Our First Hurricane Season in TX - tips? (Houston, The Woodlands: rental, how much)

[Lone Star Rooster]

One seemingly basic lesson I learned pre-Ike, which someone pointed out to me (I'm a relatively new homeowner), is to clean out the gutters around your house before a big storm. There will be LOTS of wind and rain of course, and if your house is around a lot of trees (which it probably is, being in the Woodlands), leaves and pine needles are gonna clog them up pretty quickly. Sure enough, our gutters were chock full of junk right after the storm.

Oh, and I second whoever pointed out the need for a battery-operated fan.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by movingtohouston

About having food for the power outage. We had at least a week's worth of canned goods and it wasn't enough. We were without power for over 2 weeks. You can't guarentee that the stores will be open right away. Make sure you have enough. Also you will need some way to cook (depending on your canned goods) so make sure you have enough propane or charcoal for a grill. You won't be able to buy anything at the store for a few days at least. Also make sure you have enough cash on hand as well. Some places couldn't take debit cards but did take cash.

Strangely enough I was prepared for all that, but got really chagrined when I realized that my pots and pans could not be used on the grill. I have since purchased a set of pots and pans made for camping and added that to my war chest. My mother who had a very nice set of pots and pans was cooking eggs, etc. on her grill (she had a generator for the Fridge) when I visited, boy was I jealous.

Lesson...make sure you have something to cook with in addition to all the other stuff.

[descovy]

I would ride out the hurricane in the woodlands. Then once it is over evacuate to a place with power. From inland it makes sense to stay put and not be on the congested roads. During Rita people were stuck in standstill traffic to the point that they ran out of gas to AC the car. Plus, the storms often turn at the last minute and by evacuating early you could evacuate yourself into a no power situation... Only instead of in your own home with neighbors to look out for you, you are in a hotel with strangers.

By all means evacuate next day when the storm has passed. But IMO evacuating before the storm in all that chaos is harder on loved ones

[descovy]

During Rita a bunch of evacuees gave up and sheltered at my church on fm1960... They didn't even make it up to the woodlands before they gave up... Hot, tired, and out of fuel

[Sampaguita]

Originally Posted by descovy

I would ride out the hurricane in the woodlands. Then once it is over evacuate to a place with power. From inland it makes sense to stay put and not be on the congested roads. During Rita people were stuck in standstill traffic to the point that they ran out of gas to AC the car. Plus, the storms often turn at the last minute and by evacuating early you could evacuate yourself into a no power situation... Only instead of in your own home with neighbors to look out for you, you are in a hotel with strangers.

By all means evacuate next day when the storm has passed. But IMO evacuating before the storm in all that chaos is harder on loved ones

That's a really good tip and you make a lot of good points. I'm sharing all of this with DH. Our own home is the ideal place to ride out a hurricane just because of how it's set up for DH's mobility issues/needs. But if it did get to the point where we had to leave in the aftermath, we would at least know where it was safe to go rather than driving right into it when everything is uncertain anyway.

I remember hearing about Rita & the mass exodus out of Houston. I think one of our relatives spent 14 hrs in the car getting from downtown to Austin!

[BoydS]

Buy your supplies now, because if you wait until a hurricane is in the gulf you'll find long lines and empty shelves at the stores. Making sure all of your trees are trimmed is always a good idea.

Those Honda generators are nice. Low noise and consumes less gas. I've got a 10 year old Craftsman that is very loud and goes through 5 gal of gas in 10 hours. Been wanting to put in a whole house genset that is fueled by propane. This may be the year I do that.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by BoydS

Making sure all of your trees are trimmed is always a good idea.

This is a very good idea. My neighbors and I have our trees trimmed professionally every other year or so. Last time was just before Ike. We lost very few limbs (most less than 1 inch diameter) from our trees. This included Pecans and Oaks. Other neighbors who did not have their trees tended (and my parents ) lost large limbs and in some cases, whole trees.

Those Honda generators are nice. Low noise and consumes less gas. I've got a 10 year old Craftsman that is very loud and goes through 5 gal of gas in 10 hours. Been wanting to put in a whole house genset that is fueled by propane. This may be the year I do that.

The Hondas and similar are inverter generators and work on a slightly different system than standard generators. I am also told that they put out a much cleaner line of power that will not damage your delicate electronics like TVs and computers like the standard generators can. My parents and brother each have one, I am getting mine this year.

[citizen_jane]

By all means evacuate next day when the storm has passed.

This may not be feasible with trees/debris on the roads, broken live power lines laying around and no power for the traffic signals. After Ike, the authorities were begging people to please stay in their homes.

[catfancier]

Originally Posted by citizen_jane

This may not be feasible with trees/debris on the roads, broken live power lines laying around and no power for the traffic signals. After Ike, the authorities were begging people to please stay in their homes.

Yes, I agree that the advice to "evacuate the next day" is definitely on an "it depends" basis. If gas stations and services are closed and main roads (or especially side ones) are obstacle courses, how could you? I'm sure we all remember Ed Emmett (sp?) first asking folks to "hunker down and shelter in place" and then to "stay in place"!

Especially in the OP's situation (a disabled spouse) I'd vote for the early evacuation, if indeed her neighborhood seemed in real danger.

I moved here last year and Ike was my first hurricane...rode it out in Sugar Land.

[Felixmp]

Here's a couple of additional items I can think of.

1. Mark on a map 1 or 2 or 3 backroad routes to get out and, if possible, drive them yourself to see if they work out. During Rita, it took 4 hours to get from interior Woodlands to I45. Having a way out of town on the lesser known backroads might've saved time.

2. Gather the phone numbers/cell number of the neighbors who are staying put so you can call them when you're out of town and ask them how your house fared during the storm.

3. If you store your extra bottled water/batteries/canned goods in the detached garage, make sure you can get into the garage in the event of a power outage. My neighbor couldn't use his garage door opener without power and he had locked the walkthrough garage door (with keys inside garage) thinking he could get in through car garage door.