Cold front moved in, the temperature is now moderate. I'm heading back in because many friends have electricity now. I can crash there. I'm supposedly off to Colorado tomorrow for business, but dunno if flights are back to normal tomorrow.

myfavorite said:

Texas folk?!

The lines for gas here in Sugar Land are outrageous, about 20 to 30 cars long. I don't want to leave my apartment so I can conserve fuel. Is it like this everywhere in Houstonm?

Rodeo and others in the hurricane's wake ~ hoping you are all safe and not in too much distress. This was a bad one. We had pouring rain for three days in Detroit/Northern Michigan and I just kept thinking of how miserable people must be down there. Peace and strength. n

a friend of mine lost his mother this morning. he went to Houston to help her through the hurricane i'm a loss of what to say and do for him.

ehuffnsd said:

I'm so very sorry. Sometimes there are no words ~ just to be there for him is enough.

Hurricane Ike even affected people in the Cleveland area. It's amazing that a hurricane that was in Texas could travel all the way to Ohio, but I guess anything is possible when it comes to the weather.

Sunday night, we had really high, strong winds, and there were tree limbs that were breaking off. I was driving home from my parent's house Sunday night, and there was a cop stopped at the side of the road. He was moving a branch that had fallen and was blocking the street. I saw a number of small trees that had been uprooted by the strong winds. There were some power lines down around the area as well, and some roads were temporarily closed.

There was a street that was closed near where I work because of a power line that had come down from the wind. Traffic that was traveling on 77 South was closed, and anybody who tried to make a U-turn in that area to turn around to go the other way were being ticketed.

My power went out some time on Sunday night. I read that there were 336,000 people who were without power! A neighbor lady told me that she heard that the power would not be restored until Wednesday! Thankfully, the power came back on in the wee hours of this morning (Tuesday). I had to go out and buy a battery-powered light, since the flashlights were not cutting it. I was told by several people that individuals who live in the next county over from me (Summit) may not get their power restored for as long as 6 or 7 days. The reason for that is because I guess the people who work on the power lines in that area were sent to Texas to help the Hurricane Ike victims. Which is a nice thing to do, but I would hate to be without power for that many days. Being without power for a little over 24 hours was bad enough.

I guess it's true: what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

psychodelicide said:

Same thing here in cincinnati , Ive been with out power since sunday afternoon (at work now) . We had top wind gusts of 84mph . people are scrambling for gas. Nothing compared to whatthe people in texas are dealing with . Its just amazing the far reach this storm had

newpower99 said:

Sorry to hear that your power is still out, I hope it comes back on soon. I know, it is amazing how far this storm traveled!

ehuffnsd said:

Hey everyone. We are alive and OK. We stayed through the hurricane (against my advice). The hurricane wasn't so bad - it was 1 mph away from being a Cat 3. And the storm surge was half of what was predicted. Finally, as far as I know, Ike spawned no tornadoes. Thanks be to God.

My house is fine and now (Tuesday) we have power. However, we've left and are in Austin, staying with friends. We're not going back to Houston until probably the weekend.

What a mess. We stayed at my in-laws in Memorial (west side of town). They lost power at 2:45 AM. We were all OK, but my wife's 96-year-old grandmother had a medical emergency Sunday night and we had to call 911. Fortunately, the HFD showed up and took her to the one hospital that had power and surgeons. She was operated on for a perforated ulcer. She survived the operation and is now stabilized.

My father-in-law and my mother-in-law's brother are basically good guys but totally useless in medical situations like this. So my wife and I had to comfort my mother-in-law through this, then we left for Austin. My wife feels like she abandoned her mother - which is kind of true, but I was not going to allow my family to be split.

So many stories. Houston is incredible right now. We left because of the gas and food situation. It's not good. It might get worse before it gets better.

Schools are out for another week, until September 23rd. I bought at AT&T card for my computer so I have access here in Austin.

I hope everyone in Houston is OK. Keep safe. If you don't have to stay in Houston, get out for a few days. Thank God that we didn't have the storm surge or the tornadoes. This is real bad but it could have been so much worse.

There's not a lot of structural damage to buildings - even in Galveston (with a few notable exceptions). The biggest deal is downed trees. They're every where. Tens of thousands of downed trees, and downed power lines. Unbelievably, most trees feel out of harm's way. I lost a 30-foot tree in my front yard, which would have crushed my house if it had hit it, but it fell across my neighbor's driveway.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts. Keep those in real need in your prayers.

actionthisday said:

Yes. Get gas when you can, and save as much as you can. Hopefully, things will be back to normal in a few days, but no promises. I'd leave Houston if you can.

ufoclub said:

You weren't chicken - you were SMART.

RodeoSchro said:

So glad to hear everyone is okay, I hope your mother's grandmother will get well soon.

good to hear from you greg.

a good reminder i suppose... when it comes down to it food and water are what we can't do without. emergency preparedness here wants us to be able to feed and water ourselves for three days. but what about the three days after that if there is no food or water to be had?

Still in our thoughts ...

RodeoSchro said:

I am only going out if I absolutely have to, thankfully the grocery store is about a minute drive, nd the gas station about 30 seconds. Our company is permitting us to work from home this week to save gas (that and some of the offices were damaged)

Thanks.

Mach said:

RodeoSchro said:

Hey Hiya. Glad you and yours are okay. It obviously was quite an ordeal. Hope your wife's grandmother is doing better.

I'm in Keystone, Colorado now for business, go back to Htown on Friday night. I have power at my place back there, and most everyone I know has got power back in central Houston. There are sections out still. There were also reports of people trying to burgle houses that are dark and empty.

I hope things are bit more normal (gas and groceries and communication) after this work week.

Things are returning to Normal in the SW suburbs, still some lights out along Texas 6 from Richmond up

Heading back to Houston tomorrow around lunchtime.

Did you know your insurance deductible is doubled if the damage comes from a named storm?

Neither did I.

Finally got my power about 40 minutes ago.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Sorry to hear it took so long, but glad you're o.k.

RodeoSchro said:

What? Why?

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Loopholes everywhere to get the insurance companies off the hook.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Of course! That sucks so much.

When we had the Oakland fires back in 1991 I heard that, yeah, the people were going to be covered for a ceratain amount BUT now these homes needed to be retrofitted as well. People couldn't afford it, so they got screwed.

I'm still without power but I have been coming to the library to charge my cell and go online.The light company estimates that my area wont have power till after monday.

I finally got my power back on but I'm feeling for those who have to wait till Monday/Tuesday to get theirs