What's the best advice for people living in Houston?

My sister is there and she's planning on staying. I think the best idea is board things up and get out of town now. Any advice?

there is no question about this---if she has a place to go she should go.

We're from Buffalo. When we have a blizzard, the best thing to do is stock up on food and drink and DVDs and wait out the storm at home. My understanding is that if your home is threatened by a hurricane, the only thing you can do if you are there when it is damaged is get hit by falling debris.

There was hardly any bottled water left. The shelves were literally bare! Tell her to come up to Austin!

the bullseye wasn't Houston. Now, due to Rita's size, we've decided to leave regardless of where the eye lands (and the eye is now 70 miles in diameter per the local news). We live about 25 miles from the coast but I'm really worried about tornadoes. It doesn't make sense to stay to protect your home if your home caves in on you.

I'd leave, too.

Gassed up the car and several gas containers.
Buy a car cigarette lighter charger for your cell phone.
Small radio or a battery powered TV was a sanity saver.
Water, water and more water for drinking and bathing.
Bicycle for days with no gas
Lights, flashlights and a generator
Floatation device

There's a HUGE difference between a hurricane and a blizzard. Blizzards don't generally come with 165+ winds that blow your roof off and your walls apart. Houses have come completely off their foundations and blown away - and I don't mean trailer homes. The flooding penetrates the homes that are still intact, too. Then there are the tornadoes spawned by the hurricanes.

Blizzards can be fun to hunker down in if you're prepared and remain indoors to keep warm. A hurricane is never fun and remaining indoors may not matter in the slightest.

I worry about disasters, but I don't think she has any real idea what's coming.

I live in VA...why should I tell a person in Houston to leave their home? DO NOT ask us...ask the mayor! Governor!

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3363238

6 p.m. today: Storm surge zone A, which includes low-lying areas along the coast and the southern part of Galveston Bay.
2 a.m. Thursday: Storm surge zone B, which includes the Clear Lake area of Houston and other parts of southeast Harris and south Brazoria counties.
6 a.m. Thursday: Storm surge zone C, which includes the Ship Channel area of Houston as far west as the East Loop.
The evacuation so far is voluntary for those living in a 100-year flood plain or in areas that have flooded in past.

and all important document and records and leave. Also, take the family photo albums and important computer data on disk and CDs. Put gas in all of the vehicles and buy extra gas (put in plastic gas containers) if posssible. Board up the windows.

http://www.chron.com/

They have a map of the mandatory evacuation areas.

Here it is:

East or West. The East side is bound to flood very badly like before with Allison. I live on the West side and we hardly got a drop when that happened. I have not made up my mind, but if I lived in a low lying area in Houston, I would leave.

Right now there is a voluntary evac for Houston from the Mayor, mandatory for low-lying areas.

What part of town is she in?

PM me if you want. Has she lived here long?

It looks really bad. Please tell her to go. Get out and get safe.

that I was unlucky to be in my house when a F2 Tornado hit my home. The whole family in the corner of the house. We hid in the master bedroom closet. The whole house rocked and the roof was pulled up. My youngest daughter was only 9 and she did nothing but scream. We were 3 houses down from the direct hit or we would have lost our roof.

Now Rita could be a F3 or F4 Tornado only a hundred miles wide and it sits on your home for hours. She doesn't want to experience this, just the sound alone is something you will never forget. She should leave with her family and pets. If she decided that she shouldn't have stayed when it gets ugly it will be too late. Remember we have over 2000 kids missing their families from Katrina.
Seems like water took some of those people away.

If she really wants to stay, that is.

It depends on where she is. If she's near an area close to the Coast, she should get to a higher and sturdier structure inland. If she's in an area that has flooded in any of the Houston floods in the last decade, she should get inland.

Hurricanes are all different, and unpredictable. Some have massive storm surges, some have a lot of tornadoes, some have strong winds. I mean, all of them have all three of those, but in different proportions. Some weaken quickly, others don't.

The storm surge will hit anything on the coastline (and the bay) like a tsunami. That will effect anywhere from fifty yards to several miles inland, depending on elevation and obstacles. Only strong steel and concrete buildings, for the most part, will survive this. Katrina killed a lot of people by just washing their houses away. You're in your house, and a minute later you're in the Gulf with thirty foot waves slamming debris into you.

Bayous inland will rise with the storm surge, and flood everything to whatever height the surge rises. I had a friend in Waveland, MS, whose house sat on 12 foot pylons. Her house flooded past the ceiling, drowning the cat she left inside (this meant the water was over 25 feet).

If she lives off of the coast and above the bayous by 25 or more feet, her biggest problem would be wind. That's not as bad on houses as water. It can blow over massive trees, though, and they can chop a house in two, or splinter it, depending on how wide the tree is. But that's hit or miss. Not every house will be damaged. Unless it hits as a Cat 4 or 5, and then the wind can just directly destroy the house.

The other danger is flooding. Some hurricanes have a lot of rain, and since the storm surge backs up the rivers, areas that flood during rain will flood even worse during a hurricane. Houston flooded badly a few years ago because of a tropical storm, so if she was there then and knows where the water went, she'll have some idea of whether the water can reach her. Some. The house I survived hurricane Camille in was washed away by Katrina, which was not, on paper, as strong as Camille. The storm surge for Katrina was a fluke.

Basically, she should get out. It's a good time to visit family in Buffalo. If she's to the west or northwest of the city, and high enough up, and in an older home (these development homes aren't worth crap, even the expensive ones, as Andrew survivors can attest to), she might be okay. If the winds aren't Cat 5.

If she stays anyway, stock up on gas, canned food, water, and ice, enough for a week. Don't rely on a generator to run her freezer unless she has a lot of gas. Plan to be smelly and uncomfortable and to pee against trees, because the toilets won't flush. And make sure she knows where the nearest shelter is, in case she's wrong. One of my friends in Pascagoula had the water rise into her house in a matter of minutes. When it reached their ankles they ran out of the house to a neighbor's, who lived in a solid house on pylons. By the time they got to that house, the water was chest high. They were lucky there were no live powerlines under the water, that the current didn't drag anyone away, and that it was dayligt, so they could even see. And Pacagoula caught the outer edge of the storm.

That's my advice. Leave. If not, be prepared and have a shelter to go to--on foot--in case the house collapses or floods during the storm.

I wanted to hear from people with experience with hurricanes in the area. Hearing that the toilets won't flush may be the magic piece of info. She's to the west of Rice University and out of the evacuation zone, but I'm concerned givn the unprecedented size of the storm (One of 4 strongest on record!)

You are absolutely right! Tell her to board up and get out! :(

Its occupied already.

But it's been declared unsafe in hurricane-force winds. Glass roof.

last thing i'd want is to be in front of the coming disaster of FEMA and martial law and traitorous mercenaries after being softened up by nature.

leave, stay strong, you might have to fight to keep what little you have left.

3rd strongest storm on record to hit US. She is one woman against a hurricane. She needs to evacuate now.