Terlingua Dreams

Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Heavy Rain, Sirens, Flooding

What a week we have had in this part of the world. Although by comparison to other cities in Texas and Oklahoma, we have been very fortunate.  There has been a lot of criticism after the tornado that hit Ciudad Acuna this past Monday with regards to the emergency sirens not being activated neither in that city nor in Del Rio.

Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. the alarms went off, first for about 20 seconds and a little while later for about three minutes, which seemed like an eternity. Of course they went off in the middle of a very heavy rain storm.  I wondered what it was announcing?  Tornado, hail, flooding?

Went online to find that I had no Internet connection.  Turned on the TV only to get a Temporary Loss of Signal on the screen...what the heck is one supposed to do in these circumstances?  To make matters worst at this late hour saw a bunch of cars, some speeding towards Del Rio (We live in the county).  This only added to the uncertainty and my stress level.

It is not like even if I knew the reason for them sounding the alarms that I would get in my car and head to town. The best we could do was take shelter in the bathroom or in my bedroom.  Mother said she was sleepy and she did not care what the emergency was...she was going to bed!

I went to my room and got my overnight bag that I keep packed at all times, my purse, flashlight and car keys in case we had to make an emergency exit.

Friday, I had to go to the doctor and the nurse told me that they sounded the alarms due to large hail that was headed our way but the strong winds blew away from Del Rio.

Around noon today, it had already started raining quite hard when the emergency alarms went off again. They sounded differently, so I am not certain since we live so close to Mexico if it was our alarms or theirs going off.

I know where the leaks in the house are located, I therefore have containers and buckets in place. Our neighbor and her daughter were in Del Rio when the storm started. When they got home they opened the door to a flooded house. There was more rain in the forecast for tonight even though it was later revised. Not wanting to take any chances they decided to stay with relatives in town.

During today's storm, again I could not go online!  I guess satellite Internet and/or TV is pretty worthless during inclement weather, which is when you rely on it most. Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel and we will be drying off soon.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Cyber Journal Note

Message I received while trying to connect to the Internet:

Web acceleration client error (515.2). Upstream TCP Connection Establishment Timeout.  The Web Acceleration Client could not create a TCP connection with the web server or proxy server. Retrying the Web page may correct the problem

14 comments:

  1. Get yourself a weather radio and find the frequency that broadcasts for your area. If/when there is an emergency they will broadcast it. Mom has one she brings on any trip so she can know the weather in that area. It is a free service from NOAA (may be slightly off on the acronymn) Weather Radio. I think she got hers from Radio Shack years ago.

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    1. Living in Houston you have to have a weather radio. I bought one that even had a small TV and built in flashlight. Only problem is where in the tons of boxes and containers that I brought from Houston it could be?

      Time for a new weather radio!

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  2. Like Shadowmoss said, get a weather radio and keep fresh batteries in it with spares close by. The old long wavelength low frequency radio waves where less interrupted from the weather than satellite and over the air TV. Glad you and your Mom did not get any damage.

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    1. Even though it is after the fact, I do plan on purchasing one that also uses a manual crank to operate in case one runs out of batteries.

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    2. And who is going to crank it? (grin)

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  3. Glad yall are ok, and that's super bad, not to know what's going on. Our town put in a phone call system and i actually got a call about it. Heavy rain, wind. I have my scanner, hear the dispatcher giving warnings.

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    1. Now that you mention it, I too signed up Mom years ago for her to be called in case of an emergency. To date she has yet to receive a single call. Need to look into that.

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  4. Stay safe and dry. I had the leaks in my roof patched last year but whenever it rained I set out the towels and buckets to catch the drips. I agree with your Mom - if I'm sleepy I will go to bed rather than sit around worrying, but it's good you had everything covered.

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    1. Sometimes I wish I could be as calm and collect as she is. I am a worrywart by nature,,,it is no wonder my blood pressure is through the roof.

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  5. Replies
    1. Howdy RedEyeMule...had not read you in a while.

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