Texas Sighs a Relief that Hurricane Dean is Not Coming to Visit

Earlier this weak all eyes were on Hurricane Dean and no one on the Gulf Coast was safe. With this being Texas' back-to-school tax-free weekend, shoppers were making stops at the home improvement stores to stock up on lumber and plywood before hitting the other stores. Too bad the "tax-free" didn't extend to the home improvement stores. Grocery stores had pallets of bottled water in the aisles by the registers. I even saw the pallets of soda replaced with water by convenience stores.

Hurricane Dean made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula at 3:30 am, according to NOAA the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, as a category 5 hurricane. Now downgraded to a Cat 2 Dean is still pacing a punch. According to NOAA advisory bulletin 34 at 10am on August 21, 2007, Dean has sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. Hurricane-force winds extend out from the center 45 miles and tropical force winds extend 245 miles further.

With the projected path taking it back into Mexico, Texas gave a big sigh of relief. But that did not stop the preparations from happening anyway. Even though the hurricane is not expected to hit Texas directly, this is a large storm covering many miles and it could spawn tornadoes and flooding.

Governor Perry still sent the Texas National Guard troops south to the Brownsville area to pre-stage in case it came this way after all. It was a sight to see in Alice on the 20th--all the troops and convoys heading down HWY 281. 5000 troops have been activated with another 10,000 ready to be activated.

There are fuel trucks standing by ready to refuel the hundreds of school buses sent to evacuate people if necessary. Nearly 60,000 to 80,000 barrels of gasoline were delivered to the area in preparation for this. Another 25,000 barrels is ready to be sent.

Fact to note: A barrel of gas is roughly 42 gallons.

FEMA has readied with bottled water, and MRE's, meals ready to eat.