hurricane rita's acoming...

and she's in no mood. Already a category FIVE and she hasn't even made it to the middle of the Gulf yet! Sheeee-it. DFW could be looking at a category 1 hurricane on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. We lived in Fort Lauderdale for five years and never (thank God) had to ride out a hurricane. A tropical storm or two, yes, but never an actual hurricane.

To give you an idea of the escalation of my freaking out, here are a few maps to peruse.

This is the projected strike zone as of 1PM today.


This is the projected three day footprint of the hurricane.




"A" is Denton, where the Lyons' Den is located.
"B" is New Braunfels, where my brother and sister-in-law live.
"C" is San Antonio, where one of my cousins goes to school and my great great aunt lives.
"D" is Victoria, where my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and cousin live.
"E" is Houston, where two aunts, an uncle and my grandmother live.

I have another cousin who lives in College Station, right near Bryan on the map, too.

We have many friends and friends of friends in these areas too.

From what I'm reading on NOAA.com Denton can expect a good amount of rain and high winds with possible tornadic activity. But if you look at the five day footprint of this hurricane it reaches all the way up to Nebraska and Iowa. N E B R A S K A and I O W A. Holy cow. The five day footprint has dipped back down to the Kansas/Nebraska border as of 10PM. Still, though, KANSAS.