The fun in Texas is just beginning

[malaise]

Houston residents who were told not to evacuate cannot find gas, ice, water or anything else.
If you tell people not to evacuate, at least prepare for a worst case scenario like no power.
The few stations with gas are selling for $5.

Let me add that I can't believe that anyone who hears a hurricane warning does not fill their car with gas first. That's hurricane 101 basics.

add.

[K Gardner]

1. Its not only people in devastated areas hurting.. you can't FIND regular gas in E. TN and if you do,

it's $5.00 gallon. Went up overnight. People are in a panic state.

[malaise]

2. I'm beginning to wonder if I should put on my

tin foil hat.

[tpsbmam]

16. From the Asheville (NC) Citizen Times this morning:

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880914003

Gas prices set a record today in Asheville, but many stations remain out of fuel with plastic bags over their nozzles or yellow tape barricading their pumps.

Where they can find it, Asheville drivers are paying an average of $4.166 per gallon of regular, up 16 cents from Saturday. A month ago, that gallon averaged about $3.772.

Asheville’s prices are higher than the national average of $3.795, according to AAA. In North Carolina, gas prices averaged $4.041 in Charlotte, $3.881 in Fayetteville, $3.982 in Greenboro, $3.986 in Raleigh and $3.887 in Wilmington.

-------

Gov. Mike Easley has declared a state of "abnormal market disruption" and signed an order allowing the attorney general to enforce the state’s anti-gouging law.

Cooper said that the law applies to all levels of the fuel supply chain. He said his office is ready to take consumer complaints.

[NashVegas]

56. Friday Night I Was Told ....

Knoxville had no gas.

We went through Jamestown, TN. Nada. Made it to Cookeville w/1/2 gallon left in the tank.

[cobalt1999]

21. Our stations say they don't expect to get any more fuel delivered until Tuesday

Which could easily become Wednesday. The stations will all be empty by then.

[malaise]

23. It's going to get ugly

soon and very soon.

[malaise]

24. dupe

soon and very soon.

[ixion]

3. yep, stocking up on the basics

food, water, gas, propane, batteries, first aid stuff...even a warning should have prompted them to stock up, but it makes me sad, still, to see the confusion and worse, the gouging. :(

[malaise]

7. We begin stocking up in June

and add to the supplies every month during the season. Once there's a warning, we fill up both cars and start using one because we know that gas stations that don't have generators cannot pump gas. Thankfully our gas station has a massive generator, but there is no guarantee that in a serious storm they won't lose that as well. The other thing we do is make and store ice and make arrangements with said gas station to collect two bags every other day if we don't have power.

Last week I gave away four bags of ice which we picked up two days after Gustav -thankfully our power returned the same night.

[EFerrari]

40. People who are barely making ends meet have a hard time

buying anything extra. :(

[tpsbmam]

50. So true.....

I started stocking up on stuff (food in the freezer, staples like TP, etc) months ago. My neighbors who are really struggling, on the other hand, are having difficulty just buying what they need NOW and they just went on food stamps (thank goodness -- it'll help a little). A friend tried to do the same but ended up going through everything he tried to stock up because money was just too tight. I've occasionally done the same -- I've stocked up on a fair amount of dog food, including one dog's very expensive prescription food. Boy was I glad last month that I'd done that because it was a REALLY tight month and I didn't have to buy any food for her (at $40/month for a 15 pound dog!). My other dog just had major oral surgery and 7 teeth pulled (rescue with clear neglect before he came to me) -- $715 later, I'm very glad again that I'd stocked up on both their foods so I didn't have to buy any this month either.

[Two Americas]

72. times are hard

Many people don't have the extra couple of hundred bucks needed at a minimum to "stock up."

[Hubert Flottz]

4. The Gouge is on and the GOP don't give a damn.

[mrJJ]

5. No electricty

No AC for about 2 weeks in Houston's humid weather is going to be a very serious problem. Tempers will be frayed very quickly.

