Info, links, news and calendar items from the virtual streets of Pasadena, Texas and surrounding areas
It’s not too late to earn your GED! The Harris County Department of Education’s Adult Education Division is offering free GED classes. These classes are held from 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church.
For information on eligibility or on the program, Call 713-455-3230, or after 2 p.m. call 713-453-6317.
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church is located at 13125 Indianapolis.
(Found via the Houston Chronicle This Week.)
It seems to me that, lately, Mother Nature has been reminding us that this is her world and we just live in it. Earthquakes, mudslides, typhoons, increased hurricane activitiy… am I the only one who’s more than a little wary about the rash of weather-related incidents that has been happening lately?
Here are a few news stories, including updates on Hurrican Emily, that (I think) proves my point.
Mexico tourists stay one step ahead of Emily
– reported by KHOU CBS Channel 11
An estimated 18,000 travelers left the Cancun airport just ahead of Hurricane Emily this weekend.
Hurricane Emily lashes Yucatan peninsula
– reported by KHOU CBS Channel 11
Hurricane Emily lashed the Yucatan peninsula Sunday, hours after thousands of jittery tourists streamed out of their waterfront hotels and fled inland to shelter in schools and gymnasiums.
The Category 4 storm caused heavy flooding that swept four people to their deaths in Jamaica on Saturday. In Mexico, it downed signs, toppled trees and whipped white sands from the beaches in Cancun.
Typhoon Haitang lashes northeastern Taiwan; one woman dies
–reported by KTRK ABC Channel 13
Typhoon lashed communities along Taiwan’s northeast coast on Monday, as officials ordered schools, government offices and financial markets to close amid reports of the storm’s first casualty.
Boy critically injured as lightning strikes family reunion
– reported by KTRK ABC Channel 13
A lightning bolt struck a family reunion, critically injuring a 12-year-old boy and sending a dozen others to the hospital, police and family members said.
The bolt hit a tree near a home Saturday evening, causing as many as 30 people to feel a jolt, said Andy Coon, who attended the party at his grandmother’s farm about 70 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Emily Lashes Yucatan Peninsula
Thousands Fled As Storm Neared
– reported by Click2Houston.com
With punishing waves and 100 mph winds, Hurricane Emily barrelled into Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula Monday.
According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Emily has slipped to a Category 2 storm but is forecast to again become a major hurricane.
It has already knocked out power and phone lines to much of the Yucatan coast. Hundreds of tourists are riding out the storm in sweltering makeshift shelters in schools and hotel ballrooms. As one woman from Missouri puts it, it’s hot but they’re safe “and that’s what’s important.”
At 11 a.m. EDT Monday, Emily was located near latitude 21.8 north, longitude 89.6 west or about 540 miles east-southeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and about 575 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Emily is moving toward the west-northwest near 17 mph, and this motion is expected to continue today.
South Texas preparing for hurricane, just in case
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
South Texas residents are preparing for the possibility of getting hit by Hurricane Emily, but the storm appears to be setting its sights south of Brownsville.
The Houston area is unlikely to feel effects from the storm, the National Weather Service said Sunday. A weather system heading toward Houston is keeping Emily to the south.
Tourists and locals flee path of powerful storm
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
Thousands of tourists and locals fled Hurricane Emily’s 135 mph winds Sunday as it began churning across the Yucatan Peninsula and heading toward northern Mexico and South Texas.
After crossing the peninsula, Emily is expected to gather strength over the Gulf of Mexico, and could bring high winds and rain to South Texas by late Tuesday. Some residents were already bracing for it.
Of course, I am at heart a superstitious child… prone to flights of fancy. In other words, listen to me only with an open mind. 
From the current City of Pasadena CityGram:
If the steady rain has you more focused on issues like flood prevention, your input can now part of new flood prevention study. On Thursday, July 21, the City will be hosting the last of three public meetings focused on obtaining information from citizens as part of a new study evaluating the extent and causes of flooding in the Armand Bayou, Cotton Patch Bayou and Glenmore Ditch watersheds, and alternative drainage solutions.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Odell Harrison Recreation Center, 415 Delta (Cotton Patch area). The study is being funded 50% by the City of Pasadena and 50% through a grant from the Texas Water Development Board.
“The ultimate goal is to use research and citizen input to develop a plan which, when implemented, will reduce the existing flooding that occurs within these areas,” said Sam Metzger, engineering coordinator. The study should be completed by late 2006.
For more information about the project, contact Sam Metzger at 713-475-7262.
Thousands Ordered To Leave Mexican Coast
Storm Will Likely Hit Yucatan Peninsula On Sunday
– reported by Click2Houston.com
Thousands have been evacuated from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, while those remaining brace for Hurricane Emily’s looming landfall.
Mexican authorities ordered the evacuation Sunday afternoon. It affects 30,000 tourists in Cancun, where there were long lines at the airport of tourists rushing to leave.
Two people were killed in a helicopter crash during an evacuation of a Mexican oil rig in Emily’s path.
South Texas readies for Hurricane Emily
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
The specter of Hurricane Emily landing in South Texas has cotton growers scrambling to harvest as much as possible before heavy rains and winds wipe out their crop.
[snip]
Emily strengthened Saturday to a Category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph. The hurricane was on track to pass close to Grand Cayman Island overnight before smashing into the Yucatan Peninsula on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
If it stays on its current course, Emily could hit southern Texas next week.
