Hurricane IKE Rollcall...

[SHANEA]

The distict sound of chainsaws in the air.

And I am sure the signature sound of all post storm power outages, the ubiquitous generator

Yea, he was telling me that he thought his neighbor was crazy for buying a generator a while ago.

I'm home in East Texas.  No damage that I can see to the structure.  No power yet.  Running on generator and ATT wireless internet card.   Fridge and window AC cranking - along with computer.  Gotta love that Honda Eu3000i generator... Probably be a while before I get power - entire grid in this area is in tatters.  At least three trees took down the grid on both sides of the street.

[Ray52]

By now you may be home Ray and I hope you find your home in good shape.

Cindy,

Yes I am home and it is in good shape.  The water literally stopped at my doorstep and other than some spoiled food and a few limbs on the ground, it looks just like I left it.  Its amazing since my neighbors immediately to the rear got more than 3 feet of water in their houses.  Just minutes after I arrived home this afternoon the electricity was restored and I also have phone and internet.  The east end of Orange has mostly drained but is covered in slimy black mud.  I peeked through the blinds into my office which is right on the river and levee which failed and saw either mud or water on the floors.  I'll go back tomorrow with the keys and begin the clean-up.  There are a few restaurants open but no stores that I've seen but I'm sure they'll start reopening soon.

My parents, and most of the residents of Bridge City, weren't so lucky.  My sister was able to get to their house today and found a waterline inside at 5'.  They have always been dry when other parts of the city flooded, so Bridge City took it hard from Ike.  My brother and I will join my sister tomorrow to salvage what we can.  They (my parents) have lost a lot, but as evacuees in East Texas they celebrate their 61st anniversary tomorrow so have much to be thankful for also.  

I listened to the radio only a short while today as I drove home from Waco but heard several examples of the petty whining and complaining you mention.  It was enough to make me just turn the radio off.

Thank you again for the offer of a tentsite in your yard, and to ALL of you who've contacted me thru the board, PM's, by telephone, or said a prayer for us.  All of them mean a lot in uncertain times.  

Ray  

[riverrat]

I'm glad you found your home pretty much as you left it. I hate that your family wasn't as lucky. It does appear that the power is returning fairly quickly for the most part. Our neighbors all around have powered up but apparently we are not on their grid. That's ok though...we have a generator and plenty of fuel to run it. Another cyber buddy (from another board) made the comment that it's a good thing we like to camp!

[SHANEA]

Wow Ray, that is fantastic news!  I'm sure you are more than relieved.  I was wondering about how you were faring when I was driving up from Houston.   

[bdann]

Good to hear your home is safe and sound Ray!

[TheWildWestGuy]

We got power today (at this undisclosed location)  and things are looking better every day with more gas stations and grocery stores opening up, trash service, mail service, but no schools are open until next Monday and most office buildings are shut down due to lack of power or gas shortages and commuting problems.   It was kind of fun having a Wild West kind of weekend and it brought out the best in all my friends and neighbors.  Even people who had been very unfriendly to each other before became closer and we had nice dinner parties at a neighbors house several nights - the same neighbor who I thought was crazy for buying a generator last week.    We were lucky up in this neck-of-the-woods because we only had tree damage and some minor flooding - no storm surge.   Cell phones were somewhat useless for a few days but AT&T Land Lines seemed to work OK.  Both land lines and cell phones seem to be working fine today... TWWG

[Roy]

I'm seeing reports that several of the deaths and injuries in Houston are from carbon monoxide poisoning from generaters not being properly ventilated.  Might check your neighbors and make sure they know what they're doin (and yourselves, too).

[RichardM]

AT&T Mobility (formerly AT&T Wireless, formerly Cingular...) even sent me a text message warning me not to run my generator indoors. Just as well I don't own one. Since we had planned on coming to Austin for this coming weekend, we've decided to just stay here rather than head home for only a night or two.

[SHANEA]

Since we had planned on coming to Austin for this coming weekend, we've decided to just stay here rather than head home for only a night or two.

