Hurricane Ike- a thread to post status on recovery
 

Good evening all,

I have spent most of the afternoon and evening on the phone with countless friends and family in the Houston area.

The city is still in total lockdown and even most of the hospitals are still running on generator power. Rain does not appear to have been as strong as Alicia or Allison, but the storm surge and the long duration of hurricane winds have created some problems more severe than with those storms.

If you have friends and family down there who have no power and cannot get the latest news- have them tune to FM 104.1 where musical programming has been suspended to run the latest news non-stop. And if they do not have radios- you can convey the following updates I have heard plus any news others may post about Houston or other areas,

Mayor White advised citizens to boil any tap water before use- and many Houston residents may find water pressure to be very low (not applicable in Memorial villages which have their own water system which is working fine.) What happened is that when the power went out, water pressure went down at all the water stations and this allowed seepage of potentially contaminated water.

Just a while ago, the pump stations were back online and the water pressure is rising. Now the water must be tested in the next few hours, and it will take about 30 hours to get results. So, plan for water to not be consumable from the tap for at least 48 hours.

There was significant damage to power grids in the entire area, and the coastal and outlying areas might not have power for 2-4+ weeks. In the Houston area it should be back sooner, but noone is making committments.

The Galleria and Katy Mills malls have announced they will be open for business tomorrow. And HISD has only cancelled classed for Monday so far. These developments seem to indicate the City is being very conservative about the power coming back on and hopefully that things will be coming back online pretty quick.

Anyone planning to come down here to help family right away- think twice. By all accounts the number of trees and traffic lights that have fallen is in excess of what happened in Alicia. Getting to the city might not be all that bad, but for the next 48 hours many streets will be difficult to navigate.

If anyone else has news to post that could be passed on to local residents who do not have working radios- please post it here. Based on the calls I made today, there are a lot of people who are relying on news from out of town via phone or cel phone to know what is going on.

My prayers and thoughts tonight are with everyone down there and all who have someone to care about down there. I hope and pray the best for everyone who weathered the storm.

Those of you who know me know that I work with Amateur Radio (ham radio). If your loved ones in the affected areas know a ham, that person can transmit what we call "health and welfare" traffic and have it relayed to people outside the area; during Katrina, this was the only method available to get traffic in and out of the area after all the cell phone sites died.

Also, you can register with the Red Cross and their "safe and well" site at https://disastersafe.redcross.org/default.aspx. If you have been affected by a disaster, this Web site provides a way for you to register yourself as "safe and well." From a list of standard messages, you can select those that you want to communicate to your family members, letting them know of your well-being.

If anyone has any questions on using Amateur Radio to contact friends and family, just pm me.

Got a text this morning from a friend who lives in the Rice Military area of Houston. She said they are still without power (they have a generator), and water pressure is getting low. Still getting some bad wind and rain, although she did say a couple of grocery store were going to try and open up today-not sure if she is going to get out to try and get there. She said because of the continued wind and rain, they can't open their windows for any kind of ventilation. Cell phones are working sporadically.

Another friend who lives in the Clear Lake-ish area said they have power at their house, which was relatively undamaged.

Yikes, it's Ike!
 

I am said sister and I would like to provide you with an update on the results of Hurrican Ike. We were very fortunate that our house sustained no damage...just about 20 branches fell from the trees in our front yard and part of our back fence fell over. A tree fell on my neighbor's garage but there was no damage to their cars. So far, there are no reports of death or injury, thank goodness.

Our power went out at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning and it came back on at 2:00 Sunday afternoon, about 36 hours later. I am so happy to have lights and air conditioning and TV and most of all, the Internet! We don't realize how much we take these things for granted until we lose them. There is nothing like the sound of the refrigerator happily humming and the air conditioning whirring outside!

Reliant Energy has said that it may be two to four weeks before power is restored to the rest of the city. I guess many people will have to leave town because the summer heat in Houston can be unbearable. I am so sad for them. The power is out at my son's office so he cannot access his files or use the phones. We have no idea how long this condition will exist. Half his building sustained damage when the roof collapsed, but his office is on the other side of the building so it sustained no damage. He said everything is backed up at the regional office. Guess where that is located? Galveston, TX!

