Hurricane Rita (in Off-topic)

I just want to say that im praying for everyone this hurricane affects. I hope this isn't as bad as Hurricane Katrina. More than half of my family lives in/near Houston,TX.

So could everyone please pray for those Victims of Hurricane Katrina And that Rita down grades before it hits. For those of you who havent heard they are saying that this storm is worse than katrina :(


Please keep those people in your prayers =)

everyone just blow the hurricane back into the ocean! (sorry if this joke is seen as misplaced)

(I just have to do this, as my family is well-versed in "lost in transit" panicking.)

People, please! If you have loved ones in the area and you can still contact them by _any_ means -- do so!

Find out where they are, where they are going (get the address/phone #, be specific), how you might contact them when they get there, with whom they are traveling, in what they are traveling, and by what route they are traveling! Know if they have a GPS-equipped cell phone, or if they are traveling in a GPS/OnStar equipped vehicle. Get the license plate number and make/model/year/color of the vehicle.

Tell them to make sure they are traveling with a fully-stocked emergency kit. Make sure they are keeping food and plenty of water with them. At this point, there are people out on the interstates that have been there 18+ hrs. It's hot out there, they are at a stand-still in traffic, and they're running out of gas.

If you have already lost contact with people "you think" are probably evacuating -- use your worry time to advantage. Where would they go? By what means? Can you contact those places and ask if they are expecting your lost friends/relatives? What do they know of the intended arrival?

If you have a lot of time to worry, and are a worst-case scenario sort, start planning for the inevitable search. What agencies will you have to contact? What information will they need? Do you have that information?

What will it take for you to file someone "missing" in this type of situation? State patrol? Federal agencies (don't hold your breath)? If you think they might go to "Dallas", then you have a local agency as well, as "Dallas" is better than "somewhere in Texas".

What does it take to get credit/debit card purchases tracked? With that information you can find out where someone "last was" and by what route they were traveling.

What information will OnStar give you about a vehicle/contract that isn't yours? They can "find" a vehicle, but will they? Under what circumstances?

If you suspect that "your" lost are traveling with others, can you track down friends/relatives of those "others" to find out what they know?

Don't make it difficult for them to contact/find you! Keep someone by your phone if you have to go out -- make sure you leave a list of questions you want answered by your phone, make sure your cell phone is on and fully charged. (Yes, my parents have complained that they didn't hear from me on a "road trip"! I tried to call but they had dial-up internet service and left the damn computer on -- leaving me with a busy signal for 6 hrs.)

Have information available for them! If they call and say they've been on the road for 12 hrs., have gotten no where and don't know what to do -- you can already have figured something out. Where are all these evacuees going? Surely there's a website listing a destination for all these people? Where else can you send them? Can you get them off the interstate and onto any more passable route? Keep track of the storm, be able to tell them how much time they have left before the weather gets bad and what (if any) instructions there are for living through a hurricane while in your car!

Best wishes to the travelers and the worriers.

To answer all at once: Yes, I was the last to be reported missing. My parents had my name/age and that I was traveling by "car" and was in Illinois. Or Kentucky. Or Tennessee.

My brother was phoning, one by one, every interstate rest area on any route I might have taken and making any random maintenance worker or info-desk employee check the parking lots.

It's better to have a "plan".