We did fine through the storm, and had no damage. We were fortunate. Many around the city were not so fortunate, not to mention those along the coast, north from Galveston to Sabine Pass, then up through the rural areas.
Mari and I hunkered down through Hurricane Ike. We don't live in downtown Houston, but were within the "eyewall" of the storm as it passed north. We got some strong winds, sustained winds were about 60mph. The storm came ashore sometime at Galveston between midnight and 2 am. The eye of the storm was pretty large, so some said midnight, some said 2 am (which I think was the "official" landfall)
To tell you the truth, we didn't really notice the storm inside our house, other than the sound of pine cones and branches hitting our roof. It kind of reminded me of the flood in New Braunfels. I mean the 72 flood, since now we have to specify--not the flooding of 2000 or 2001, or when the last two floods happened. My dad worked the late shift for Mission Valley Mills and couldn't make it home that evening. Mom and I waited in the dark, and would go outside and listen to what we thought might be a tornado. It wasn't until the morning that I learned what happened, maybe my mom listened to the radio, but I wasn't aware of it.
I was reminded of that event when Mari and I went outside to watch the wind blow, and although there was plenty of rain, we didn't notice so much because the wind blew it into a fine mist, although we could see it flying overhead. We got a bunch of debris in our yard, and the real fear was a tree falling. She grew up in West Texas and sustained 70 mph winds are a fact of life out there. Of course, that's usually accompanied by fine red dust. Tornadoes are very common during the spring, so bad weather as a whole is de rigueur.
We had power until 6am Saturday, then lost it. We're on a short line, only about 5 houses in our neighborhood, but the convenience store around the corner lost its roof which blew straight back on our powerlines. We also had very little water pressure as there were some power losses to pumping stations around the city.
Sunday morning we left. Our house alarm's batter died, we had no power for over a day, and little water pressure. We decided we didn't like living Medieval: hot, dark, and dirty. I admire those who can live that way, but not worth it if you don't have to. I say this, and I have colleagues and students who still don't have power.
We went to Mari's brother's house in Fort Worth until Friday, which was also interesting. We've got older two dogs (10 & 11) and a cat (12), but they have a little Basenji who is 17. When we got there her brother told us they were on dog hospice watch. It was odd. Half the time I kept a close eye on the dog because I thought she was about to fall over and die. Then the next moment, she would jump up and run about the house like a mad person. She is blind and deaf, but always hungry and thirsty.
When we left, we went down to Waco, then to College Station and into Houston as we live not too far from 290. We feared that there would be a food and gasoline shortage, so we stocked up a bit in Fort Worth, then stopped at a gas station in Hempstead. Gas was $3.90, and had a limit of 10 gallons. Yet, when we made it back home, the HEB and Walmart had gas for $3.39 and there were no shopping lines!
Our neighbors had called us on Monday the 15th and told us power was restored, but only on our side of the street. Many of our neighbors are still without electricity. There was a bunch of broken trees, scattered limbs, blown transformers and just a general mess after the storm. Our electric company is working 24/7 to fix stuff, and it's been amazing to see how fast they, and the 7,000 contractors they brought in are restoring power, but there are still plenty without. I think by Thursday, the 24th, some 500,000 are without power still....that's the population of Alaska!
Street lights are out and may are on flash. Although there have been other problems, looting seems to have been a minimum. The real problem is Galveston and the rural beach areas. Some of my college students and many of Mari's high school kids are without power still, and some have had significant damage to their houses.
But, again, thankfully, we're ok.