We took a drive around the area Saturday after the storm had passed, looking for a grocery store or even a fast food place that was open but no such luck. What we saw was incredible. While most homes on our street lost only branches, many homes in adjoining areas lost huge, old trees that were torn from their roots by the wind.

I heard downtown Houston is a mess with broken glass everywhere so the police have cordoned it off. No one will be able to get to work today.

I went out Sunday afternoon to see if any stores were opened. HEB had opened, but they were letting in only 6 people at a time and the line was very long, wound around twice. I waited and when I finally got in, it looked like World War 3 had hit. There was no produce, no baked goods, no meats, no seafood, no gallons of bottled water so I ended up buying a 24 pack of Dasani water, no paper goods, no juice, but surprisingly, they had full freezer cases so I loaded up on frozen meals (Smart Ones are good) and frozen fruit. It was so odd. No restaurants were open except an Indian one and I am no fan of Indian food (too hot for me), so I came home and fixed myself a bagel and coffee, which I had not had for 4 days and it was so good.

Galveston is virtually gone. All the great restaurants like Gaido's (my parents used to take me there as a child) and shops along the seawall are gone. There is a search and rescue operation going on now for those 7,000 people who ignored the mandatory evacuation order. No one knows how many of them survived, if any. On the other side of the island, The Strand, an old fashioned boardwalk type area was severely damaged. A cruise ship which sails from Galveston was tossed on the ground out of the water; that's how severe the storm was.

My brother-in-law owns a beach house far out on the island but no one has ventured that far as yet, so we don't know if it survived. But the main conern is for human life. Property can be repaired or rebuilt.

I had just returned home Friday afternoon from a week's stay in the hospital where I learned the cancer had returned in the form of a tumor. I was supposed to begin radiation therapy last Thursday and Friday, but the storm took care of that. I hope the cancer center will be open today so I can get in and start treatments. So far, the phone goes unanswered and even the answering serivce is not available. I get a busy signal when I try to call my gyn oncologists office but I'll keep trying.

I hope we never have to face a storm like this again but if we do, I know we can survive. Please join me in saying a prayer that everyone is safe.


Paula M.
Sigma Delta Tau
ΣΔT
Patriae Multi Spes Una O

Thanks for keeping us updated. I can't help but be sad about Galveston; this is one of my favorite places to vacation and I have lots of great family camping memories there.

Ironically, I have been evacuated from Galveston myself... but that was for Hurricane Brett(?) about 9-10 years ago.

I really hate that we didn't make the annual family trip to Galveston. Stewart Beach, the Balinese (Z Z Top,anyone?) , the Strand, the Elissa, Gaido's . . . who knows when we will be able to go again.
There is a big problem with the continued failure to allow media to cover the West End. What ARE they afraid of us finding out? They are reporting 35 dead so far - but I fear it will be much, much worse. The man I called "Dad" because of our working relationship at the TX Renfair had a beach house at Crystal Beach - you could see the beach from his window. He died last year, and I'm afraid his house - which he so loved - is gone. Another friend who was proably too stubborn to leave - I fear HE is going to end up being a casualty.
My heart just aches. I love Galveston - its funky Victorian charm, its citizens who are proud to be BOI, the fact that after the 1900 Storm they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, built the seawall, raised the whole city and went forward.

I saw the Balinese on TV, and Gaido's too.. I think they are both a pile of rubble. Was the Strand a strip mall? They showed a strip mall that looked like a very sad game of pickup sticks.

When the media was covering Katrina, I remember seeing bodies.. and thinking "they shouldn't be showing this on TV". They were saying that they couldn't access the West End at all, but they were going other places in boats, rescuing people. I too fear the casualty count will be high. I did hear one reporter say that much of the West End consists of vacation homes and rentals and the hope was that not too many people were actually there at the time. I hope that was the case.

It's truly heartbreaking. I was going to Obama's website today to make a donation and the first page it took me to this morning was a "Donate to the Red Cross or Save the Children" page for victims of Ike. I realized then that, oddly, after other extreme events, there were big pushes to donate and I haven't heard any this time. I went right to the Red Cross page and made a donation. I decided that donating to Obama and the Red Cross was more important than paying off the credit card.. it can wait til next month.