[malaise]

6. When those Texans snap, it will make NOLA look like

a kindergarten picnic.

[WolverineDG]

26. The people affec ted by Hurricane Celia in 1970

were without power for over a month. We're used to it, so thanks for your concern.

I just love how people on DU use hurricanes as an excuse to bash Texans....

dg

[malaise]

27. This thread isn't bashing Texans

I have a Texan niece and nephew and they're very intelligent young adults.

[WolverineDG]

28. "when those Texans snap" "at least they loaded up on ammo"

yup, no bashing here....


:eyes:

dg

[malaise]

31. People everywhere snap in this situation

You don't want to listen to Jamaicans after a hurricane. Fishermen stay on the Keys and then abuse the government for not picking them up. People picket the power company if power isn't back in two days. Hurricanes bring out the best and worst of human beings. I said nothing about ammo but
a Rethug rep was on TV yesterday telling them to stock up on ammo so since you raise it, I'm guessing that post-hurricane frustration and ammo would make a lethal combo.

Are you watching those 100s of cars at gas stations in Houston on GEM$NBC right now. Someone will snap eventually - someone will try and break a line - it isn't Texas, it's human beings. Let's hope the person who snaps doesn't have a loaded weapon.
add.

[uppityperson]

39. People everywhere snap, this topic IS about Texas.

Being under severe stress, people everywhere snap. Settle down, don't get snappish.

[WolverineDG]

51. Don't patronize me. nt

[uppityperson]

55. Not patronizing, just posting a reply and teasing you about "snapping". My apologies.

Perhaps I need to not joke until more time has passed and stress level off. Best wishes to all dealing with Ike and aftermath.

[cobalt1999]

30. People lived successfully in Houston for decades before A/C

Getting acclimatized to their ACTUAL environment will be tough for some.

[Warpy]

8. People with a sense of entitlement, especially in the US,

never think that stuff will happen to them, it only happens to those other people out there.

In addition, we're generally piss poor at anticipating the outcome of any disaster. We just can't wrap our minds around the fact that the 7/11 on the corner is going to be out of ice because they don't have any electricity, either. That 7/11 always has ice, the fact that it would be out for a couple of weeks until power is restored is just too much to comprehend. Ditto the gas station on the main drag. What do you mean no gas until they get electricity to run those pumps?

We might be pretty smart as a species, but individually we're abysmally stupid. Throw in the US sense of entitlement, and you'll see a bunch of people who are completely unprepared to survive anything.

[malaise]

10. It's not just the US sense of entitlement

Lots of people here take the same approach and laugh at those of us who prepare for the worst in hurricane season.

I don't see why anyone should be looking for ice two days after a hurricane unless their entire property was devastated including the igloos full of ice.

add.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. delete.

[Warpy]

29. Back in the dark ages when I was a kid

and we lived in hurricane country, my job was to cut the tops off waxed milk cartons so my mother could fill them with water and freeze them to provide blocks of ice in the fridge should the power fail.

People with a 7/11 within a half mile just don't think in those terms. That's what I mean by US entitlement.

[malaise]

34. Same here

We tend to use big pots or aluminum pans since they freeze faster, but lots of people believe ice means party ice from the gas station or supermarket. Some don't even think of storing the large amounts of ice from their own fridges in igloos. We store in plastic bags, wrap in newspaper and place in igloos above the beer and wine :D

I swear that most urban people would be stark raving mad after two weeks without power. They simply refuse to adjust. I love modern amenities as much as anyone else but I can survive for months without power.

[RoyGBiv]

58. This is a cultural problem overall ...

I don't know if I'd call it "entitlement" exactly. We're just lazy and have been lulled by mass consumerism into a state where many of us don't even know how to fend for ourselves or prepare for anything over the long term.

I'm just as guilty of it in some respects as the next person.

But it's simple things, things we do for so-called convenience that would never have occurred to many of us in previous eras.

