Hurricane Ike - The Aftermath

Ike gave us his worst, but we survived; a little tattered and torn, but alive nonetheless. As bad as this has been for us out here on the southwest edge of the Houston metro area, it is much worse inside the city and especially down on the coast in Galveston.

Our power is already back on for example, while it could be weeks before the rest of the city can say the same. Many of the grocery and hardware stores and gas stations are open as well. The lines to get into anywhere are ridiculously long, and from what I can tell, most of the staple supplies are just not available in any real quantities yet. But you can load up on junk food, and I guess that's better than nothing. Not much better, but a little.

So what happened during the night? Well, as you read in my previous post, we hunkered down in the safe room and were waiting for the main body of the storm to hit. The funny thing is that by the time that occurred, we were all exhausted and fell sound asleep on the floor. We didn't wake up until the worst had passed! I've always told my daughter that she could sleep through a hurricane and now I have the proof. Although I guess she can say the same about me. We were back up by 5:30 AM and inspected the house and discovered a couple of leaks. There wasn't much we could do about it at that time, except catch the water in pots.

We sustained some damage to our roof that was easily patched up, but not before some water got into the house. Our trees took a beating too, especially the avocado tree we've been waiting 6 years to produce fruit. Next summer was supposed to be the time, but after being uprooted and replanted, I'm not sure if it's natural schedule will be delayed. Our banana trees weren't exactly built to withstand winds that high either.

In the aftermath, I set up our generator and plugged in the freezer. We took in some stray food from our neighbors, and charged up cell phones for others. Speaking of cell phones, as usual, the only thing that works is text messaging, which is better than nothing. So we shot texts off to friends and family around the country to let them know we were safe, and then began the process of cleaning up.

Around our neighborhood roofs, fences, and uprooted trees seem to be the order of the day. Thankfully no injuries or deaths out here that I've heard about. Late last night the power came back on, and things are taking on some semblance of normalcy for us out here.

In other words we were blessed beyond belief.

The same can't be said for the rest of the region. This was a really big storm, and most of the people in the area not in mandatory evacuation zones stayed put. If the current death toll (21) holds, it'll be nothing short of a miracle. The Houston Chronicle has been doing a great job reporting on this storm and it's aftermath so I'd suggest visiting them if you want a lot more detail than I can provide in this post. But the amount of property damage appears staggering and it's going to take the region a while to recover from this one. Since we were spared the worst, I'll be heading into town tomorrow to do what I can to help out.

Most likely volunteering with one of those community organizations that have been so disparaged as of late.

Live Blogging Ike - It's Getting Ugly

Ike has most definitely arrived. Not sure how this is will to work out, but I'm going to try and post an update from my old Ipaq phone. That's because the power went out around 11PM and the computer is not available. There's no telling when the power will be back on. Maybe hours, or days. The storm hadn't even made it ashore yet before the power went, which seems unusual. Once the power went out, we decided to try and get some sleep before the storm really hit. That lasted for a couple of hours until the winds and noise picked up. We're in our safe area but I've looked outside a couple times. The winds are so strong our trees are leaning to the left and being buffeted around. You can hear the rain hitting the windows and it sounds like they're being sandblasted. You hear it all the time, but the rain is blowing sideways. We are hearing some strange noises that we can't figure out exactly what they are yet. We're listening to the radio and the eye of the storm is over Clear Lake, and we still apparently have hours to go before this thing is done. I'll be back when I can.

Hurricane Ike - An Inside Look

Ok, I'm back. Again. And what better time to come back from my self-imposed blogging hiatus than during a hurricane. So here I am.

To say a lot has been going on the past few weeks is a definite understatement. Politics, weather, life, death, we've been through it all lately. I'm not even going to try and catch up on everything that's occurred since that last post, but I will try and provide a glimpse into what's happening here in the Houston area right now, and it can be summed up in one word.

Ike.

That's right, Ike has come calling, and like an unwanted party crasher, he's acting like a true fool. Right now, Galveston is in his sights, but we expect to feel the full brunt of the storm soon. Luckily for us, we're not in the surge zone, so water is not an issue. But we do expect some serious wind and rain.

By the way, where's President Bush? Haven't seen him at all since this whole situation developed. I mean, he was so involved "monitoring" Hurricane Gustav a couple of weeks ago that he couldn't even attend his own parties convention. What's different about this situation, or was that all about *gasp* politics? Oh, wait a minute,turns out he's fundraising.

But I digress. Since yesterday when Ike's path became clear, the whole area has been preparing. A lot of people in the surge zone evacuated, but apparently nearly half of the people in Galveston decided to stay put. This despite the fact that local officials told them in no uncertain terms that no help would be coming once the storm got close. I pray they don't live to regret that decision, but looking at it right now, I'm pretty sure they will. The storm hasn't even hit yet and a good portion of the island is already flooded.

We decided to stay put too, for several reasons. One, we're not in surge zone. Second, we're pretty far inland, and our house is only 8 years old and seems to be pretty well built. And third, we evacuated when Hurricane Rita threatened the area in 2005, and that was an experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Still, I hope we don't end up regretting our decision to stay either.

Like I said, we've been preparing. The gas tanks are full, all potential projectiles are cleared from the yard, we've laid in a supply of food and water, the generator is tuned up with plenty of fuel on hand, and eventually, I'll shut down all of the electronics in the house, including computers. One thing we did not do was board up the windows, but we've scouted out the strongest point in our house to shelter at during the worst of the storm.

So now we wait.

The craziest thing so far has not been the amount of effort it taken to prepare. Nor the anxiety of waiting to see if it's coming directly towards us or not. No, the really crazy thing that has been taking up most of my time is fielding all of the calls from family, friends, and current and former business acquaintances from around the country. And while I really appreciate the concern, we are kind of busy down here y'all. I promise we will call as soon as we can after this thing is over. In the meantime, no news is good news.

We are expecting Ike to show up sometime in the early morning hours, and have been told to expect the power to go out soon thereafter. I'm not sure how long it's supposed to be out, but some of the folks who remember Hurricane Alicia back in 1983 said it took nearly two weeks to restore the power to all areas. Man, I hope that is not the case this time around. There's only so much power that my little generator can provide, and that doesn't include air conditioning. And y'all know we are pretty much dependent on the AC down here, especially during this time of year. In fact, I don't think Houston would be the 4th biggest city in the country without it. Suffice it to say, I'm not looking forward to that.

What has been cool is my ten year old's response to this event. Talk about a learning and growing experience. She has been as helpful as she can be, and has been asking a ton of great questions. She's also taken it upon herself to monitor the news for us, providing updates whenever she feels the situation has changed, or there is something newsworthy to report. Even though I can tell she's nervous about the whole 'sheltering in place' ordeal, in her own words she's "nervous but still excited to see what's going to happen." Ahh, youth.

Anyway, I hope that gives you a little peek into what's happening on this end. The winds are picking up right now, but still no rain. I'll try to jump back on soon to update. In the meantime if you're so inclined, send up a little prayer for the safety and protection of life and property for your friends down here in Texas.

We'll definitely need it.