As a former journalist, I know there’s always a lot of buildup to big weather stories. In Wisconsin, it was snowstorms. The meteorologists would predict inch totals and tell motorists to stay iff the roads. On the news side, reporters and editors would plan stories on, well, how local governments, businesses and schools would plan for the bad weather. Many times for days in advance. 

It’s no different here in Texas with Tropical Storm Bill. Every media outlet took to the airwaves and social media to predict the path and output of the storm. Emergency government agencies were out in front of Bill, talking about their plans should — no, when — the flooding began. Volunteer evacuations were underway in the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County. “Turn around, don’t drown” could well become the new motto for Texas, which still is recovering from devastating Memorial Day weekend flooding that left too many people dead, hundreds of homes destroyed.

Here in Georgetown, I’m still waiting for the rain to really begin tropical storm strengthwise. So far, we’ve had little more than light rain. I know we won’t get what the Gulf Coast got today, but I kind of expected a little more than we’ve gotten. Hold onto that thought, some Texas natives tell me. The rain isn’t over. 

Fortunately, we’ve been pretty lucky in our part of Georgetown. We’re situated up higher and not near a river, so even if we get a lot if rain, I don’t think it will cause many problems for us. But I guess we’ll let Bill determine that. Because only he can.