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NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 27, 2005
Hurricane
Into the Storm
Two students travel into the wind
to experience Hurricane Rita
By C
J Patton
The Shorthorn staff
As Hurricane Rita made its way through the Gulf of Mexico, Texas
residents living on the coast were quick to stage a mass exodus,
packing the roads bumper-to-bumper in a desperate rush to escape
the soon-to-be ravaged cities. The other side of the roads, the
southbound lanes, were deserted and empty.
Except for the car containing business sophomore Brian Khoury and
Josh Grentham, kinesiology and science junior.
“It was funny because there was no one on the road, and on
the other side, they’re just packed in,” Grentham said.
“The people heading out are hoping that it would miss them,
and the people going in are hoping to see the biggest storm they’ve
ever seen.”
Khoury and Grentham are storm chasers, fascinated with weather patterns
that terrify others. The two tracked and followed Rita from Beaumont
to Orange, Texas, where they faced the full wrath of nature with
little more than a carport roof at a Ramada Inn to shelter them
from the driving winds.
“It’s like going down the highway at 70 miles per hour
and sticking your head out the window,” Grentham said. “Then
multiply that by two.”
Khoury said he had decided to chase Rita after missing the chance
with Katrina, because of school, and took Grentham, his fraternity
brother, along for the ride. Khoury said he had been interested
in storms since he was a child, when he would watch them with his
father as they passed by.
He said the appeal of chasing storms is the simple surge of adrenaline,
the feeling of doing something no one else is doing.
“I’ve never done anything else in my life that’s
as much of a rush,” he said. “Just standing in 150 mile
per hour winds and watching the debris fly by.”
Khoury, an amateur storm chaser, said he lucked out with this trip.
He said he traveled to Orange to avoid the higher floodwaters of
Port Arthur, and it turned out that Orange was the city hardest
hit by the storm.
“There were a lot of clouds and lightning — that’s
when we knew it was going to get bad. We were standing outside,
and the roof just peeled off,” he said. “We actually
recorded the highest wind speeds out of any storm chasers in the
state of Texas.”
Khoury said that watching the roof partially rip off of the carport
didn’t stop him from stepping out into the storm to feel the
hurricane first-hand. The experience was intense, he said.
“You walk out in it, and you’re standing in it, and
it’s about 70-80 miles per hour. Then a 130 mile per hour
gust comes and hits you,” he said. “You can’t
breathe, it just fills your lungs up. You can’t see, and you
just run back and hope you don’t get hit by debris.”
Khoury said that although storm chasing is his passion, it’s
bittersweet because the objects of his fascination end up destroying
people’s property and lives.
“I feel bad because I love storm chasing, and I wouldn’t
have it any other way, but something I love to do so much causes
so much devastation,” he said.
Grentham said he agrees with Khoury, saying the excitement of the
storm is what lures him in.
“It sounds bad, but seeing all the destruction and knowing
you were out in it, seeing all the buildings come down around you,
it kind of makes you feel like a bigger person,” he said.
Regardless of the thrill, Khoury said he has been doing this for
some time and doesn’t encourage people to follow in his footsteps.
The danger, he said, is too great for people who don’t have
experience in storm chasing.
“People that don’t know what they’re doing, don’t
know if you’re on high ground or not, don’t know where
to sit — no, I don’t recommend it,” he said. “Before
I left, I had about 20 people call me, saying, ‘Can I go?’
and I was like, ‘No, ’cause you’ll cry.’”
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