The National Weather Service just downgraded Dolly to a Category 1 Hurricane--good news as she pushes inland toward Hidalgo County.
Dolly's supposed to arrive in our part of the Rio Grande Valley around 7:00 pm. UTPA campus is closed for the next few days. I'm keeping an eye on things via The Monitor's web site.
Besides the canceled flights, power outages, hurricane force winds, rain and inevitable flooding, Dolly is stirring up controversy. Apparently, the Red Cross refuses to work at any RGV shelters because of the region's deteriorated levee system and potential for serious flooding. They will provide aid after the storm passes, but encourage people to evacuate instead.
Since Mike is driving back to UT with moving truck #2, he called the airlines and got a credit for the unused half of his round trip flight, scheduled to leave Monday. A little sliver lining in Dolly's blustering clouds for us.
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Storm update:
Mike got bored at home yesterday, drove over to Barnes & Noble and used their wifi until his laptop battery died. He said the storm wasn't so bad. Drove around and saw lots of downed trees, flooding and RGV drivers blowing full speed through intersections instead of treating powerless stop lights as a 4-way stop.
When he called me later, the power was out at our house/in our neighborhood. I called him this morning but didn't get through. I sent a text message asking if he was OK but haven't heard back.
The Monitor's web site says cell towers are down, the water supply is knocked out mid-Valley and 150,000 customers are without power. Rain expected to continue through Saturday. Mike was planning to load up and leave Monday. Not sure if Dolly is going to upset the plans.
Update 2:
Mike called back just after I posted.
UTPA campus is closed until Monday, so his weekend seminar will have to be rescheduled. This will change the plans for driving back with moving truck #2.
Power is back on at our house. We had a couple of tree branches come down and our next door neighbor had a tree in her front yard go down.
Still overcast but not raining at the moment. It's a lot worse elsewhere in the Valley; we're thankful our little neighborhood didn't get it worse.
Wonder if we're still on for an Open House on 7/27? Our agent removed the fore sale sign and flyer holder. He hasn't contacted me since I said I was mad about finding an incorrect list price and expired buyer's incentive on his office's OWN web listing for our house.
Eek! I had been thinking how lucky you were to have moved away. Didn't bother to think you haven't actually sold your house yet, or that Mike might be down there taking care of stuff. Glad everything seems okay for the moment.
What's the latest on the house? Did it come through largely unscathed? And what the hell is up with your rinky-dink realtor? That dude needs to be kicked five ways to Sunday.
We had a few tree branches come down at the house. Mike has moving truck #2 loaded and will leave McAllen today after tidying up the house a bit.
Our friend Peggy, who's been keeping an eye on our house, lost power Wednesday--her whole block is out. She has some gas appliances (stove, hot water heater) but no electricity. I'm sure there are a lot of folks still dealing with that.
The realtor corrected his web site, but no word on whether the same mistakes appear on any other of the dozens of sites where he's listed our house. I haven't had time to check. Nor did he respond to my request (before the error fury) about open houses scheduled for August. I want to know the dates and publicize them in advance via Craigslist and he hasn't ponied up.
Mike was going to call the agent we had when we were house hunting in McAllen. I think she'd be a more conscientious advocate for us. Personally, I can't wait for our contract with this guy to expire.
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