Rita
I was sitting at work all day today worrying about the juggernaut in mid pounce as I type. Rita is already a class four (at or above 135 mph winds) hurricane and shows every sign of gaining strength as it crosses the relatively warm waters of the gulf. As bad as it sounds, I almost wish it would hit Louisiana again. Come-on, the damage has been done there. Houston is not much better off than New Orleans when it comes to flooding. The water will reseed after a while here. It will take a couple of days. Our apartment complex floods. I was worried when I moved into a first floor apartment. Now, I'm going to find out if the gamble was worth it. Even if we leave, all our stuff will simple sit there.
Options
1) Family. My parents will take us in if they do indeed stay. They are not much further from the ocean than we are. They do have a second story on the house though.
2) Friends. I've burned some bridges lately with friends. This limits our options.
3) Hotel. We will most likely not be able to find a hotel if we travel to Dallas, Austin or San Antonio. I bet most everything has been reserved already.
4) Stay put. I envision standing in waist deep water inside my home and cursing every member of government while shivering in the dark and secretly blaming myself.
I do not look forward to living in a shelter somewhere with a 2 year old. Nor do I expect anything to survive even minor flooding of my apartment. We will simply be out of nearly everything to our names. No insurance. No savings to speak of. Just broke, homeless, carless and destitute.