eyewitness ccount during a real world catastrophe.

[Jonas]

Well folks, I WAS there - and in person! Hurricane Rita swung east and was heading straight north when it made landfall due south of us in Beaumont Texas. It slowed down its ground speed, but was still a Category 2 Hurricane when it passed 20 miles to the west of us, which means that we got the north-east quadrant of the storm while it "parked" over Broaddus Texas for two hours, 25 miles to our southwest.

We had no city water for a week, no electricity for 10 days, and FEMA, with all its resources in New Orleans just two weeks after Katrina, didn't show up here for four days. About all they brought was ice, water, and MREs. Basically, our town of 2,000 people was on its own. There was no looting and everyone worked together. This is why I recommend that everyone get to know their neighbors before an emergency.

Four bus-loads of "ghetto-types" were "evacuated" to our town from Beaumont. We put them up out at the rodeo ground, but they didn't like the accommodations and started getting nasty. Out came the shotguns, they were herded back on their buses and escorted to the county line, where they were picked up by the Shelby County sheriff and escorted to the Panola County line, where they were picked up by the Panola County sheriff, and so on and so on. I think they were finally allowed off their buses somewhere west of Ft. Worth! Note: If you're a visitor to our town, be on your best behavior.

Total damage to our house - $7,000 or so. A few folks here in town lost everything. Interestingly enough, the great evacuation of Houston that the fellow in the video talks about was completely unnecessary - Houston didn't get hit with much more than heavy rains.