The very idea of "bottled water" is absurd to me except for use in disasters like this by officials trying to hand out water to others. I remember when bottled water was Perrier, and few people ever bought it. Then there were a few "premium" brands of bottled water like Evian that hit the market, but they were a novelty item. I was manging a convenience store when this phenomenon really started to hit. The local coca-cola distributor salesman walked into my store one day and tried to talk me into buying just two cases of Mountain Spring brand water. It took some talking, and I finally agreed to it if he agreed to buy it all back if it wasn't sold within a couple of weeks. I needed the two low-shelf slots in the cooler for other things ... like, oh, milk or something that actually sold. Much to my surprise, it started flying off the shelves. Fifteen years later, you can find stores will multiple cooler doors entirely filled with different brands and sizes of water.

My prep for hurricane season included storing water. How did I store it? I took out the dozen or so 2 liter plastic bottles I've packed away in my pantry, and I filled them with water from my filtration jug over several days. They've been there ever since, and I use my filter jug for drinking water in the mean time. I don't remember the last time I purchased a bottle of water.

Ice ... the milk carton manner of making blocks of ice is just natural to me, and to my mind, far more "convenient" than having to go to the store to get it. I make my own ice and always have. I wish I could find some of the old metal ice trays my mom and grandma used to have. These plastic ones you get now suck wind. Anyway, for some reason, people still prefer to pay $1 or more for a bag of ice that would cost about 4 cents to make at home.

[Warpy]

59. You might want to use that bottled water in the washer

because it's not going to taste very nice now. Oh, it probably won't be unsafe, but it's not that big a drag to refill the bottles and have good tasting water when you need it. What's changed is the water no longer has air dissolved in it, it's gone stagnant, same thing that happens to a glass of water you've left at the bedside for a couple of days. It's not dangerous, just flat.. You've probably noticed expiration dates on the bottles of yuppie water in the store. That's why.

Other than that, good job. It's always good to be prepared.

FWIW, I don't get the bottled water fad, either. I think I've bought fewer than five bottles of the stuff, only when I've been out and there has been no public water fountain around, and then I just get the cheap bottled tap water.

[RoyGBiv]

60. I change it out occasionally ....

Was summarizing a bit by saying it's been there ever since. I refilled all the bottles Wednesday and Thursday because I had time, but it's still nice to have it there just in case.

I have left a bottle in there too long and let it go flat. It's better than the alternative, but, yeah ... not good stuff at all.

I actually miss my old home-town water. It was fed by an underground spring. It had *taste* to it ... and not that overly-chlorinated taste either. I liked it better than soda.

[merh]

69. I remember doing the same thing.

Oh, and those cut cartons made great barbie furniture, my grandmother was gifted in making some very lovely cushions

[jpak]

9. At least they stocked up on ammo!!!!111

:P

[JeanGrey]

11. Hurricane basics? Look at the people who stayed on

barrier islands and who are now having to be rescued! One guy said he was FROM New Orleans and should have "known better". Good grief!! And we wonder why we lose elections.

[malaise]

12. If you don't live in hurricane alley

you'll never understand why people remain home. Lots of people remain at home in every hurricane, but many prepare in advance for post-hurricane survival. I have less sympathy for those who neither prepare or leave.

[JeanGrey]

13. Well if you remain you'd better be prepared.

And realize that they might not rescue you in time.

[malaise]

19. Another reason why some people stayed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3996995&mesg_id=3996995

[cobalt1999]

14. It's only 1 day since the storm!

Who the hell is already out of gas, water, or food!?!

Anyone who lives in a hurricane area KNOWS there will be no services for a few days after a major storm.

I agree about Hurricane 101 basics. What the hell were these people doing the 5 days before the storm? I understand not evacuating, but not preparing? If someone can't be bothered to prepare, it's hard to have much sympathy.

[malaise]

17. Precisely

Of course many are looking for food since they have no plan of eating hurricane food.

It is really interesting watching all these people walking through water just like NOLA (except that this time the majority of people are white). I cannot wait for Rush et al - let's see how they spin this.

