My mother and family in Fayetteville, AR (NW corner) are hysterical because I don’t want to go home because of this silly hurricane business. I’m in Arkadelphia, AR, which is here
My mother, who will quote the most sensationalized news stories she can find, is telling me that, even 300 miles inland, Arkadelphia is going to get 30 inches of rain.
Ok, I wanna go swimming.
But looking at her same sources, (cnn.com), the hurricane might possibly hit SW Missouri. Well. I picture that happening. :dubious:
But I don’t want to brave I-30. I don’t want to make a 7 hour round-trip drive (measured when there’s 0 traffic). I don’t get why it’s even slighly necessary for me to move anywhere.
Rita’s going to move north through Texas, then stall out over Texarkana on Sunday. See this map? The National Hurricane Center says it will still be there Wednesday night. Ever sit through an 72-hour downpour? Me neither. Hope you have a snorkel.
I was quoted that 30" of rain thing earlier today on a professional newsgroup I belong to. A member expressed concern about a fellow member who lived in Whitehouse, Texas and wondered if he had evacuated yet. I answered that it was doubtful he would be evacuating since Whitehouse is roughly 250 miles from the coast. The answer? “It won’t matter in this storm. There’s going to be 30” of rain!" WTF? The NWS website said Whitehouse would be getting 6-12" of rain. No picnic, sure, but nothing to evuate from unless you live by a creek.
Arkadelphia is indeed going to get rain. We will not be experiencing winds anywhere close to a hurricane. The problem with coming home this weekend, in addition to traffic, is that we will not be seeing Rita until Sunday-ish, perhaps Monday. The rain is not expected to let up for at least a couple of days.
So coming home would be pointless, since I would then have to drive back to Arkadelphia in the rain. I will be investing in a good umbrella, since I left my awesome cool big one in Fayetteville. (I’m gonna go get a big one from Wal-mart and then take it back after my next trip to Fayetteville, where I’ll be able to get my big one.)
However, if you check out the map, even you guys are not out of the range of the rain. "
I feel that I am handling this with some amount of maturity and sanity, but I doubt that the email will do much to calm my mother’s fears.
I remember when I was a kid a hurricane making it to NE Ohio as a tropical depression (Hugo? it was in the late 80’s or early 90’s and hit in N or S Carolina). It was windy in the wrong direction and rained alot, I think there was some flooding in PA, but it was just wet in NE OH. If you are near a creek, go uphill, if not, I wouldn’t panic. Wisconsin got >6" of rain in one day a few years ago (not from a hurricane) and the ground just got a little swampy. Don’t park in the lawn, though.
They have modified the forecast, looks like Rita will keep moving, rather than stalling over Texas the way they thought. So the 30" of rain will not happen, just 10-12" instead.