Rita Evacuée Checks In

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hi, My name is Davmi, and I’m a Rita Refugee. You may have seen me on CNN or FoxNews. I was one of the thousands stranded on the side of I-45 when my car ran out of gas. I’m 36. I’ve never run out of gas in my life!

I left my home in Dickinson at 2:45 pm Wednesday to beat the mandatory evacuation of 6 am Thursday. I had a full tank of gas, a cooler full of ice and food, 2 cases of water, a buncha luggage and my MamaCat with her 8 month-old kittens. I’d made reservations for 2 nights in Dallas, which MapQuest assured me I could reach in about 5 hours.

Five hours later I had made it roughly 30 miles. My car died b/c the alternator couldn’t keep up the battery in the stop and go traffic. It was over 100 degrees out but I had to turn off the A/C. Some men helped me push my car to a safer spot and then I called T-Mobile’s Roadside Assistance. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes I was told that since I was in the evacuation traffic I had to call 911. I called 911 every half hour for 2 hours. I made a poster saying “Dead Battery” and sat on my trunk holding it up for passing motorists. None would stop. I finally flagged down a DOT truck and got a jump. (Yes, I carry my own cables.)

I drove until midnight then stopped to take a quick nap in a mall parking lot. I’d gone 40 miles. I still had half a tank so I passed the gas stations I saw until 10 am. That’s when things got fun. MamaCat was panting and yowling, the kittens were screaming, all of us were dehydrated and I needed a bathroom break. When I took Mama out to give her food and water, she ran away. I tried to catch her but never could. Then I saw that one of the kittens had died.

Bathrooms were hard to find. Local retailers were very reluctant to let people inside. Many people put up “No Public Restrooms” signs. Try explaining that to a sick child or an elderly person. “I don’t care if your bathroom is private. I have no shame,” doesn’t work on most people.

The gas crisis was starting to rear its ugly head. I could see cars pulled up to the pumps but when I got there the pumps were bagged. The people were only under the canopies for the shade. Keep in mind that it was a beautiful, sunny day and roughly 105 degrees. Rumors started that gas would be unavailable until Tuesday. The freeways were mass mobile parties. People were hood surfing, walking their dogs, walking their kids, walking from car to car, and all at a blistering 6 MPH. I saw folks on bicycles going faster than me.

Not only was there no gas, there was no food. All convenience stores were either low or out of food. No fast food or restaurants were open. My ice had melted overnight and all my food had gone bad. All I had to eat were 3 bananas, 2 apples and a jar of jelly. I stopped twice more for catnaps, getting about 20 - 30 minutes’ sleep at a time. When I couldn’t take it anymore I pulled in to an NTB store with a parking lot full of other people. There was an outdoor outlet on the building so I could recharge my cell phone. The trip odometer read 60 miles. It was 10 pm on Thursday. I slept fitfully until 5 am and headed for a Shell station with lines already formed.

Once again, no gas. People were saying that gas was coming after 5 but if you were really desperate you should go up to the freeway and raise your hood. The radio said the National Guard was coming to give out 5 gallons to stranded motorists. By this point I had 1 gallon left, only 18 miles to empty. I hied my butt to the freeway, clocked in mile 70, and settled down to sleep again. We were starting to gather into little stranded communities, sharing cell phones and what food we had. I checked on my cats to find another kitten had died. The ones left were all dehydrated and panting. At 11 am the local cops came by and told us that the gas was only 10 miles away. It was on 2 pickups, each carrying an 80-gallon tank. That works out to 32 cars. At 11:45 we watched the empty gas trucks pass us.

Local residents started driving by offering water, candy, soda and popcorn. Every few minutes another car would come by to check if anyone needed water. Then a couple asked if I had enough gas to follow them home. They took me and the family in front of me to their home. They fed us, gave us a place to sleep and shower. I started to feel human again. I’d been on the road 44.5 hours and had 6 hours of sleep. The trip meter read 74 miles.

I want to commend everyone for how they acted. Yes, drivers got a bit aggressive but I never saw any fights in any parking lots; never heard any raised voices; never saw any crimes or fistfights at the (empty) gas pumps. Everyone I met was tired, stressed out and hungry but they all acted like decent people. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the whole of SE Texas didn’t turn into the Lord of the Flies.

This morning we heard of a gas station in The Woodlands that had fuel. We exchanged names addresses and phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. At the station I filled up at $2.67 a gallon for the cheap stuff, filled up my gas can and headed for home. I pulled into my driveway 57 minutes later. Damage by Rita: One overturned trashcan. I’m one of the extremely lucky ones, and I thank all the Powers That Be for that. Now it’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m going to bed.

That’s my story. Anyone else?