[tannybogus]

20. But they didn't hear it on TeeVee! How were they to know?

You have to hear it on TeeVee before you know you should do it.

Maybe somebody was on TV telling them what to get. I'll bet not loud and long enough.

[malaise]

22. They don't believe it can happen to them

How can you live in hurricane alley and not know what to get by now.

[tannybogus]

25. Selective amnesia??

The GOP will say they are just like POWs. Leave them alone. Nobody could help it.

[Two Americas]

73. leave the victims alone

Could we have just a brief moratorium on the relentless blaming of the victims? It is truly obscene.

Many people do not have a few hundred laying around so they can "stock up" and "be prepared."

You berate people for what "the should know." Here is something that you should know - the entire country is in a state of emergency one way or another and we are all at risk. We are all in this together. If things still seem fine to you, and survival just a simple matter of being clever, consider yourself fortunate.

The callousness and indifference of the fortunate is the biggest threat we face. How would you have us prepare for that?

[tannybogus]

18. Hugo taught me and everyone in SC a lesson.

It was an effing mess here for weeks. Don't forget a gasoline powered power saw. My brother helped people cut trees and limbs for free.

There were a lot of people gounging others to do that. Fill the tub up with water and get something safe to purify it. There are tablets.

A lot of people bought generators at a brazillion dollars. Again, people came to my brothers house for water. He still had an old well that you handpumped.

I'm 60 miles inland, and I had stuff bought weeks ago when the season started. Shitoff was so smug about being ready. Asshole! They never learn even when they

have lessons like Katrina and Hugo to look at.

Edit: spelling

[Ilsa]

32. My own sister and her husband in Houston didn't do enough to prepare

for this hurricane. She has water. She didn't get food, batteries, or even a battery-operated radio for this. She's relying on phone conversations with relatives for news about potability of water, flooded routes out of town, etc. She said something last night like, "I'm sure some restaurants will be open by Monday." I had to explain to her that if electricity is still out, or if they were flooded, they certainly won't be. I've invited her down south here to my home until things get better, if she can get here.

I had no idea she was so unprepared.

$5 a gallon may be a reasonable price considering how high gas may go over the next few months because of loss of refinery capacity.

[Igel]

36. They make radios that don't need batteries.

They have three useful things: radio, cell-phone recharger, and light. They're crank-operated, and efficient enough that cranking for 2-3 minutes keeps you listening for an hour or with a little light for 15 minutes.

May I suggest that be the next birthday/Xmas/etc. present you buy her?

A second option would be a Coleman camp stove with a 6-pack of little propane canisters, each good for 3 meals a day for 3-4 days. It's a good backup for cookouts at a park, should the charcoal not cooperate or if you want to have things that aren't charcoal-fire friendly.

The morning after Ike we had pancakes and eggs, and I was heating up left-over karahi gosht for dinner (with basmati and green peas) when we, some of the lucky few, got our power back last night.

We had the bathtub filled for toilet-flushing water, with every large/medium-sized pot and pan, water jug, etc., filled with tap water. Still using the drinking water, since I haven't heard that the tap water's been declared safe. But at the rate we're using it, we have enough for at least a week.

It's not hard to be minimally prepared for the first 2-3 days, since the fridge/freezer will usually hold (unless you open it constantly) all by itself for that long. We got the radio last year, the camp stove years ago; filling the pots/pans/jugs/tubs took 5 minutes. Note that FEMA says to expect 3 days before help arrives--it may arrive sooner, but they give fair warning.

[Ilsa]

38. Hey, I'm a big-time camper. I know about doing without

electricity for a week and staying comfortable and well-fed. I know how to filter water using several systems. I prepared here where I live.

I asked my sister is she was ready, and said she thought she was. She watches enough news to know the list of things she would need. She just didn't believe she would need them, I guess.

[Igel]

53. My aunt lives in Ft. Meyer, Florida,

I heard stories about what she went through. With pictures. I had to believe.

Still, the radio makes a nice present, even for less severe outages.

