Ike at night

I am so worried about my brother and his family. Watching tv, seeing the radar, and knowing that his house maybe underwater by morning, is very discouraging.

I can't help thinking that this is Katrina ~ "Texas Style" . 1.2 million people have evacuated the coast. I was off on my total of evacuees in Austin, it's 5,ooo so far, but an extra 10,000 are due overnight. There are 21 shelters open in Austin, with more on stand-by.

This doesn't happen here. Not 3 hours from my home. I have been to Galveston and Houston many times, and I can see the towns and place in my mind, and can't imagine what they will look like underwater. What happened too all the animals at the Houston Zoo? Were they evacuated? It happens in Louisiania and Florida. I'm glad that the million people evacuated, but there are still 100,000 that didn't and 4 of those people are my family. This morning and afternoon the city officals were telling those who stayed to write their social security numbers and other info on their arms and bodies so they could be identified if the worse were to happen. That shouldn't be something that comes out of someone's mouth. This is 2008. We have learned alot from Katrina. I would have thought that people would have learned that when at Cat 2-3 storm was storming towards your home with a predicted 20-25 foot storm surge, they would leave, but I guess I was wrong.

Ike is 700 miles wide and now at almost 11pm category 4 winds are being measured by the hurricane planes. It is due to hit Galveston between 1-3am.
I don't want to go to sleep, so I can watch the coverage, but I don't want to go to sleep because I don't want to wake up tomorrow and see the damage.