Here we go again - IKE

[SHANEA]

TPWD News Release

Hurricane Ike delivered a powerful blow to Texas State Parks. Two coastal parks, Galveston and Sea Rim, sustained catastrophic damage. Structures and facilities at Sea Rim near Port Arthur appear to be a total loss. At Galveston Island, Ike caused heavy beach erosion and swept away the park headquarters building, restrooms, and shelters.

Seven other state parks and the LaPorte regional office suffered significant damage ranging from downed trees and power lines to storm surge flooding and wind damage to buildings and facilities. These parks include Lake Livingston, Martin Dies, Jr., the San Jacinto Battleground / Battleship Texas, Huntsville, Daingerfield, Martin Creek Lake and Mission Tejas.

Four state parks sustained moderate damage-Brazos Bend, Sheldon Lake, Village Creek and Caddo Lake. Three parks took only light damage-Goose Island, Mustang Island, Stephen F. Austin, Fanthorp Inn, Washington on the Brazos, Fairfield Lake, Tyler and Atlanta.

The San Jacinto Battleground was significantly damaged by storm surge flooding and wind, with widespread downed trees and fencing. The park store and Battleship TEXAS restrooms were flooded, the site well house destroyed, among other damage.

A fire Sunday morning at Mission Tejas severely damaged the approximately 1,000-square foot headquarters building (not a historic structure). Authorities and staff are looking into the cause, but it’s possible an emergency electrical generator caught on fire.

I can't even imagine what the Angelina and Davy Crocket National Forests are like - Ratcliff, 4C's Hiking Trail, LoneStar Hiking Trail, Boyken Springs, etc.

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/2008/releases/09/hurricane.shtml

All recreation areas on the Texas National Forests and Grasslands are closed. The Supervisor’s Office and Districts will be closed Friday, Sept. 12. The Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana has also closed all recreation areas until further notice in preparation for the effects of Hurricane Ike.

[RichardM]

Richard, excellent link!  Looks like the flooding is no worse than it has been historically, so the old family house should be OK.  Best of luck on getting back to work!

I'd just as soon not go back to work any time soon (or at all), but they probable won't pay me otherwise. Word is no earlier than Thursday. Our neighbor says the power came back on last night and they have decent water pressure. We'll probably head home Wednesday. Then I'll turn around and come back to Austin on Friday for UT Alumni Band weekend.

[SHANEA]

I'd just as soon not go back to work any time soon (or at all), but they probable won't pay me otherwise.

So, what happens to all the folks that no longer have jobs in Galveston - at least for the time being?  I have a good friend, she works at UTMB Galveston as an auditor.  The uncertainty about her house in the historic area must be a killer.  If the house survived, but has water damage - one would want to start salvaging and drying out things yesterday - not a month from now.  I just can't imagine the total horror of all of this.  To top it off, her brother passed away recently - unexpectedly.  Talk about a heck of a year.  But, what about the jobs and employment?  All of these folks all of a sudden went from having a paycheck to nothing.  I'm hoping that since she is a quasi-state employee they keep paying her with benefits, etc.  But, you know dang well that many are now unemployed and unemployment benefits don't cut it.  How do you carry on?  Reminds me of the book "Mans Search for Meaning - If you Have a Why - You Can Survive any What".  If your bank has no power, can you access any of your banking records?  Can you withdrawal money from an ATM?  What about your credit cards and bills - they don't stop coming in just because you are not there.  Try writing an out of town check.  Probably start getting late notices that the postal service can't deliver - then they turn off your credit card, hit you with high late fees, change your interest rates, etc.  ruin your credit - plus the government made it very difficult and expensive for individuals (not financial institutions like Bear-Sterns (Government Rescue) Lehman, absorption of Merrill Lynch) to declare bankruptcy.   AIG is not far off.

Plus, there is a major insurance company in Galveston, what about all of those employees?

The knock-on ripple effect of all of this is huge.

[badknees]

I'd just as soon not go back to work any time soon (or at all), but they probable won't pay me otherwise.

So, what happens to all the folks that no longer have jobs in Galveston - at least for the time being?  I have a good friend, she works at UTMB Galveston as an auditor.  The uncertainty about her house in the historic area must be a killer.  If the house survived, but has water damage - one would want to start salvaging and drying out things yesterday - not a month from now.  I just can't imagine the total horror of all of this.  To top it off, her brother passed away recently - unexpectedly.  Talk about a heck of a year.  But, what about the jobs and employment?  All of these folks all of a sudden went from having a paycheck to nothing.  I'm hoping that since she is a quasi-state employee they keep paying her with benefits, etc.  But, you know dang well that many are now unemployed and unemployment benefits don't cut it.  How do you carry on?  Reminds me of the book "Mans Search for Meaning - If you Have a Why - You Can Survive any What".  If your bank has no power, can you access any of your banking records?  Can you withdrawal money from an ATM?  What about your credit cards and bills - they don't stop coming in just because you are not there.  Try writing an out of town check.  Probably start getting late notices that the postal service can't deliver - then they turn off your credit card, hit you with high late fees, change your interest rates, etc.  ruin your credit - plus the government made it very difficult and expensive for individuals (not financial institutions like Bear-Sterns (Government Rescue) Lehman, absorption of Merrill Lynch) to declare bankruptcy.   AIG is not far off.

Plus, there is a major insurance company in Galveston, what about all of those employees?

The knock-on ripple effect of all of this is huge.

