As a Houston resident who had a traumatising evacuation when Rita came around last year, I was immediately freaked out by the possibility of ‘Hurricane’ Chris. I started tracking her (or is it his ? Chris is a pretty gender neutral name …) progress immediately, watching the weather news any chance I got, and refreshing the National Hurricane Center’s website a dozen time a day.
Chris started out as a mediocre tropical depression, but the weathermen at Houston went a little crazy predicting its terrifying potential once it hit the hot Gulf waters. I watched in heart-thumping horror as the tropical depression slowly gathered strength and morphed into a tropical storm. And then I heaved a huge sigh of relief when it slowly dissipated. Evacuation plans, supplies, routes etc have been currently stashed away for another day. For I am certain that day will surely come in the next few months.
Forecasters had already predicted that this year’s hurricane season would be ‘very active’, though not as destructive as 2005. Recently, they reduced their prediction due to “a general erosion of a number of factors” – a major one being that the Gulf waters are not as warm as last year (4 F/ 0.5 C above normal compared to last year’s 1 F/ 2.2 C above normal).
I was scared enough last year that I’ve vowed to get the hell out of Houston the minute a hurricane makes it to the Gulf ; which just makes me wonder how scared and paranoid the real victims of previous hurricanes must feel.
Technorati Tags: hurricanes, Houston, Chris
