I heard from my sister yesterday about 6 pm. She and the family finally made it to the shelter of the Second Baptist Church in Marshall, TX. A trip that should have been less than five hours took almost twelve. I was very relieved to hear they made it safely, with all the chaos of evacuation.

Today, I finally reached her via cellphone around 2:30 pm. They have been hunkered down in the basement of the church because Marshal has been under a tornado warning. She has gauged the winds by watching a limb from a huge pecan tree rolling from one side of the road to the other. The kids have been entertaining the Church Cat (that's his name) who is a Morris lookalike, and taking care of the cats that they brought along with them.

News is not good from Silsbee. All she knew to tell me was the Walmart is gone, the Dairy Queen and some other fast food places have been leveled. Tornadic winds came right through the center of town. They have no way of knowing if their house is still standing.

She also told me of the convenience store owner who sold them the last tank of gas in town, and how he was trying to close up to gather his family from Port Arthur. She asked him why he had stayed open this long when all others are gone. He replied that the food or gas he still had may save someone's life up the road, it certainly wasn't the money. I do hope he got his loved ones out of harm's way, as Port Arthur really took a hit. His store is history, according to the scattered news my sister has been able to glean from all the reports.

It's now just past 4 pm here, and we are now under a tornado watch. Rita is not done. I have my emergency bag packed, and the cat kennel ready to shove the two cats in if I have to head into the "fraidy hole" next door. Weather can be a frightening if beautiful thing sometimes.

Stay tuned for your local forecast.