It looks like Beaumont may be spared a direct hit by Hurricane Rita. However, the low-lying areas are likely to experience some severe flooding from storm surge. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations are taking place in the next county down the coast. Chambers, Jefferson and Orange counties (the greater Beaumont area) should expect interruption of electricity and phone services.
Southeast Texas readers should check their city Web sites for evacuation instructions and routes.
For the regular readers of this blog, I'm on deck. Consequently, I'll probably be offline for a few days. More than likely, the managing editor of our paper will be keeping up with the storm and its recovery on his blog.
I'll update everyone as possible. I'm sure people will need a lot of help after the sun returns.
Enough for now,
