Texas is burning...

[Cribtop]

http://www.statesman.com/

Pray for us guys. Some of these fires are within 15 miles of my house and 3 miles of my folk's lake house. So far we are safe, but with 30-40 mph winds today the next fire could come anywhere and the fire departments and Texas Forest Service are strapped. The city of Bastrop to the SE is in dire trouble. We have friends in Steiner Ranch that had to evac and may have lost the house.

Sad irony is the winds are part of a cold front finally busting the heat "down" to 90F but of course no rain with it. [:(]

[crsutton]

Good luck. Going down to visit my brother in Austin next month. His lake house on Lake Travis looks like it is sitting on the Aral Sea. I was reading about the long term environmental damage of the drought. You guys will be paying for years to come.

[zuluhour]

thoughts with ya.

[Chickenboy]

Good luck, Cribtop. Hope the fires are brought under control soon.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

http://www.statesman.com/

Pray for us guys. Some of these fires are within 15 miles of my house and 3 miles of my folk's lake house. So far we are safe, but with 30-40 mph winds today the next fire could come anywhere and the fire departments and Texas Forest Service are strapped. The city of Bastrop to the SE is in dire trouble. We have friends in Steiner Ranch that had to evac and may have lost the house.

Sad irony is the winds are part of a cold front finally busting the heat "down" to 90F but of course no rain with it. [:(]

We had it earlier this year, I know what you are going through. I had fire within 4 blocks of my house and 1 block from my mother's house. Our fire department did an incredible job of stopping that wildfire and we didn't lose a single structure.

For reference I was out of town when it started and you could see the smoke from 50 miles away as I headed back (I work for emergency services, so I was called back to town...everyone was called in).

We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers Cribtop.

[LST Express]

It's been a summer to remember, thats for sure.

[SargeantTex]

Yea they can have long term effects but here in Texas we never know what tommorow will bring Texas has a history of rainy winters and unpredictable floods its likely that this winter we could have 72 hour periods of steady sprinkes has happened many times before and next spring could have steady rain periods. You can almost never predict Texas weather we have extreme droughts one yr then too much rain the next!!!

[seille]

And in Germany we had this summer three times the normal amount of rain.
Good luck, Cribtop.

[xnavytc56]

yeah Crib, getting close here in Temple just north of Austin, fires in mother neff park (waco) just north of us and in pfluggerville south of us, getting closer everday. went to pfluggerville to help the fire department down there, (volunteer). was bad, and today the winds are just as strong.

[oldman45]

Just remember to bug out if they tell ya to, nothing material is worth getting hurt over.

[captskillet]

I hear you cribtop, I'm up here in NW La (Shreveport) and its just as bad. Caddo Lake on TX/LA border NW of me is at at an all-time low, my boat there is sitting on mud. Got an Uncle in Baytown TX and he has lost 2 or 3 live oaks and his pond is dried up......................cousin in Leander and yes Lake Travis is going away............I hate to say it but we need on of those tropical systems to come through here and dump a bunch of water............worst 1 year drought in Texas history combined with record high temps and this summer has been brutal. [:@]

[Canoerebel]

I thought things were bad here in Georgia, but you Texicans are really pulling tough duty this year.  Good luck Cribtop and all the rest.  I hope the winter will be good to you, with the pendulum not swinging too far the other way.

[DOCUP]

Cribtop and the other Texans good luck to yall.  Stay safe down there.
 
doc

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: SargeantTex

Yea they can have long term effects but here in Texas we never know what tommorow will bring Texas has a history of rainy winters and unpredictable floods its likely that this winter we could have 72 hour periods of steady sprinkes has happened many times before and next spring could have steady rain periods. You can almost never predict Texas weather we have extreme droughts one yr then too much rain the next!!!

3 years ago we had 16" of rain in about 12 hours...end result was a 100 year flood. I'm not even in the flood plain and I had water over the curb and into my yard.

As the saying goes... In Texas if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change.