2

I just want to say how sorry I am for the loss of your cats, and extend sympathies for your horrible ordeal.

It’s hard to see now that the evacuation was a good thing, as the hurricane didn’t hit as hard as it was thought. BUT if it had been another Katrina, then you’d have been at least safer than staying at home.

How are you now, and how are your remaining kittens?

3

What a terrible ordeal, my sympathies. I’m happy, and I must admit surprised, to hear how people remained polite and civilized.

4

Goodness. What a nightmare. I agree that you did the right thing by evacuating. Looking back, would you have done anything different? Should the authorities have done anything different?

5

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience.
I’d like to ask a few questions aout the kittens, though.
You said they were 8 months old, is that correct? At 8 months they are almost full grown, and not really kittens anymore.
What do you contribute their death to, heat, lack of water, or both?
What would/could you have done differently to prevent their having expired?
You know, if you had to do it again, what would you have done differently to save the cats?
I’m very pleased that you and many of your neighbors excaped the damage that others did not.

6

No, not “8-month-old” kittens, eight “month-old” kittens. Eight kittens, four weeks old. I think the heat accelerated the dehydration. They were in a carrier with their mother and could have nursed – if she’d let them. They are recovering slowly now. I’m giving them water with an eyedropper until I can get some Tiny Tiger formula.
If I had known that we’d be stuck in the car in 100+ degree heat I’d have done more to find a shelter to board them. Many shelters said they accepted pets but once you got there they weren’t taking any more. The local boarders and ASPCA’s were full. Hell, it might have been better all around if I’d just left them in the house. But I didn’t know Rita was going to miss me.
As it was I was headed to a hotel that accepted pets and thought we’d only be in the car for 5 hours. I ran the air conditioner until the car conked out. I had absolutely no idea that I was endangering them: I never would have put them in harm’s way. One reason I didn’t pull over very often was that once you got off the main highway your chances of getting back on were pretty poor. And there’s no shade on the shoulders so stopping there wouldn’t have helped any.

7

Everyone I talked to agreed that if they had set up the “contraflow” roads a LOT sooner and a LOT closer to Houston, we could have gotten out faster. What they did was open the southbound lanes of the major arteries to northbound only traffic. At first the roads were to be switched at 9 am. Then 11 am. The program finally went into gear at 2:30! And they did only one route at a time.

Furthermore, the “contraflow” didn’t start until 20 miles or so outside of Houston. I never made it that far. If you saw the footage, you’ll see that there were hundreds of cars that didn’t make it that far. You can open all the roads you want but if there’s no gas, ain’t nobody goin’ nowhere.

And that’s another sticking point:Fuel! Gas station workers were telling us that they weren’t allowed to accept deliveries until Tuesday. The radio said that delivery trucks were stuck in traffic. Ambulances were getting through. How hard would it have been to have a couple police cars escort the fuel to the stations? We would have gladly gotten out of the way!!

The whole thing was a mess. This was such a bad experience that people will refuse to leave next time.

8

This is good, I’m glad you brought this up.
Could you have possibly taken back roads out of town, or driven to, say, Corpus Christi (or that general direction), or taken route 6 or route 3 out of town?
Where any other alternatives available that would have got you away from the coast at more than 3 miles per hour? What did you learn from hingsight?

9

We learned one great big thing:

A lot of people left that didn’t need to, and I hope that the next time it happens we hear the powers that be telling us that coastal area folks and people living in flood plains ONLY need to evacuate. If just those folks had left, we would not have had the fiasco that we did.

Now, I grant you that a lot of this was kneejerk reaction from Katrina. It didn’t need to be.

10

I didn’t watch a lot of Katrina news. Your story really brought this home to me. I just can’t imagine how frightening and frustrating this must have been for you. I hope get back to normal for you soon.

11

Corpus is south: South is bad. The hurricane was coming that way. Hwy 3 is only 2 lanes, which is why I jumped on I 45. My reservations were in Dallas and I only know how to get to Dallas from 45. I’ve never driven as far north as the Woodlands and I’ve lived here 8 years. In my frantic packing I accidentally put the map underneath a big pile of stuff and didn’t find it until Friday.

Clothahump, what’s your story? Did you flee, too? Any other Houstonians? Ringo? CraneOp?

12

I hope the rest of the little guys make it. And I hope the next time you’ll be a little more educated on the need to evacuate or not, and how to travel with kitties in the summer (I’m an expert on the latter, just an arm-chair quarter back on the first since it’s been 30 years since I lived that far south!)