The Strand is near the wharf district. It was the orignal business district back before 1900 - when Galveston was "the Wall Street of the South". It was (is?) Dickens on the Strand is held - beautiful brick Victorian-era buildings. It has been beautifully restored . . .

Aww, Dickens on the Strand... :( I remember visiting Galveston back when the old Sea-A-Rama building stood in ruins. I loved camping at the state park with the beach on one side and the oil lights from Houston shining in the distance. Oh, and all the big, beautiful houses on the beach...

Just curious... anyone know about Snoopy's in Corpus Christi? I just wondered how that area fared as well.

Heading down to West Houston this weekend. As some of you may know, I am a volunteer member of Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary. We've been called up to fly disaster relief and damage assessment missions in the wake of Ike.

Good for you. I'm glad people are going in to help.

SWTXBelle needs ice badly.. just sayin'

I left town for the storm. My power has been out since at least Sunday. I looked on Centerpoint's site, & my zip code isn't expected to have power until some time after Monday. :(:(:(

Me too lovemyAKA - we're quickly burning through fuel using a generator - so while my elctricity bill should be low, my gas cc bill is going to be through the roof!!!

Centerpoint's map shows that my area should get electricity by Monday, but I'm sure not seeing any trucks nearby!

At least it's cool outside!

EEBO - we're heading to Austin for the Texas-Rice game this weekend! It will be a nice respite from our daily life amid the debris!! I can't wait! You'll be able to recognize me by my burnt orange outfit - haha!!!

Hey, BTW, Gaido's is fine!!! They are serving free meals to workers along the seawall on tables outside, complete with white tableclothes, linen, and fresh flowers.

Most of the places on The Strand (not a strip mall, it is a part of historic down town Galveston that has alot of restaurants, bars, and shops) and in other parts of historic Galveston only have had a few feet of water damage and are salvageable (they've been there, done that over the years). The Galvez Hotel is saying that the only damage they have is to their lower level, including the brand new spa that was opened in March. The Tremont is reporting limited damage, and all of the museums, inlcuding the Elissa Tall Ship are reporting minimal damage.

As for homes (mostly vacation) on West Beach, some are fine, some are not, the biggest problem for first row people may be beach erosion (even if a house is fine, it could be condemned). My neighbors across the street have a house on Pirate's Beach and they said the only "damage" was that their patio furniture was in a tangle.

I think the hit or miss vagaries of the storm (especially in Houston) are because there was much tornadic activity and strong wind gusts, the storm surge was not as bad as they had anticipated in Galveston Island or in upper Galveston Bay, they were saying 16 feet, but it was more like 6 to 10 (my dad only had a couple of feet in his downstairs). The storm surge was at its worst on Boliver Peninsula, Crystal Beach and High Island, but even there it is still pretty hit or miss as to who got wiped out and who didn't. It's really strange how 2 houses can be totalled, but one between them is fine...

After the clean up and recovery, Houston and Galveston will be back and better than before!!!

LOL. Got ice, thanks!

I am so HAPPY that Gaido's is there! I cannot wait until I can go there and have dinner!

And I'm thinking I will have to go to Dicken's on the Strand . . .

Yes, I'm thinking that this year's Dickens on the Strand will be a big deal with people showing their support for the island!!! I may have to head down there too:)

Galveston . . .
 

They were showing some before and after pics on our local news this morning.. heartbreaking.

Best wishes to everyone hit hard by Ike.
And not to minimize your own difficulties, but to show how far Ike's mess reached- our Epsilon chapter at Northwestern University has water damage. Yes, that is correct, we had enough flooding from rivers around Chicago that chapter houses at Northwestern were affected! Major freeways heading north out of Chicago, and east into Indiana were completely shut down because we'd gotten so much water all the way up here!:eek:
Thankfully we've had a lovely, DRY past few days. I hope everyone's doing a bit better.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune (read article here), Tropical Storm Lowell (from the Pacific) as well as Ike, contributed to the flooding in Chicago.

Poor Chicago!