[ilovestrategy]

ORIGINAL: captskillet

I hear you cribtop, I'm up here in NW La (Shreveport) and its just as bad. Caddo Lake on TX/LA border NW of me is at at an all-time low, my boat there is sitting on mud. Got an Uncle in Baytown TX and he has lost 2 or 3 live oaks and his pond is dried up......................cousin in Leander and yes Lake Travis is going away............I hate to say it but we need on of those tropical systems to come through here and dump a bunch of water............worst 1 year drought in Texas history combined with record high temps and this summer has been brutal. [:@]

I grew up right next to Shreveport, near Greenwood at the Texas border. I remember burning my hands getting mail out of the metal mailbox for my mom and seeing icicles on the same mail box in the winter.

We get fires here in San Diego too. About 4 years ago the sky was brown here for a week. Took 6 months to clear the ash at the school I work at. I think it was some guy not putting out a campfire. [:@]

[GreyJoy]

Good luck Texans

[Rebel Yell]

God bless and keep you, neighbor. Hang in there.

I've been near Houston since 94, but lived in the great city of Austin from 81-94 and miss it to this day.

[Cribtop]

Thanks guys. Here's an update:

- The only fire anywhere near my house is now out, so barring a new fire springing up we are in the clear. Just in case we packed up the essentials (changes of clothes, stuff for the baby and the dogs, computers, iPads, wedding pictures and guns [hey, in Texas those are essential [;)]]). Our friends had 10 minutes to evacuate and if our time comes we won't be caught flat footed. We're as ready as we can be so I'm of course going to crank out a turn to Cuttlefish later. [:)]

- My Parents' lake house is ok for now. They are in San Antonio and safe. Power is out at their lake house and the fires reached within a few yards of the golf course driving range (still more than a mile from their house). Winds are out of the north and the fire fortunately went south (fortunately for my Dad, very unfortunately for other folks, I'm afraid [:(]). That fire is 80% contained so they may be in the clear too.

- Bastrop, SE of Austin, is in serious trouble. The fires are big enough that they twice jumped the Colorado River (not the same river as in the Western US but a very big river all the same).

- Our friends from Steiner Ranch to our West are still unable to return home, and may not have a home to return to...

[AkomoCombine]

Yeah i got a friend of mine that can see the fire line just over the Colorado river.Houses are being evacuated 4 miles from his location near smithville.I get up to minute updates over ventrilo with him.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Thanks guys. Here's an update:

- The only fire anywhere near my house is now out, so barring a new fire springing up we are in the clear. Just in case we packed up the essentials (changes of clothes, stuff for the baby and the dogs, computers, iPads, wedding pictures and guns [hey, in Texas those are essential [;)]]). Our friends had 10 minutes to evacuate and if our time comes we won't be caught flat footed. We're as ready as we can be so I'm of course going to crank out a turn to Cuttlefish later. [:)]

- My Parents' lake house is ok for now. They are in San Antonio and safe. Power is out at their lake house and the fires reached within a few yards of the golf course driving range (still more than a mile from their house). Winds are out of the north and the fire fortunately went south (fortunately for my Dad, very unfortunately for other folks, I'm afraid [:(]). That fire is 80% contained so they may be in the clear too.

- Bastrop, SE of Austin, is in serious trouble. The fires are big enough that they twice jumped the Colorado River (not the same river as in the Western US but a very big river all the same).

- Our friends from Steiner Ranch to our West are still unable to return home, and may not have a home to return to...

I've learned a lesson from our fire as well. Buy some of those plastic sealable containers and keep stuff that you want but rarely look at in them (IE the photo albums, baby stuff, etc) and keep them ready to go. Keep some food and water in one (canned goods will last a while). At least one of your guns and its ammo in one (it's a Texas thing). I keep a USB HD with a backup of all my stuff on it so even if I lose the computers, I get to keep my data.

In my case it is even more important to keep stuff very easy to pack and go, since I work for the emergency services I may be out helping other people evacuate while my property is destroyed...with no chance to go back and get anything. When our town flooded, two of our employees were stuck evacuating people from flooded homes as their house filled with water...it sucks. [:(] At least with everything ready to go, I can send a relative over to just load the cases...won't save everything, but will save what's most important.