[Ilsa]

57. True. My sis may end up a little embarassed about that, and she tends

to feel like she needs to return the value of the gift in a present to us. But I might do it anyway. LLBean has some nice wind-up radios.

[malaise]

41. If you have eggs in the fridge, take them out

let them reach room temperature and cover them with salt.

People need a minimum five days of emergency stuff.
I agree that people do not pay attention. I cannot believe people don't have ice or cold drinks at this stage. By the way land lines will work if you have that old non-electric phone.

[Igel]

54. Centerpoint got our power back in 18 hours.

The stuff in the back of the fridge that always freezes wasn't fully thawed yet.

We got less than our share of misery. Good tip on the eggs, tho'. Maybe next time.

[DrCory]

64. A good idea...

"If you have eggs in the fridge, take them out let them reach room temperature and cover them with salt."

If I may make an addition to your excellent idea, I was told by my great-grandmother to coat the eggs in lard first. Arrange them in layers in a pail with salt poured between each layer. She claimed the eggs would keep using this method for 6 months if stored in a cool place.

[malaise]

76. In the old days rural people here used to buy eggs cheap in early summer

and cover them in salt until December when they'd bake the Christmas cakes. Thanks for the lard tip - hadn't heard that one.
:hi:

[DrCory]

65. Dupe

Dupe

[samplegirl]

33. Did someone once say the words....

BOOTSTRAPS????

[a la izquierda]

35. My mom told me gas in NJ went up something like

$.70 overnight. In NJ!!! My poor mom was fuming. "This is what we get when we elect an oil president," she said.

When I lived in Los Angeles, my husband and I had a earthquake kit. Gallons of bottled water, crackers, bunch of canned food, shelf-stable tofu, stuff for the dogs, etc...You never have a clue when an earthquake might hit. Our friends who are CA natives thought we were nuts. We do the same thing for tornados now that we live in tornado ally.
He filled the cars up before Gustav and again the other night. Luckily--gas went up a bunch. It's such BS...

[Igel]

37. If you're really concerned, you can monitor Houston power restoration online.

http://www.centerpointenergy.com/newsroom/stormcenter/ike/0af9097a7e25c110VgnVCM1000005a1a0d0aRCRD/ has links at the bottom of the page to PDFs showing CenterPoint's progress. They'll be updating it maybe 1-2 times a day, I think.

http://www.centerpointenergy.com/staticfiles/CNP/Common/SiteAssets/doc/Ike%20outage%20map%209.13%207p.m.pdf (map 6) includes a greenish patch 1/3 of the way from the top on the left that includes my family and me.

Our power was out for fewer than 18 hours.

Lots of areas with partial power cuts now. When I first checked it was nearly solid red.

[malaise]

52. Very useful links

Thanks

[ThatsMyBarack]

42. Where's * eating cake now?

Or fiddling around on a guitar?

[malaise]

47. He's going down on Tuesday

late as usual. They don't want him there anyway. Poor Rick Perry, I wonder if he has enough water to dye that hair before his next press conference.

[EFerrari]

43. I don't think it's possible to over estimate how stressed out the American people are.

They're fighting for jobs, trying to keep fed, wrestling with their mortgages, they have cr@ppy health care if any at all. Stressed out people don't think very well. They don't think ahead but just try to get through that minute. They're sitting ducks.

[malaise]

44. You're right

On the lighter side, watching Texans ignore all the orders to stay home reminds me of Jamaicans. There is no government that can tell people to stay home here either. Even if they announce a curfew, people get in their cars and drive around to check on friends and family, particularly when the phones stop working. Many contribute to the clean-up process, but others are just curious.

I don't know why officials announce orders they cannot enforce.

