound communication. TV and
radio suddenly become indispensable for everyone, they play
an essential role in keeping all of us alive, by keeping us
at the frontline of this historical stormy invasion. Curfew
is due to take place later at midnight to 6am, first time in
life I learn of curfew imposed by hotel management. Well, in
a vulnerable moment like this, it is better to overreact than
staying still. We all should actively take every precaution
to stay safe. |
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