Hence the word .. disaster

[RichardM]

Nice to see those satellites put to good use:
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/index.html

Attached is an overhead shot of my mother-in-law's beach house in Pirate's Beach. Looks intact, although I assume the garage is either blown out or full of mud and water. The white blob on the right side is the chimney. Dark blob on the bottom is the deck. Looks like the neighbors lost part of the roof down to the plywood. Considering on Sunday we heard a report that the entire development was flattened without a single house standing....

I wish they had shots of our neighborhood and all of the area, but this will do for a start.

[RichardM]

One of my mother-in-law's beachhouse neighbors made it down in the mad scramble last week during the initial "look and leave" fiasco. The ground level garage is pretty much trashed, as expected, but the house appears otherwise undamaged. My in-laws plan on getting down there Wednesday when access is opened up again. I just hope they don't pick up any diseases. They both have fairly weak immune systems. And yes, we've tried to talk them out of going.

We came back to Clear Lake today. Damage was mostly what I expected and consists of lots of missing shingles and downed fences. However, I wasn't expecting the water that was apparently blown in through the bottoms of the windows downstairs. We have lots of warped planks in my wife's beloved wooden floor in our living room. Insurance adjuster will come out sometime this week. We probably have a new roof in our future.

[Al]

Having had a water leak on a hard wood floor before you will need to have a new hard wood floor also. They tend to wick water from one end to the other.  If not originally installed properly they can actually push out the walls of a house.  I hope the insurance company treats you fairly.

Al

[badknees]

Having had a water leak on a hard wood floor before you will need to have a new hard wood floor also. They tend to wick water from one end to the other.  If not originally installed properly they can actually push out the walls of a house.  I hope the insurance company treats you fairly.

Al

Yeah, 2% deductible for "named tropical system" (that's 2% of the insured value of the structure)

[RichardM]

The adjuster will be a local contracted out by the insurance company. I believe our deductible is 1%. Good thing I never got around to spending that economic stimulus from the IRS.

At least 40 shingles missing from the roof, but our lemon tree/bush only dropped 5 lemons.

[badknees]

The adjuster will be a local contracted out by the insurance company. I believe our deductible is 1%. Good thing I never got around to spending that economic stimulus from the IRS.

At least 40 shingles missing from the roof, but our lemon tree/bush only dropped 5 lemons.

Windstorm is probably 1% and Hurricane is probably 2%

[SHANEA]

IKE Storm damage in East Texas
Hurricane IKE Swipes East Texas

[RichardM]

For those awaiting roof repairs:

Operation Blue Roof
1-888-ROOF-BLU (1-888-766-3258)

AUSTIN, Texas – Hurricane Ike has left many Texas homeowners with damaged roofs. Repairs to these roofs can take time. In order to mitigate additional damage that could result from rain, homeowners can have plastic sheeting installed over the damaged area by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors, in a program provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The toll-free BLUE ROOF hotline number is 1-888-ROOF-BLU or 1-888-766-3258.

My wife got us on the waiting list today. We'll see how long it takes for them to get around to us. I imagine they're quite busy.

[SHANEA]

Ike Pics

More Ike Pics

From a friend of mine in the Houston area...

We still do not have power after 12 days, but my neighbors and I have learned:

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill.
2. No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights do not work without electricity.
3. My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you can ask the people in line who helped me push it).
4. Kids can survive 12 days or longer without a video game controller in their hand.
5. Cats are even more irritating without power.
6. He who has the biggest generator wins.
7. Women can actually survive without doing their hair.
8. A new method of non-lethal torture - showers without hot water.
9. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought.
10. TV is an addiction and the withdrawal symptoms are painful.
11. A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz Budweiser's to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for eight more hours.
12. There are a lot of dang trees around here.
13. Flood plane drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong.
14. Aluminum siding, while aesthetically pleasing, is definitely not required.
15. Crickets can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14 generators.
16. People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for.
17. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float, does not steer well, but floats just the same.
18. Tele-marketers function no matter what the weather is doing.
19. Cell phones work when landlines are down, but only as long as the battery remains charged.
20. 27 of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out!
21. Hampers were not made to contain such a volume.
22. If my store sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators... I'd be rich.
23. Price of a can of soup rises 200% in a storm.
24. Your water front property can quickly become someone else's fishing hole.
25. Tree service companies are under appreciated.
26. I learned what happens when you make fun of another states' blackout.
27. Drywall is a compound word, take away the 'dry' part and it's worthless.
28. I can walk a lot farther than I thought.
29. When you office has power and you do not, you really look forward to going to work each day.
30. The first few days without power can be fun if you make like you are camping. Then about the fourth day, mosquitoes that are about the size of flies appear and they have a bite that stings like a bee.
31. According to the radio, yesterday, the new fuzzy math says: 30 days in a month, minus 12 or more days without power equals 30% higher electric bill ?????

[SHANEA]

Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas:

Number Ten: Decorating the house (with plywood).
Number Nine: Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season.
Number Eight: Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
Number Seven: Regular TV shows pre-empted for 'Specials'.
Number Six: Family coming to stay with you.
Number Five: Family and friends from out of state calling you.
Number Four: Buying food you don't normally buy . . . and in large quantities.
Number Three: Days off from work.
Number Two: Candles.
And the Number One reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas:
At some point you're probably going to have a tree in your house!

[RichardM]

Here's some Ike photos you haven't seen before. I'm not sure of the location, but it was during a bridge inspection fairly close to Bridge City.

We saw this 4' gator near a bridge. Then a nutria popped out of the water

The nutria walks right up next to the gator

The nutria crawled over the top of the gator - we thought he was lunch for sure! The gator didn't seem to notice and swam off a minute later