Hopefully, this thread will not become necessary.  But, in the event Hurricane Gustav gets too close to comfort to Southeast Texas (my hometown is Silsbee), I thought I'd at least get this thread started with the purpose of providing residents of Southeast Texas or those who have loved ones in Southeast Texas a forum for getting updates, keeping in touch and learning what's happening on a truly local level.

Three years ago, a similar forum was created for Hurricane Rita, and it proved to be a very useful, amazing resource.  My family, all living in Silsbee, Kountze and Beaumont, evacuated like most others, but found that once they hit the road or reached their destinations, it was very difficult to get truly local information about what was happeninig in their neighborhoods.  Thanks to someone's foresight to create a forum here and the Beaumont Enterprise's fantastic service in keeping people informed, I (living in California) was able to get that specific information from the forum to my family members so that they could make decisions about whether to return, where to get gas, etc.  I even learned from the forum that a man interviewed on KLVI offered to look in on people in the Silsbee area who had stayed and who might need help.  I contacted the person who posted the message and obtained the man's phone number.  I called him and told him about my parents' neighbors, an older couple, who had decided to stay but who could not be reached by phone after the storm had passed.  I later learned that a man and his wife visited my parents' neighbors the second day after the storm -- when the streets were blocked with fallen trees, utility poles and power lines -- asked the couple if they knew someone named "Karen", and offered them food and water.  (Fortunately, my parents' neighbors were okay.)  The kindness of these strangers has never left me, nor has my gratitude faded. 
So, hopefully all of this will end up being unnecessary with Gustav.  But if not, I hope that you find this forum helpful for exchanging information as things develop. 
Good luck and God bless!