There were trucks outside my apt yesterday clearing powerlines, so I had hope. No such luck :(

Don't feel too bad. I'm in a zip code that should get power back 'sometime after Monday, Sept. 22'. I've run into a few of the Centerpoint repair guys and they all have said the same thing - first investigate, then repair. In my area there were a lot of down trees. They have to clear the trees, repair the line, secure the line, then turn the power on. One thing that I don't get is that half my neighborhood has power, the other half does not. I'm in the group that does not. At this point, I think I will be without power for another whole week.

All I know is that I'm expecting a very low light bill in October. ;)

Here's a question regarding bills. I am also expecting a low light bill, but we are running a generator, so have the tv - but no Comcast Cable. I'm wondering if Comcast will lower their bills as well, considering there is no cable reception (I also had no HD for the entire week before the hurricane). Will they make an adjustment?

Opinions?

Ha!

When our internet was out more than it was working I had to call Comcast over 10 times and wait 3 months before I saw a very small adjustment to my bill.

Good luck with all that!

No.

I had issues with my service, and had to call five times and cuss them out and threaten to cancel my service before I saw the reduction.

So, don't hold your breath.

Just for grins, I called Comcast and asked them about it. The lady said that we are indeed in a non-working area, and that, after all the "dust has settled", they will be crediting those who went without service.

I'm not going to hold my breathe, I might suffocate before I get the credit. But, I may be scheduling weekly calls to ask about/demand my credit;)

I love Guidos.

Here is the good and the bad.
Aunt's house in Port Arthur is fine. No electricity, so they are in Georgetown until it's back on.
Friend in Houston - Minimal damage
Friend's Mother in Crystal Beach - House can't be located.

Hobby Lobby has Simplicity patterns for $1.99 - got a $16 pattern for my Dicken's on the Strand Costume. :)

A friend on the Island tried to stay - ended up leaving when 3 ft. of water came in. He got to Ball High School and is in San Antonio. Whew.

And people I really, really hate in Shore Acres got 3 - 4 ft. of water. I am so ashamed of the fact that I hope they are not insured . . . I am trying to be a better person, truly I am.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/19/ike....ap/index.html

this isn't neccessarily an update on recovery, but interesting nonetheless

My cousin outside of Houston just got her power back two days ago!!! She has three little ones....I am sure she had fun in the heat!!! :eek:

Luckily, we've had a "cool front" the last couple of days, so your cousin didn't have to suffer TOO much from the heat. But the lack of television with three little ones - that may have been tough. There are only so many games of Candy Land you can play before you lose your mind! :eek:

Our power was just restored on Wednesday. Thank God for the cold front! There are still 1400+ people in our county without power.

Fun with FEMA
 

If your house is unliveable, FEMA will help. Yeah!
BUT - you have to be willing to move out of the area. Boooo . . .

So if you have a job here, tough darts farmer. This is NOT the way to enable us to recover. We need all hands on deck, and we need our paychecks.

I STILL HAVE NO POWER!!!! UGGGH!!!

I haven't seen any power trucks either, so I'm losing hope that their projected "power by Monday" map is correct!!!

Also, the wonderful cold front left over the weekend, so we spent the last two nights sweltering in bed. We are trying to be economical with the generator (it's running us around $90.00 per day in gasoline), and don't feel we can justify running it all night to only power a fan.

Interesting thing happened last night, and indicative of the paranoia that is rampant.-

My 16 year old son was driving his girlfriend home after watching a movie at a friend's house who has power :), it was around 11:00 pm (no school yet!!). They started arguing, so he pulled over (this is within a couple of blocks of our house), well, within minutes, they were surrounded by 3 cop cars, with lights flashing. Apparantly, a neighbor saw the SUV and called the cops, thinking they might be "suspicious characters." So, the cops check my son's drivers license and called us at home, had to try 3 numbers because our land lines don't work, so tried my husband's cell which didn't ring, then mine, which - THANK GOD - did, they told my son that if they couldn't reach us, they were going to take him in to a HOLDING CELL!!! His girlfriend's parents who are running a generator and have no land line either, didn't answer the phone because the generators drown out any other sound (y'all have no idea of the HUMMMM that goes on 24/7 these days), so she tearfully convinced them to drive her to her house because her parents were home, just couldn't be reached, and she didn't want to go to jail.

