I read Pippa Mac's blog on IKE in the Woodland's, Texas and was shocked at the shenanigans of the grocery stores not being prepared for the shoppers (seriously, I understand the meat, chili, water, etc. but BANANA's? what gives??!! We are going to be "hunkered down" for days, maybe weeks, we will buy BANANAS?? Oh, wait, they are gone, i spose we won't be getting our potassium fill).
I was personally spooked so I started paying attention to my hometown & what mother nature might be bringing our way. SA is expected to get 15 MPH winds starting this evening & 30-40 MPH winds tomorrow...not a big freakin' deal compared to other parts of the Lone Star State.
San Antonio is opening it's proverbial arms to evacuees but... where art thou?
This was the cover of the San Antonio Express News this morning: But the streets of SA looked like this today? What gives? Where are the people?
San Antonio has over 35,000 hotels, it was reported that 97-98% of the hotels were filled to CAPACITY. I was dumbfounded driving the streets looking high & low for all the evacuees (really on the way to the title company but looking nonetheless). I heard rumblings of traffic on 281 & 1604 so I took off early to head to the other side of town. To head home, Casa a la K.
Then, I found them. Wait a few hours & the streets of SA on 1604 looked like this:
This was in the middle of the day! Mind you THIS is NOT normal traffic for SA. At 8AM & 5PM it's expected but not in the middle of the day.
The streets of SA were completely bumpahtabumpah. So, i suppose I found them. I feel better. Frustrated because I am not the most patient person in the world when it comes to traffic BUT glad we made a home for the evacuees.
I read San Antonio currently has 3 shelters open to evacuees with 2 more identified if needed. I am proud of San Antonio for stepping up & taking in it's sister cities.
Welcome Houston, The Woodlands, GALVESTON, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas & all the other little cities (you know who you are).
Thank you to the Fire Fighters, EMS, the Red Cross & the San Antonio Volunteer Organizations in Disaster (SAVOAD) for stepping up & taking care of our visitors.
If you want to volunteer, help out, do what you can - go to the Freeman Coliseum or call 210-224-5910.
Kristin Moran
Specializing in San Antonio & surrounding cities
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RE/MAX Access - Realtor®/Owner
KristinMoran@Remax.net 210.313.7397 www.SistersThatSell.com
Buy a home from me, use the truck to move for free!
I am tracking the storm closely this morning. There is not much activity in the D/FW area but I hear we are under the threat of tornadoes.
Great blog, good pictures. So thankful the storm was not worse than it was but flooding, tonadoes and sustained winds are still beating them up in the Piney Woods this morning and heading north and east later in the day. Everyone stay safe and a big "Thank You" to all who help in every situation. We have great volunteers in Texas!
Hi Brenda - Yes! I made it home. Had some good advice to gas up the day before so that is exactly what I did!
Mel - Good to hear that. I think we missed it by a hair.
Ricki - Thanks! I second that Thank You!
Kristin, wow. I can only imagine what is going on down there. I've been calling people and keeping tabs. I am glad you guys are all okay and really appreciate you posting the pictures so we can all get a look see. C. :-)
I am so glad to see the posts coming up now of all the other AR people who were in a city that IKE visited.
Back when Hurricane Beulah hit South Texas (1967 I think), my family was considering evacuating from Kingsville to relatives in Floresville, southeast of San Antonio. Ultimately we stayed and watched all the trees in our yard get blown away, but in the little town of Floresville where we were going to go, they had a string of tornadoes and a couple of deaths. We were better off staying put. It doesn't always work that way, though, but if I evacuate somewhere, I'm going to go far, far, far away, not just a few hundred miles. After all, Ike was over 600 miles wide at its peak.
Hi Jim-Scary, eh? Why did you leave TX? I don't remember the 67' hurricane as I was born in 70' but mother nature sure can do some crazy stuff to what people have built so hard for. My little sister lives in Burbank after 35 years in SA - what a difference! Thanks for stopping by. KM