Cancun’s remaining tourists hole up in shelters ahead of Emily
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
Hurricane Emily howled toward Mexico’s Caribbean coast today bearing 145 mph winds, pounding waves and torrential rain, and causing chaos in Cancun as tourists fled resorts in its path.
As the breeze picked up and waves grew larger, business owners winced at the thought of what the storm could do to an economy that is one of Mexico’s richest thanks to a year-round tourist influx.
From the current City of Pasadena CityGram:
…if you’re just ready to ‘go wild’, don’t miss the Summer Reading Program Grand Finale Party, July 22, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Central Library, 1201 Jeff Ginn Memorial Drive. The annual event marks the end of the Library’s “Go Wild . . . Read!” summer reading program which began June 1 and officially ends on July 20.
Children or adults who read at least 10 hours during the summer reading program will receive a reading certificate and be eligible for prizes like gift certificates and bikes at the Grand Finale Party. There will also be refreshments and lots of fun activities for children of all ages.
For more information about the summer reading program or the Grand Finale Party, contact the Library at 713-477-0276. If you are interested in volunteering to help with the Grand Finale Party, please contact Lesley Venable at 713-475-7259.
Pasadena’s TV station connects with audience
Baytown starts preparing for September on-air date
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
When Pasadena’s recreation centers began registering kids last month for summer activities, the five centers got an influx of newcomers who had learned about the programs from the city’s television station, parks officials said.
“Those little highlight pieces have been very effective,” said Steve Patterson, recreation centers division manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “They’ve been so effective … that we’re at capacity at one of our centers. At the Peter Fogo Center (914 Hart St.), there may be room in individual programs, but for game room stuff we’re bursting at the seams.”
About 250 newcomers registered for the summer programs last month, with more than half the sign-ups resulting directly from the city’s television coverage, Patterson said.
“About 50 percent said they didn’t know the program existed until they saw it on the Pasadena Channel,” Patterson said.
[snip]
Baytown city officials have recently embarked on a similar, although scaled-down, mission with plans to begin televising City Council meetings as soon as the chamber has been outfitted with video and audio equipment that was purchased last month and with fiber optic cable. Coverage is expected to begin in early September, officials said.
Shameless promotion of headlines in my other blogs:
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Hurricane Emily is headed to Texas.
Emily Becomes Year’s Strongest Storm, reported by Click2Houston.com.
The National Hurricane Center said the “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm is now packing winds at near 155 mph, up from 135 early Saturday morning. The storm is due to pass south of Jamaica before making a direct hit on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday.
The storm is then expected to head out over the Gulf of Mexico and toward Texas.
Tourists fleeing Yucatan ahead of hurricane, reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Emily, nearing Category 5 strength, is expected to hit Mexico Sunday
Long lines of people choked the Cancun airport as tourists rushed to leave this Caribbean resort ahead of Hurricane Emily, which packed 155 mph winds as it streaked toward Mexico.
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning today for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, and authorities were recommending tourists abandon much of Mexico’s Caribbean coast as a precaution.
South Texas readies for Hurricane Emily, reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Some South Texas residents were making preparations to weather Hurricane Emily as officials mobilized in case the storm hits the region.
Emily was expected to hit the Mexican coast by Sunday, possibly somewhere near Cancun. From there it could cross over the Yucatan peninsula, travel across the Gulf toward Texas and hit land near the U.S. border with Mexico, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Forecasters in South Texas were advising residents to watch local weather reports in next few days.
Areas that should evacuate and routes were posted on the Texas Department of Transportation Web site. Emergency management officials also suggested that people who live in low-lying areas that can flood make arrangements to stay outside the area.
Emily nearly a Category 5; aims for islands, reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Hurricane passing south of Jamaica with 145 mph winds as it heads for Caymans
The Category 4 storm was on track to pass close to Grand Cayman Island later Saturday or early Sunday before smashing into the Yucatan Peninsula, where Mexican officials prepared to evacuate tourists, on its way to the Gulf of Mexico and possibly southern Texas next week.
UPDATED:
Hurricane Emily Aims for Mexico’s Yucatan, reported by Yahoo News. (Found via The Huffington Post.)
The Category 4 storm was on track to pass close to Grand Cayman Island later Saturday or early Sunday before smashing into the Yucatan Peninsula, where Mexican officials prepared to evacuate tourists, on its way to the Gulf of Mexico and possibly southern Texas next week.
From the current City of Pasadena CityGram:
If you’d like help in understanding the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program taking effect in 2006, the Madison Jobe Senior Center is teaming up with the Pasadena District Social Security Office to host a free workshop, Tuesday, July 19th, 2 - 3 p.m., to explain the details to you.
The new program will give elderly and disabled people on Medicare access to drug coverage. And, the Madison Jobe Senior Center is making sure that anyone interested in the new Medicare program has all the information they need to benefit from the new plan.
“There are a lot of seniors who aren’t aware of the new plan benefits, when they go into effect, or how to apply for coverage,” said Hunter Smith, recreation specialist.
For more information about the workshop, contact the Madison Jobe Senior Center at 713-477-0175. If you would like more information on the Part D prescription drug benefit, visit www.medicare.gov
According to weather reports, we should get ready for rain for the rest of the week. On the one hand, this puts an end to our drought (I think). On the other hand, Houston (and Pasadena) floods if we get 5 minutes of continuous rain, so imagine what was going on today.
I guess I just have to hope for the best.