Hurricane IKE Rollcall...

[SHANEA]

I think we need to have a roll-call to find out how everyone is doing and for those that are able to - to offer assistance to our good BBC friends. 

Unfortunately, I'm way out of pocket right now and can't offer anything but good thoughts.

I talked with Ray last night and he is high and dry at his sons.  Has no idea about his home or work, but does fear the worst.

I have talked with The Wild West Guy and they are doing well.

We know that Randell and Richard both evacuated and are doing ok.  No idea on when they plan on returning. 

[RichardM]

Haven't heard about the power situation in Randell's neighborhood. I know it's still out in mine. At some point this week my wife and I may leave Jennifer here with my parents and drive home to assess damage, pick up my car, clothes, etc. No word on my work situation.

Attached is the power restoration map for SE Houston as of noon today.

[Roy]

Lots of red on that map.  Richard, any way you could post that where the links on the bottom right would be active?

[jamesb]

Im doing good. No power or water. Only suffered monir roof damage that had a leak and some water got into the house. Will have to replace some sheetrock and roof.

I am very fortunate compared to some of my neighbors. There were cars crushed, houses crushed, phone and power lines down all through out my neighbor hood. Many streets blocked by down trees

only minor street flooding in my area, which it all cleared yesterday.

So far I have had 9 inches of rain at my house.

We are at my mother in laws right now as they have power, no water, but plenty of cool air!!!

[Peach]

Thankfully we just got the west end of the storm.  Lots of wind (I've never heard wind like that  ), but my little house held up much better than I thought.     I'm not sure how any of my coworkers in Houston made out, but am going to drive into work to check on my office in the Galleria area and some of the friends I know didn't evacuate. 

I'm also thankful we didn't lose power.

[tjavery]

Averys checking in. Faired the storm pretty well here in Copperfield (NW Houston). Lost power for good about 10pm Friday night, got it back on yesterday about 5pm. We're extremely lucky as we seem to be in a small pocket that has power in this general area.

Neighborhood looked pretty ragged Saturday morning, but most people's roofs are intact.

Lost some fence and several large branches from the trees. Found a roof leak this morning during the freak rain event we had (the street flooded and some of my unfortunate neighbors who had parked in the street got water in their vehicles).

Lots of red on that map.  Richard, any way you could post that where the links on the bottom right would be active?

Just go to their site and click on "Outage and restoration updates" - lower right. You'll then see links to maps - they're PDF files and each file contains multiple maps (4 quadrants of the Houston area).

http://www.centerpointenergy.com/

[badknees]

The Knees are good.

We have a small island of power in a sea of darkness. We actually never lost power during the entire storm. Had internet and TV until last night when it died, but it came back on today.

I have a dangerously leaning 80' pine tree that will drop on my roof if it falls. It seems to be stable enough for the time being.

Water pressure is neglible, but we have plenty of food and other necessities.

The whole neighborhood is a mess but there are some sounds of trucks and chain saws clearing the main roads of downed trees.

Lots of choppers flying out of Ellington headed back and forth between Galveston and the coastal communities.

We are very lucky.

[tjavery]

I think we're pretty fortunate here in NW Houston. We're praying hard for all those less fortunate, especially folks living closer to the coast.

Thank God a cold front is coming. It will help considerably as most folks are still without power and will be for some time.

I talked to some friends in Katy (west of Houston), and they had power through most of the storm. My mom's area (south of Kingwood - NE Houston) is still without power. I talked to a family friend up in New Waverly and she said they'd be without power for 2 to 4 weeks.

I've been taking some pics throughout this ordeal. They might be pretty boring compared to the carnage you see on the news, but I figured Homero would enjoy them  


Friday: Preparing for Ike:

- Back of our house (faces due east) about 5pm:


I cleared our yards of anything that wasn't tied down (and tied down the stuff that I couldn't move). Our swingset is quite hefty so I just tipped it over. I boarded up about half our windows - just the big ones and the most exposed ones - the side of our house you see here is fairly exposed and faces due east.

- Henry's playset (with roof removed) and tied down to the trees:


- Sunset before the storm (same kinda beautiful sunset happened the Friday night before Hurricane Rita 3 years ago):


- Our shelter: interior hallway and storage room under the stairs:



The drill was pretty much the same as we did for Rita (but I didn't board up for that storm - I just wasn't prepared). My wife and son slept through most of the storm. Things were fairly quiet in our interior safe area. We used our battery operated tent fans to keep cool. They have magnetic bases, so we just stuck them to the sides of the washing machine next to us.


