Some of this is still a little blurry!
Tuesday – Hurricane Rita is headed for Houston?devastation is eminent.
Wednesday ? 10:00am Decision is made to close Church for one week until next Wednesday. The church will be closed over a Sunday (quite a big deal) a very uncomfortable feeling I assure you.
Official Church Plan
September 21, 2005Staff Council Decision:
This is a message for Champion Forest Baptist Church members and attendees from Bill Upchurch, Pastor of Administration.
The Senior Staff Council has been meeting over the past two days and assimilating all the weather and evacuation advisory information.
We met this morning, September 21st to make a decision.Due to school closings, evacuation information and weather bulletins, we are making an early decision about Sunday services. If our power goes out there will be no lights or A/C. We have a lift station that handles sanitation. If power goes out we will have no toilet facilities.
Therefore, we are canceling all regularly scheduled services, events and activities from Thursday September 22 until Wednesday Worship on September 28th. We are notifying the membership of this via a recorded phone message that will begin today. Due to the safety and well being of our members and staff, we have decided to err on the side of caution rather than indecisiveness.
Contingency Plan:
Should the Hurricane miss us and there is power, we will have one worship service only (no Sunday School) at 10:00 AM on Sunday, September 25th. If this contingency plan goes into effect we will advise you of this by another recorded phone message before Sunday.Bill
Pastor of Administration
Champion Forest Baptist Church
6:00pm begin unplugging all computers on campus.
8:00pm all severs are shut down and moved to a secure room in center of the building.
Get home at about 10:00 after securing CFBC.
10:30pm Baton down the hatches at the house and pack clothes, valuables, toys, food, water, extra gas, DVD player, movies, motor oil, tools, funnel, flashlights, batteries, paper towels, zip-lock bags, trash bags, lawn chairs, 9mm, rope, hat, camera, cooler, ice, Satellite radio, portable TV, Power inverter, laptop w/PCS wireless access card, insurance policy, and several other items?
Thursday – Finished packing about 3:00am. Lay down for a few at 3:15am to be woken up by a phone call at 3:45am. It was my mother in law calling to say she had just gotten to cypress from Pearland (she left at 4:00pm). Turned on the TV to check progress and realize traffic is REALLY bad. Can?t go back to sleep trying to figure out what to do?going to Austin as planned is not possible, cars are parked on the freeway with no end in sight. Start working ideas for other options?call friends on the road and realize that all traffic is at a stand still and only getting worse.
6:00am thinking a fight out of town for the girls would be a good idea?.after an hour on hold I find out there are NO seats on any fights out of Houston.
7:00am make arrangements to stay at the church if nothing else is possible. The buildings should be safe as they are all solid concrete, but with the creek running along the side of the campus?flooding and being stuck for a long time is a real possibility.
8:00am decide that a charter fight might be a good bet?I call hooks and find out from Amy that there is only one more charter available and it is $950 cash?I can?t afford this!
9:00am TXDOT announces that they are going to finally open the contra flow on I-45 at 1488 just one mile from 242. Almost simultaneously I find out that my uncle?s parents are back in town and are at home in Buffalo (the same place the contra-flow ends)?.at this time a great peace comes over me and I now know it is time to head for Buffalo. Buffalo is normally only a two hour drive so even in the worst traffic we ought to be able to make this on a full tank of gas?not to mention, if we time everything right we can hit the contra-flow just as it opens and before it backs up too far.
11:00am Finish last few details and get ready to head out?.watching the news and at 11:30am hear they have just opened the contra flow (time to hit the road). Head up the back roads through the woodlands to 242 (only takes 30 minutes to 242). From Gosling and 242 to I-45, 45 minutes?.from I-45 to Buffalo (contra flow the whole way) 6 hours and ? tank of gas?..major relief and peace at last.
Friday ? Awesome day! Madi and I go to the pond and feed the huge catfish for a while, then go for a long hike in the woods. We see grasshoppers, spiders, squirrels, deer, raccoons, crows, buzzards, cows, and various other creatures?.then head back to the house for lunch. The afternoon brought various other country things and then dinner / relaxation.
Saturday ? Wake up and eat another great breakfast. It is raining slightly, but not too bad. Decide to go home as she has mostly missed in Houston. Pack the car, eat lunch, and head home. This time we make it home in only 4 hours. Get home and all is well?.thank God we?re home! Unpack the car, cook dinner (nothing is open to buy dinner) and go to bed.
Sunday ? Go to church and get the network back up?.while I?m there I re-subnet the DHCP scope. I?ve been waiting to bring the network down to do this for some time, so it seems like the perfect time. Get the network back up and head home to fix dinner?.go to bed early!
Monday ? Katie goes to work, and I go to my parents to help build a 100ft fence destroyed by the storm. It is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hot. Come home at 4:00 and crash!
Tuesday ? Repeat of Monday, only this time we will finish the fence!
Wednesday ? Finally, back to normal (I hope)!
Was it worth it ? without a doubt! Although it was a hassle to pack everything, and fight the traffic, it was assuredly better than the possibility of being hit by a cat 5 hurricane. At the time we left we were facing the very real possibility of 120mph winds even as far north as Tomball?Although Rita was not a cat 5 when she hit, and she did not hit Houston; she very easily could have! Having gone through Alicia in 1983, I don?t think I will ever purposely ride one out again!
I”m tired just reading that