Report from Clear lake After Erin

Photo: On the morning "Erin" hit, this was the sky to the east in Clear Lake.

I spent the day yesterday in Clear lake when Erin moved ashore down by Corpus. I figured being 200 miles away meant that we'd get some rain and that's about it.

WRONG. Two people died at a Randall's in Clear Lake city that I usually stopped in when going to work. At the time I was in a yacht club during a lunch event, watching the sky turn black and rain poured so hard that the boats were invisible outside the windows.

And that was a glancing blow - Erin was a weak storm and far away, yet the impact across Houston stopped traffic dead. Cars were underwater at 288 and 610. When is the city going to put flood markers on these low areas so drivers can see what they are getting into? Let's not wait until more people drown to do it.

And now Hurricane Dean is coming next week and we are in the cone of possible hits. We only have a few days to prepare. If Dean gets anywhere nearly as close as Erin we (and not just the coastal areas) are in big trouble.

Get prepared.