(or, “Hortense Hears a Who WTF?”)
From the Hurricane Rita blog at the Houston Chronicle:
Hortense Davis is waiting at the Houston Greyhound station for a bus that may not be coming.
The 73-year-old woman called the Red Cross today to find out what she should do about the storm. She said she was told to go to the bus station and tell them she had no money and needs to get out of the city.
“But when I got here, they said they couldn’t help me,” she said. “So now I’m just sitting here.”
Davis is trying to evacuate to Lufkin because she is scared hurricane Rita is going to causing major flooding in Houston.
“I’m stuck here,” she said. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Hundreds of people packed the downtown Greyhound station tonight hoping to get a ticket to safety.
Carolyn Rivera, 62, said she bought a bus ticket to Dallas today, but when she arrived at the station she discovered all the buses were filled. So she called her daughter and the two women plan to drive to Arkansas tonight.
“There are so many people and so few buses,” she said.
Rivera said she has been through two hurricanes and numerous tropical storms, but Rita has her worried.
“I think this one is going to be stronger than those others,” she said.
Don’t worry, Hortense, every thing will be okey-dokey fine and dandy. I mean, Bush isn’t on vacation during this hurricane, and even the coke-addled brain of a dry drunk can remember and understand cause and effect with only four weeks’ gap from Katrina. Besides, the governor of Texas is a Republican and… uh, oh, the mayor, Bill White, is a popular Democrat! Run for the hills, Hortense!