And then, Rita came

This is scary, on a personal level. Doug's mom is working for FEMA (and before you say anything, she's 74 years old and doing a hell of a job out there). She had been assigned to Beaumont, Texas. If you were listening to the news, you know that this is exactly where Rita is heading at the moment. So, she was evacuated yesterday -- to Lufkin, Texas. I'm hearing at lot about Lufkin at the moment, as that the shelters are closed down due to the masses of people pouring into the city. That there is no food, no gas. We can't reach her at the moment (which might be due to her volunteering and just not answering either of her cell phones). We think she has reached Lufkin in time. If you could spare a thought or two...

Comments

[Douglas]

Further update: Mom is in a gym in Lufkin, TX. She is still working with the evacuees... it's just that, instead of going back to the hotel at night, now she's staying there with them too.

Since she's the oldest person there, someone found her a cot. (As opposed to an air mattress or a sleeping bag on the gym floor.) She's very tired but in good spirits.

The storm should pass over them tomorrow (Saturday).

Doug M.

[Carbonel]

According to http://www.weather.com/ Rita is now down to a Category 3.

And for what its worth, it's rarely the case that the worker on the ground, of even the most moribund bureaucracy, that isn't pulling her own weight, but rather that she's carrying the weight of that bureacracy, dragging her down. And the bureacrats, themselves, of course...