austin and central texas in flames

[Salty87]

this was sunday....austin is in flames this evening. too many fires to count. this one is across lake austin from my house, mabye 2 miles away. at least 25 homes burned, 4000 (all of 'em) evacuated.
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/03/88/47/image_1009747883.jpg

fire in bastrop tx is 16 mi long and 4 mi wide. 400 hundred homes burned so far.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/imgly_production/1925192/large.jpg

fire crews are stretched too thin. temps over 100. wind gusting all day long. no rain in months...not looking good for lots of folks.


updates: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2011/09/04/fires_raging_throughout_centra.html



cool front this morning, lower temps but lower humidity. winds are really picking up again.

steiner ranch is still smoldering. fingers are crossed.

[cadunkle]

That's terrible! Hopefully it stays away from your home. I wish I could send some of the rain here out your way. We've had record rainfall and that hurricane the other weekend dumped about a foot on most of the state.

[Blackntan90]

Salty, we are watching this closely from the D.C. area-stay safe! I 2nd that I wish we could send some of our rain over to you! I know there are several people on here from that area... Hope everything works out O.K.

[Safety Bob]

Hello Salty87, I hope that you are also following evac orders. Please be safe and get out while you can. Your health & safety is the most important thing that you have. Be safe!

[Salty87]

no evac orders for me yet. it's been very close though. at one point we were blocked from going north as fm620 was closed, couldn't go west because hwy 71 was closed and couldn't go south because hamilton pool rd was blocked. all for fires. they've all settled down some as the winds are much calmer this morning.

parts of lake travis were closed for the weekend so c-130's and helo's could load water for the fires. (not my video, found it online)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okhcnDY9C0E&feature=share


there's still smoke in the air this morning. i'm working from home and staying with our dogs in case the situation changes.

[sybrmike]

Stay safe Salty. We watched one all day yesterday ~20 miles north of us in Magnolia. Fortunately they got it out sometime last night, but folks are still evacuated & schools closed up there.

[wotan2525]

Whoa.... crazy! Good luck down there!!

[Okie Boarder]

Stay safe...been watching what's going on. A friend of my parents live in TX where one of the fires is and lost their home.

[sybrmike]

How's it holding for you up in Austin, Salty? Ours have been the same routine all week. They seem to get it beat down pretty good late each day & then the fires flare back up each mid morning. Fortunately, much less smoke this morning, but must be getting closer - we're now getting bigger pieces of ash and some fully intact burned leaves falling.

[Salty87]

yikes, we didn't get any ash at the house. the steiner fire is 80% contained but when i drove by a little while ago there was a decent amount of smoke still rising. at least there are firefighters stationed there now.

mike..you have your bags packed, ready to go?

it sucks to sit at home, there's no way to get updated info on the status or spread of the flames. you can find scanners online to listen to the firefighting operations but they talk in code so much it doesn't really help.

weather isn't looking good for firefighting next week, too. where's our tropical storm???

[DAFF]

Like any natural disaster it is all about your quick thinking and how you are prepared. Are the fire fighters foaming any homes???

[nathantyl]

I was wondering how people were able to recover from this? With the economy so bad right now, it will be tough. Did the government gave aid on this?