You may have noticed that the forecast map and tacking models have wobbled a couple of times over the last 24-36 hours. As a result, that means that we could be seeing the dirty side of the storm bringing us a surge that would literally cover my house (a 20 ft surge towards a home at 10 ft above sea level 1/4 mile from the water qualifies as a "bad thing"). So seeing stories like this one makes my heart quiver a bit -- while also fills it with hope that an evacuation won't be the pre-Rita mess we had 3 years ago.

The pressure of staring down Hurricane Ike is on as the storm moves across the Gulf of Mexico on an uncertain path that has officials along the Texas coast waiting to decide which communities need to evacuate — and when.

As of late Tuesday, Ike seemed set on coming to Texas, but it remained too early to know whether it would make landfall this weekend somewhere between Corpus Christi and Palacios, drop down into the Rio Grande Valley, or even make a hard turn that would bring it closer to Houston.

"When they get in the Gulf, they tend to do weird things, so we're going to keep watching it," said Francisco Sanchez, of Harris County's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "We do have a bit of a sigh of relief."

Even if the storm doesn't head directly to Houston, its winds and rains still could be dangerous, said officials, who cautioned residents not to let their guards down.

"We are still in the monitoring stage now," Houston Emergency Center spokesman Joe Laud said. "There is always that chance it could turn back east."

So right now it looks like (probably) no evacuation for me -- but I'm not canceling that hotel room in Austin quite yet, either.

Posted by: Greg at 09:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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