Saturday: Tail end of the storm:

- View into our neighbors' yards from our second story:


- Making coffee on the front porch using my MSR camping stove and the roof from Henry's playset as a wind shield:


- Our neighbor on the corner - there used to be fence there:


- Our unlucky neighbor down the street with the leaning tree (he lost two trees in his backyard, one of them hit his house):



Sunday:

- Our street this morning during the rain storm:


- Typical view down a street in our neighborhood (roads are clear, but a lot of fences are down):

[mule ears]

Glad to hear, so far, that everyone is in OK shape. We had Hurricane Fran come right over the farm in 1996 (cat. 3 when it hit the coast, 80mph winds for 8 hours here at the farm).  500 year flood level on the river and lots of trees down. The worst was no power for 7 days. Barbequed and ate a lot of meat out of the freezer so we didn't lose it.

Hang in there!

[SHANEA]

Making coffee on the front porch using my MSR camping stove and the roof from Henry's playset as a wind shield:

We used our battery operated tent fans to keep cool. They have magnetic bases, so we just stuck them to the sides of the washing machine next to us.

 

Campers / outdoors people are a pretty resourceful lot.  Not having power is just like camping/backpacking.  Don't have a roof on the house, pitch a tent.  No need to buy cases of bottled water, fill the canteens and jugs.  Nothing to eat - just go and crack open some Mountain House.   Need some light, break out the Colemans...  Run out of Mountain House - while everyone is in line at Krogers - go to Academy and get your food. 

[Ray52]

As Shane said earlier in this thread, I'm alive and well in Waco where I arrived Friday afternoon.  My son and I went to the game and I got a look at Baylor's fine freshman QB and also saw the same beautiful sunset from the bleachers that TJ photographed from Houston.  I'm not sure when I can go home and see for myself, but Orange took quite a bit of water.  I've found no pictures to substantiate the 9.5' that I read in one story on the internet, but have from a reliable source that my office and our parent company's shipyard next door currently have 5' of water.  I live not far away and also near a bayou so I have to prepare myself for the same at my house.  The other problems mentioned are lots of snakes and no power for several weeks.  I'm hoping for news tomorrow that I can go south and (as Shane also said) at least pitch a tent in the backyard until the situation improves. 

I've heard from several friends around the Board and from around the country.  These gestures of kindness and concern are appreciated more than I can possibly say.  After a delicious lunch today at Carrino's in Waco, my check arrived showing $00.00 owed.  People will trip over themselves to offer assistance in times of need.  Ike is a crisis now but we are moving forward.  It will be an inconvenience for many of us for several days, weeks, or months to come, but in due time it will be just another part of our history. 

God Bless America!

[homerboy2u]

I figured Homero would enjoy them

 Honestly, i wish i could do just that and enjoy pictures of ones tragedy and all, but i can not. I am here with my wife and kids, seeing our beloved cyberfriends pictures and can not help but remember, what we went thru here in 2007 when a Tornado hit us hard and saw all the destruction and havoc it caused over the community. So hang in there folks, if you should need ANYTHING  at all, hey there is no shame in asking. It cost me a lot to ask for help for some orphan kids when i stumble upon them  and there were MANY decent folks  who with out any hesitation sent me some money and goods to help out.

 I am for ever grateful for their donations and can only say that when there is a need with this community, i am more than ready to help out. I think this is the only way to pay it forward.

[badknees]

My neighborhood

[riverrat]

We made it home! Had absolutely no problem getting in coming from east via IH10. Several stores including Sam's (=to costco) and HEB and Krogers on Dowlen near the mall have groceries and gas being run by huge generators. luckily we are well stocked with water and nonperishables. We have about 50 gallons of gas plus three nonessential car tanks full for our generator. If you want to see videos of nearby towns and one of my town, check out kfdm.com. It literally swamped many areas but we personally have once again been blessed. More limbs than from Rita but not near the number of trees from all around town. There are trees down and some on houses but nothing like with Rita.

The storm surge is what flooded everyone.
It depends on who you listen to on power restoration; one day to one month. I figure for our town probably a week or two.

I need to get offline so we can turn something else on for awhile.

Bridge City was 100% under water at one point but evidently it drained quickly. Many people totally under estimated the storm surge prediction. I believe we all know now just how bad it gets.
Good luck Ray.  We have a big driveway and a fairly dry backyard if you need a place to park a tent. The next few days will be pretty nice with the cool front.

Good luck everyone who has been affected.
And many many thanks to everyone who kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

[SHANEA]

Wow!  Looks like a jungle.

Should be no shortage of firewood again this year...