B737-300 IS CLRED TO DEST ARPT AFTER HOLDING UNTIL PLANNED DIVERT TIME. MISSED APCH ENSUES AND WITH ALT BELOW MINIMUMS; A FUEL EMER IS DECLARED.

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FLT TO ZZZ HELD AT XYZ VOR FOR 40 MINS AT FL310 WAITING FOR CELL ACTIVITY TO LEAVE ZZZ. IN TOUCH WITH DISPATCH AND DETERMINED THAT WE COULD HOLD UNTIL THE ORIGINAL EFC BEFORE HAVING TO DIVERT. ATC DELAYED OUR EFC 15 MINS AND RELAYED INFO TO DISPATCH THAT WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HOLD THAT LONG AND HAVE ENOUGH FUEL FOR DIVERT TO FILED ALTERNATE OF ZZZ1. 2 MINS BEFORE ORIGINAL EFC; WE RECEIVED CLRNC TO ZZZ. DISPATCH HAD JUST SENT A DIVERT TO MCI AT THE SAME TIME; BUT WHEN WE RELAYED WE WERE INBOUND; THEY REPLIED 'EXCELLENT.' I FELT COMFORTABLE THAT ZZZ1 WAS STILL OUR ESCAPE RTE AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED. DURING THE ARR TO ZZZ; WE NOTICED A CELL BUILDING OVER ZZZ BUT OTHER ACFT WERE GETTING IN PER RPTS ON COMPANY FREQ. AS WE WERE VECTORED ONTO FINAL; 2 OTHER COMPANY ACFT AHEAD OF US HAD EXECUTED MISSED APCHS. WE SHOT OUR APCH DOWN TO MINIMUMS AND SAW NOTHING DUE TO HVY RAIN. WE EXECUTED A MISSED APCH. ATC TURNED US S AND WE TOLD THEM WE WOULD NEED TO DIVERT TO ZZZ1. UNFORTUNATELY; IN THE FLURRY OF ACTIVITY I DID NOT REALIZE I HAD NOT CALLED FOR FLAPS 'UP;' AND THEY WERE AT FLAPS 1 DEG. I LOOKED AT THE AIRSPD INDICATOR AND SAW 235 KTS/5 KTS OVER LIMIT. I REDUCED PWR AND FLAPS 'UP.' AS WE DEPARTED ZZZ APCH ON VECTORS S TOWARD ZZZ1; THEY SWITCHED US TO CTR. WE TOLD CTR WE WANTED TO GO TO ZZZ1 AND THEY SAID WE DIDN'T WANT TO GO THERE BECAUSE THEY SHOWED HVY TO EXTREME WX ACTIVITY TO ZZZ1. I XFERRED CTL TO THE FO AND CONTACTED DISPATCH TO LET THEM KNOW THAT ATC SAID NOT TO GO TO ZZZ1. DISPATCH SAID THAT ZZZ2 WAS VFR AND RECOMMENDED TO GO THERE. WE INFORMED CTR OF OUR INTENTION TO GO TO ZZZ2 AND THEY GAVE US VECTORS. WE DECLARED MINIMUM FUEL AT THAT TIME SINCE WE WERE TURNING AROUND BACK N TO ZZZ2 AND FIGURED WE WOULD LAND WITH ABOUT 4 ON FUEL. AS I DUG OUT THE PLATES FROM THE ALTERNATE PACKAGE AND WE PLUGGED THE RTE IN; THE FUEL AT ZZZ2 SHOWED 3. WE TRIED TO GET MORE DIRECT ROUTING; HOWEVER; ATC AND WX WERE A FACTOR. AS WE REALIZED THAT WE WOULD BE LNDG WITH ABOUT 3 ON FUEL; AND A MORE DIRECT ROUTING NOT AVAILABLE; I DECLARED A FUEL EMER. WE GOT DIRECT TO THE OM FOR RWY X AT ZZZ2; LANDED WITH 4.1; AND SHUT DOWN WITH 4.0. WE REFUELED AT ZZZ2 AND RETURNED TO ZZZ ABOUT 2 1/2 HRS LATE. THE FACT THAT MY PREPLANNED ESCAPE RTE DISAPPEARED DUE TO WX PUT ME IN A BIND TO FIND A PLACE TO LAND. SINCE THE WX WAS CHANGING; I SHOULD HAVE MADE SURE WITH DISPATCH BEFORE SHOOTING THE APCH THAT MY ESCAPE RTE WAS STILL AVAILABLE. THIS WOULD HAVE MAYBE PREVENTED OR AT LEAST MADE A BETTER PREPLANNED DIVERT. ALSO; DUE TO MY ERROR IN NOT RETRACTING FLAPS TO THE FULL 'UP' POS; I OVERSPED THE FLAPS BY 5 KTS. I KNOW THIS WILL REQUIRE AN EXTRA INSPECTION BY MAINT. THERE IS NO EXPLANATION TO THIS OTHER THAN A MISSED PROC CALL. DUE TO CHANGING WX CONDITIONS; I SHOULD HAVE DOUBLECHKED MY ESCAPE RTE TO ZZZ1 BEFORE SHOOTING APCH AT ZZZ. THIS MIGHT HAVE PREVENTED THE EMER AUTH OR AT LEAST A BETTER PREPLANNED DIVERT.