Hurricanes are definitely male

All of the things I expected from Hurricane Rita I did not expect her to roar through East Texas as a Category 2 hurricane.

2 days after the storm has passed our little corner of East Texas is still trying to recover. Luckily for us the eye passed about 40 miles east of us, but I understand Jasper, Tx has taken severe damage. I can tell you the power of the storm was awesome, even 100 miles inland and 40 miles east of the eye. I think you would have to be a lunatic to try and ride out a Cat 3 or 4 storm at the shore.

My neighborhood still has blocks without power. Some parts of the city have no water. We were fortunate to be without power for only 15 hours or so.

I don't know why hurricanes were named after females in the beginning. The roar of the wind was definitely a deep baritone as it came through. We lost some shingles off our roof and had the back storm door ripped frame the frame. Our neighbors across the street lost shingles and tar paper off their roof and thus had leaks. They are also without power. We had 3 friends sleep over last night b/c they also don't have power.

There have been some problems. The neighborhood rumor mill has been passing around stories about problems at local Wal-Marts, such as gas and groceries being stolen from people in the parking lots. Sadly, a two year old was run over in some kind of road rage incidents. The local papers are only reporting the story and not providing any details. Another person was killed by a falling tree limb. My family members who tried to flee Houston ended up having an easier time of it than we did.

I have pictures but for some reason they will not appear. I will try to put them up later.

In the meantime pictures from a local paper can be found here.