[EFerrari]

45. I had to laugh yesterday when a reporter was exhorting people

to stay home and stay the hell out of the water because there's a curfew and blah blah blah and behind him, there was a sightseer wading placidly through knee high dirty water, looking for the world like he was taking his constitutional. lol

[malaise]

46. You know it's that simple

People refuse to have the simple right to move around violated. Some here hit the road just because they're told not to. It is quite funny. Here they announce a State of Emergency which means serious curfew and the same stations reading government instructions announce which restaurants and supermarkets are open. :rofl:

[Two Americas]

75. absolutely

Millions are already hanging on by a thread. How people here can be so callous and indifferent to the plight of others is something I cannot understand.

The stress should not be discounted, and people berating them for not "taking personal responsibility" or for not "being prepared" or for "being stupid" is the very attitude that is the source of much of the stress. The right wingers have been relentlessly battering people with that cruel bootstrap nonsense, and I cannot believe that any Democrat would join in and pile on.

[tannybogus]

48. This is when I really miss Molly Ivins!

She would skewer the right people, and have sympathy for the rest.O8)

[malaise]

49. Oh yes

Great point.

[malaise]

61. I see I was right

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4006962
<snip>
A humanitarian crisis unfolded Monday along the Texas coast as thousands of Hurricane Ike victims clamored for food, water, electricity and gasoline — and found nothing much to go home to except streets littered with piles of debris, spewing sewage, and floodwaters crawling with snakes and alligators.

In Houston, tensions were rising among more than 1,000 who had spent several nights at the George R. Brown Convention Center because most of the city is still without power. They complained that they couldn’t get information about how to get food and clean clothes. The city’s mayor said only 1,300 people were inside, but those sleeping on cots said it felt like thousands.

A humanitarian crisis unfolded Monday along the Texas coast as thousands of Hurricane Ike victims clamored for food, water, electricity and gasoline — and found nothing much to go home to except streets littered with piles of debris, spewing sewage, and floodwaters crawling with snakes and alligators.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4006778

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4002229

[Rockholm]

62. Here in the Northeast, we do lots before a blizzard...

1. Load up on Groceries, videos, books.
2. Gas for the car and the snow blower
3. Batteries for flashlights
4. Firewood by the back door
5. Car in the garage, facing out

I would expect that if one were stupid enough to stay put during a friggin hurricane, one would do at least some of that! Geez Louise, we get 30 mph winds and it is crazy, I could only imagine 115mph winds.

[malaise]

63. I'd be curious to know how many people who live in hurricane

alley actually check weather forecasts on the web to see what's going on in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf every morning.

[Rockholm]

66. Who knows? I check every day!

I am a weather geek.

[RoyGBiv]

68. I do ...

But I'm kind of a weather obsessed freak. I was hooking up to NOAA to get weather maps with a HAM radio before the Internet made that so much easier.

[spin]

70. I do, but I'm a weather news junky....

Local news covers hurricanes if you bother to watch it. I believe most of the people who post on DU watch the news. We are probably much better informed than most citizens on a number of items.

[malaise]

78. Not DUers

I know we're better informed. I'd love to see a survey of non-DUers in hurricane alley.

[merh]

67. every conceivable container available is filled with water

can't ever have too much water (a camp solar shower is a great thing to have, it is a relaxing luxury that helps so much - you never feel clean after these things - it was too many months to count before I felt really clean.

[malaise]

71. I took great showers for granted until Gilbert

Since then a good shower is as pleasant as a glass of wine. Weeks without running water teach great lessons. :D

[merh]

74. You need to add one of these to your hurricane prep stock

They are pretty inexpensive, you could add serveral, fill them with water before the storm and used them either for the shower or water reserve.

:hi:

[malaise]

77. Thanks good idea

Now I know what I want for Christmas :D.

[merh]

79. pmail me an addie to

mail it to and I will send you one as a early christmas gift.

[malaise]

80. Thanks but when you have four siblings living in the US

your presents are guaranteed. Sweet of you to offer. :D

[merh]

81. Then glad I could help with the idea for a gift

to ask for - if you need anything at this end just send a pmail.

[jlj3394]

82. Filled all three up

33 mpg; 30 mpg; 27 mpg.

60 gallons between them.

We're good for at least a month.