Austin Bender?

[East Texan]

The Beaumont Enterprise has done a great job of providing information and photos on their website. http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/
They are posting the stores that are open in the area. My mother-in-law lives in Beaumont and is here with me in Longview. Today I saw that Gander Mountain was open (very near her home). I called and talked to a very nice lady in customer service. She said that there was power where mom lives. Very helpful. For those of you who want to see arial shots of Orange, Bridge City, High Island, Bolivar, Crystal Beach; go to the Enterprise website. Lots of pics and good info.

I will be going down to Beaumont Saturday to check on the house. I'm preparing just as if I were going to Bibe. Extra gas, food, fix-a-flat, etc. Gee - I can't believe that someone didn't evacuate to Bibe. What a great place to ride out the storm!!!

I'll post some pics of Beaumont Sunday.

We had trees down with damaged homes way up here in NE Tx. Still some without power.  Fortunately, I had only 45 bags of limbs, twigs, and leaves to remove.


Cindy (aka Riverrat) I AGREE WITH YOU and it's a shame that the media even gives them air time.

Those people who are complaining about how they are being treated should be air lifted to Bolivar (or maybe just New Orleans) - then we wouldn't have to listen to them! It's sad that our society thinks the government owes them everything. But I guess that if the treasury can print a few billion dollars for AIG, why not.. If they'll send me a couple of mil, I'll just get a double wide and move it to Terlingua.

[oldfatman]

Having weathered all the storms from Carla in 1961 until May of 2002 in Southeast Houston, the Old Fat Man to full advantage of his home being on wheels and rode out hurricane IKE at the beautiful Oasis State Park a few miles north of Portales New Mexico.  My sympathies go out to those with damaged homes.  I was there tooooo many times.  Good luck on the repairs.

[randell]

Damage (minor compared to most) and cleanup at our house.

Gate blown to bits  along with fence to neighbor's yard.






Back fence.


Back of house.  One of my boards blew off taking the screen with it.  A pull-up bar post also broke somehow.  We haven't figured out how the wind was able to break it yet.


Backyard from pool.


My 4 year old and his friend help clean the street.


Cleaning is hard work.  My 2 year old passed out on the garage floor.


Sign on a house a few street over.


I filled twelve 42 gallon bags with leaves and had 7 bundles of branches.  I cleaned my neighbor's front yard and it was only 1 bundle of branches and 2 bags of leaves.  Then I cleaned my in-laws yard and it was 3 bags of leaves and 3 bundles of branches.  Today I helped my neighbor fix his roof.  I'm tired and I really don't like Ike.

[oldfatman]

Flying debris probably caused the post damage.

[Ray52]

I divided my time yesterday cleaning out my parents' house and my office.  The office is only about 50 yards from the Sabine and flooded to a depth of 2'.  The floor was covered with a layer of slick, fine, black mud and is very odorous.  My parents' house and nearly every other house in Bridge City got 5' or more of water in it.  My brother and his family came from Katy, and my sister and her husband and I all gathered there yesterday to empty it.  We removed all of the furniture, appliances, clothing and family treasures and placed them beside the street for pick up.  We were warned that anything which had been wet would contain pollutants and chemicals carried by the floodwaters and should not be saved.  Dad's navy dress blues from WWII were one of the few exceptions along with some of my grandmother's hand made quilts.  Many residents and their families have returned and every house on the street and in all the neighborhoods in BC were doing the same thing.  The good thing is that my folks finally heeded our pleas to evacuate and left 36 hours before Ike arrived.  They've lost nearly everything from 61 years of marriage but are well insured and represented by a man I consider to be the the best and most compassionate agent in the business.

[Ray52]

Ike apparently wasn't satisfied with the damages done to the coastal communities in Texas as my brother's corporate office in Chicago had to evacuate because of the storm and a cousin of mine near Pittsburg was without power and had several downed trees due to the high winds there.

Shane.....Is the power restored in Nacogdoches?   I saw a lot of damage in Trinity and Tyler counties when I was coming home from Waco.