MIND YOU, they were not ticketed, because they weren't doing anything but sitting there. There was no alchohol, drugs or illicit activity going on, and they were within 3 blocks of their homes... GESTAPO anyone? Show me your papers!!!:mad:

I have no problem with the cops checking on them. The streets are PITCH BLACK, with no power anywhere in our neighborhood, so understandably, neighbors are wary of strange cars, BUT, once the cops saw that they were just a couple of neighborhood teenagers, sitting in a car, I think they should have just said, "Kids, it's late, time to go home." And, sent them on their way. What would they have done if it was my husband and I parked on the street? Would they have intimitated us in that way, threatened us with JAIL?:mad:

I'm heading down today to check on my dad and his wife, he sounds absolutely AWFUL, they have boats leaning on power lined in their back yard (so I doubt they're getting power anytime soon) - these boats used to be in the yacht club harbor, but were carried by the surge all the way to his back door. Hopefully, I can either cheer him up, or convince him to come home with me. He is 83 years old and should not be dealing with what he's facing. They are eating MREs distributed by the city counsel in Shoreacres, have no power, and were flooded on the bottom floor, so as bad as things are at my house, he is much worse off, and I need to get my priorities straight...

SWTX girl, my dad is in Shoreacres too, I'm sure he knows the people you hate, the city is only a few miles wide, and they are all eating FEMA food at the City Counsel Hall, so if he didn't know them before, he probably does now.

Sorry for the vent, I'm just getting weary..:(

LOL - unless they refuged somewhere.

eta - and I am so sorry for what your father is going through down there. Fingers crossed that you get power soon!

Don't give up srmom. I have power as of Friday, and am more than willing to share with my GC neighbor :)

srmom, one of my sisters down there is on day eleven (i think) with no power... i feel for all of you. :(

Thanks for the best wishes! Still no power, but last night was cooler (mercifully), so we were able to sleep with the doors open - thank heavens for the curfew, I doubt we'd be comfortable being so open and vulnerable if the streets were open for business! I guess I should be thankful the cops harrassed my son, because if they did that to him, chances are they are REALLY cracking down on the bad guys:o

School started today for my son, and he is glad to be going back, it actually got boring for him to sit around with nothing to do. I am glad that he will have some normalcy (and air conditioning) during the day!

So, yesterday I went down to my dad's house. Boy, if I think my neighborhood is bad in terms of debris, it is nothing compared to down there. Besides the piles of tree debris like we have, they also have piles of furniture, appliances, tv's, clothing, basically anything that was on the bottom floor. The piles jut into the streets, so only one car can pass. People have set up tents outside and are sleeping there. Some houses literally were wiped clean down to the studs - like you can see through them, every wall was carried away by the water, and they are now piled up against the neighbors wall. It is utter destruction!

As I said, my dad has a number of boats leaning up agains his now broken down fence. But, seeing them is amazing. It is crazy that they stopped where they did, literally within about 20 feet of the house. He is so lucky. The yacht club yard is covered with boats, some incredibly beautiful, now either ruined or badly damaged. I took pictures of it, and if somebody will tell me how to post them, I'll try, it is incredible looking.

My dad and his wife are very tired, but were cheered when I offered to take the mildewy laundry they had to Houston. I had no idea how much they were talking about until my car was filled to the brim. Hilariously (and y'all with elderly relatives can relate), much of it is stuff that I would have thrown out, but they are of the waste not want not era, and are determined to save every scrap of fabric - never knowing when it might be needed as a wash rag:rolleyes: I'll wash it all if it makes them happy:o

Their downstairs is trashed, all the sheetrock and panelling needs to be taken out, they've lost all the appliances, but the studs and support look to be sound, so they can rebuild, and the surge probably (in my mind) helped them get rid of much of the useless crap they had laying around (like I said - waste not want not:rolleyes:). Their upstairs is pristeen, having never really been used, so that is where they are living now, it has a wetbar with small refrigerator, but they have no power, and they will be out for much longer than we will. I'm hoping to get our generator to them asap, and set them up with a microwave, coffee maker, hot plate, etc. to put them in a situation where they can stop eating MRE's. I think my dad might be a bit sad when that happens though because he is amazed at the chemical reaction used to heat the contents and doesn't think they taste half bad, he has his favorites though;) I love him so much, he's definitely trying to make lemonade out of lemons!!