After Rita
After looking like we’d have four days of steady rain caused by the stalled-out remains of Rita, I’m quite pleased with how things actually passed. The storm went east of us, so far east that I didn’t see any rain at all. She’s also on the move, so not stalling out over Arkansas or Louisiana. Those areas actually received some much-needed rain, as they have been facings some drought conditions.
Here in Dallas, we had an overcast and breezy day most of Saturday. Towards the end of the day, the sun tried to peek out and the winds became more gusty, which created an interesting sight in the sky: the clouds turned a bright yellow-orange on top with a dark grey underside. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera on me at the time.
At the house, there are a lot of twigs down in the yard, but nothing damaging.
All in all, I think most people fared very well in Rita. She could have been much more devastating: landing as a stronger storm (like the category 4 or even 5 she was for a good part of her journey through the Gulf); hitting Galveston directly, burying the entire city in the storm surge; continuing through Houston, causing major damage through Texas’ largest city; striking Austin (the capital) as a category 1 or 2; and stalling over Dallas for several days, causing flooding. She certainly could have devastated Texas, impacting her three largest cities. We were lucky.
Luckier still- we all got to see CNN’s bright red, massive-logo raincoats. I can just see it now…CNN News Director to staff, “You know what would REALLY make us the Hurricane Headquarters? Matching jackets.”
Anderson Cooper and John Zarella SO called each other the night before.