Rita became a cat 5 storm last night. At 11 AM CDT, it has sustained winds of 170 mph with gusts topping 195 mph and is 350 miles wide. It is expected to hit Galveston Island 50 miles south of Houston late Friday night.

Galveston is completely evacuated. It took 12 hours to travel the 50 miles up Interstate 45 from Galveston to Houston yesterday. Last night and today, South Houston was ordered to evacuate. A lady just called a radio station from Interstate 45 in Houston from her car. She's been in her car for 18 hours and has only been able to travel what normally takes one hour across Houston traffic. They can't get out, even though they blocked all traffic going southbound into Houston and opened up both sides of Interstate 45 to north bound traffic only.

We can sense the panic rising from here in Waco. Gas stations are reporting being out of gas all along interstates 45 and 35, which goes through Waco, also Highway 6, the tributary highway from Houston north to Bryan/College Station. Waco, where I am, is already out of bottled water. This is not only due to our own people, but from people moving into town from cities south of us. Our grocery store shelves are being wiped out, and you can't buy a gas-powered generator anywhere. As soon as a grocery store truck pulls into a store to make deliveries, customers are lined up to buy supplies. We've still got gas on the west side of town where I am, but the folks from out of town wouldn't know where to look.

People are being told to travel not only to Lubbock way out in West Texas and Dallas, but also to Oklahoma City, Shreveport, and Little Rock. People have their gas tanks full now, but with such a long trip in store, they are afraid they may not be able to make it to shelter, and will be stuck in their cars when the storm hits the coast tomorrow night.

Imagine if you were a family with a lot of young children and you had to face that nightmare. Or someone with a medical condition.

My family is fine. We're on high ground, way above the rivers and the lake. We expect tree damage and our power to be out for several days. My husband and I both grew up on the Gulf Coast so this is not new to us at all. We've prepared our children to have a fun "camping in" weekend. But many here in Waco, 350 miles inland, have never experienced anything like this, so they are afraid.

I'll keep everyone posted as I get more news, at least until the power goes out.

Blessings,
-Donna