13

i’m so sorry. you must have felt so helpless watching the wee ones die and your cat run off.

i hope the little furries recover quickly.

you did what a responsible pet owner should do. you evacuated with them and found a place that would house you and them. traffic and gas shortages are things beyond your control.

it is hard to stop the “if only”. i have read accounts of people who did not or could not evacutate. what they went through with their pets, in the teeth of the hurricane…

you made the right decision to evacuate with them.

14

Davmi,
My heart goes out to you for enduring your awful experience.You did everything right, and couldn’t foresee the mess ahead. I suppose what I can add as some hope is that I raised four orphaned kittens on formula, and they are all now healthy 3 year old cats. I hope your kitties thrive.Don’t know how stores are there, but Pedialite is a fine rehydrator, more available than kitten milk replacement for a start.

Thank you for posting, too, this gives a perspective, however sad, on what Houston evacuees went through. Hopefully, a better system will evolve from what has happened.

Take care, Hon.

15

I didn’t plan to evacuate myself - rather I intended to hole up with friends in a sturdy house, as I didn’t think my apartment was a good place to be if there were truly Category 5 hurricane winds about.

But, I did feel the need to get my mother out, as she’s 88, and the anticipated days without power for A/C would likely have killed her.

So, I booked her on the last flight I could get out to Albuquerque, where my brother could pick her up on Friday morning. That flight was scheduled to leave at 9:40 AM Friday and, based on what I was seeing and hearing via the media, I decided we should leave for Bush Intercontinental (from the center of Houston) very early.

We left her house ~9:15 PM Thursday and parked at Bush ~9:55, having taken surface roads only. After successfully scoring the only wheelchair left in the house, we waited in the check-in line for an hour and a half, only to learn that her flight had been cancelled. I must admit I’d been anticipating that.

Well then, what to do? I had Mom in tow, along with a good supply of vodka, canned victuals and water and juices. I went to my friend Mike’s home, up off 1960, where we arrived at about midnite.

The intervening stretch of I-45 was devoid of traffic. We made a quick passage.

Mike and Pauline were the most excellent hosts (my Mom has been bugging me about what she can do in return), although I will say that Mike worked me like a dog to get his wife’s 50 or so plants stashed in the garage and to otherwise batten down the hatches. And then we reversed the process the next day.

Driving back last night, after we’d ascertained that Mom’s power was on and I didn’t need to ship her to New Mexico, was relatively traffic-free. Once again, we took surface roads.

davmilasav, I’m sorry to hear of your travails - I hope the new generation of kitties helps assuage the loss.

16

davmilasav, I’m so sorry for your experience. I hope that the kittens get better soon.

I had to leave the city for health reasons, so my mom and I drove out to Wimberly. We were very fortunate during our trip, it was pretty much the opposite of OP. Since we’re on the NW side of the city, we were already far enough out to miss the worst of the traffic, but we took the back roads as far as we could anyway. Shortly after we got onto I-10 it was gridlocked, but when we reached Katy Mills Mall they opened up the contraflow lanes. We were able to get on them and it was smooth sailing (for the most part). I felt bad leaving my dad and everyone else in Houston, but it was easier on my family and friends to not have to worry about me if something happened. One of my friends stayed at the house since she’s from New Jersey and had never been through a hurricane. One redhead left the house with her dog, and another brought her dog and stayed in her place. :slight_smile: I brought my laptop, but we didn’t have a phone line and trying to call into Houston didn’t work very well, so we felt kinda naked without news. Everything worked out well at the house, tonnes of pine needles and branches but not much else. They even had power the whole time. My best friend left the day before us and while her experience wasn’t as bad as davmilasav’s it wasn’t nearly as easy as mine.

One thing that was terribly scary was how people were driving (I know, the exact opposite of the problem of the majority). People were zipping down the shoulders at incredible speeds. I usually drive rather fast (it is Houston after all) and I was even uncomfortable. We were almost involved in 2 accidents, but fortunately both were avoided. On the way home, the closer we got to the city the faster people were driving (+90) and the worse their driving became.

It somewhat pitiful, one of the first things I did when I got home was check in at the board to see what was up (then my trusty dog, who was such a comfort on the trip, and I took a looong nap). :smiley:

17

This warms my heart, but otherwise, what an ordeal! Glad you’re okay.

I don’t know where Dickinson is. Is it close to Port Neches? I have a friend who evacuated from Port Neches, and she hasn’t been able to get any news about damage there. She’s with relatives in Henderson, and wondering if her house survived.

18

Dickinson is exit 23 on I 45. Roughly 20 miles north of Galveston. I’m not familiar with Port Neches so I don’t know if it’s near or not, sorry.
The worst damage I’ve seen around here since I got home is a downed tree in the neighbors’ yard. Oh, and the Wendy’s sign blew down. Which is odd because the KFC bucket stayed up and it’s only about 40 feet away.