Ike

[bmccasland]

We're getting the outer bands of Hurricane Ike over here in the Big Easy. Tropical Storm bands, with tornadoes. :eek: I came to work anyway, between the bands. It is currently blustery and raining outside my office window, winds 20-50 mph.

Y'all over in Texas, be careful. And if you need a place to hide, the Big Easy is open.

This is going to be a Big Ugly.

[Aggie_Ama]

Beth- Are you getting the waves? I saw the news last night 20 ft in New Orleans- yikes. :eek:

We thought we would get a lot of the tropical storm stuff when it would hit Corpus but now we won't, we'll probably be dry and just crowded since most of the coast comes here.

Stay safe Houstonians I saw most of the city was riding it out. Are you all ready to go? I remember Allison since I was in college with a Katy native as a roommate, worried about you guys.

TXDOC- Stay safe and good luck riding this out, hope work doesn't have more than you can handle. Thoughts, prayers, warm vibes.

[TxDoc]

Hi guys,
I actually made it out of the island, thankfully - all the patients were evacuated yesterday, and most of us were released. There's a skeleton of essential personnel that will stay in the hospital and ride it out :( pray they all stay safe - it looks ugly right now.
From what I'm seeing on the news the water is already 1-2 ft high in some of the areas, and this is not even the surge yet - hope that I'm going to have home to go back to...
Please send prayers for all those that had to stay on the coast to provide emergency services.

[LBTC]

Lots of butterflies to everyone in the hurricanes (and tropical storms) paths!

Hugs, too,
~T~

[sundial]

This is going to be a Big Ugly.

Beth, thanks for checking in. I was concerned about you as well as our TX gals. The storm surge will be like Katrina's. :eek: :eek: This hurricane brings back memories of Andrew. In our town, cars are lined up to the streets waiting to get gas. I can't imagine what it's like in SE TX and NW LA. Everyone, please be safe!

[chicago]

i'm waiting for the first youtube. ike video...:eek:

[Aggie_Ama]

Txdoc- So glad to hear you were evacuated. The radio updates on the island are just so scary! Waves lready over the seawall, parts of town already flooded and landfall is 12 hours out. I hope your colleagues are safe. Why do hospital staff stay? I mean I know they want to help the people who stayed and are injured but it is so scary that they stay. I don't have the guts to be in emergency personnel that is for sure.

Just heard on the radio this storm occupies 40% (!!) percent of the Gulf.

[sundial]

I really feel for the Texas coast people. According to the experts it's only going to get bigger. :( My heart goes out to emergency personnel and medical staff who choose to remain behind. Please take a moment and say a prayer for those who live in this region and that they will find shelter from the storm.

PS, If anyone is headed to NE Arkansas, pm me.

[wackyjacky1]

Yeah, Ike is a big sucker. Looks like S.A. is going to get spared, though. Riding home after work this afternoon, the traffic was awful -- a lot of the evacuees have come here.

[Aggie_Ama]

Yeah, Ike is a big sucker. Looks like S.A. is going to get spared, though. Riding home after work this afternoon, the traffic was awful -- a lot of the evacuees have come here.

We have a lot of evacuees in Austin right now, I asked my husband if any of his friends were here but he didn't know. His college roommate lives in the Beaumont area but his sister is here, I assume he is here. He also has some friends in Palacios, haven't heard from any of them but I am guessing they found somewhere safe.

Looks like we will be dry and just crowded here.

[andtckrtoo]

Thoughts and prayers to all in yIkes way.

[sundial]

He also has some friends in Palacios, haven't heard from any of them but I am guessing they found somewhere safe.

Looks like we will be dry and just crowded here.

Palacious--hmmmmm. That's where I went to church camp. :cool: The mosquitoes carried us off every night. :eek:

Aggie, if you get too crowded, come to Arkansas and we can do some hills together. ;)

[makbike]

I hope all who left took their pets with them and all are out of harms way.

[wackyjacky1]

My best friend and her family live in the Sixth Ward in Houston. They decided not to evacuate for Ike. They evacuated for Rita, and that turned out to be a total PITA (and ultimately unnecessary) so they didn't want to go through that hassle again. Needless to say I am quite worried about them! :(

[bmccasland]

N.O. - the flood gate was closed on one of the shipping channels, otherwise, it's just VERY gusty around here.

I've was "given the opportunity to excel" - begged into volunteering for damage survey crews by my boss. She wanted experienced staff, and I was one of the suckers who came to work today (we were given the opportunity to stay home because of the tropical storm weather). AND she sweetened the deal by committing to getting me the bonus money to pay the boarding bill for all my pets (and kept the promise when I gave her the cost estimate). I have a good boss :)

So tuesday after we look at the monday flight video, we'll be heading over to the southwest part of Louisiana to do damage surveys of federal property and other areas. They're expecting the storm surge to be as bad as Rita's. The only good news is that some areas haven't had time to rebuild - so maybe there won't be as much property damage.

But after working on restoration projects in that area, I know some of the locals, and I'm worried about them.

The NWS is predicting the storm surge to be 25 ft, which will overtop the 17ft breakwater on Galveston Island. Going to be a Big Ugly. :eek: For those staying behind on the island, I hope they're in storm bunkers.

[mimitabby]

just saw the news! boy, TxDoc i'm glad you got out of there, it does NOT sound pretty.

[DrBadger]

I am in the Montrose area of Houston, just west of downtown (for those of you who know the area). My friend Amie and I didn't evacuate as the officials here told us to shelter in place. We are out of flood zones, and have lots of water and food....though it is looking like we will be only about 13 miles from the eye when it goes over Houston, though we will be on the good side of the storm, and are 60 miles inland, so will not get the brunt of what Galveson is seeing.

winds are picking up and rain should be starting soon....we are hoping to have power through most of the night, but are expecting to lose power at some point. I will check in as soon as I have power and internet again... here's to hoping it is quickly!

Ellen (aka DrBadger)

[salsabike]

Oh, thank you for the update, Dr.B. We too have relatives in Houston, and I'm also glad to know you're relatively safe.

[Aggie_Ama]

Ellen- I always forget you are down there! Stay safe, imagine moving from the threat of earthquakes to riding out a big ol' hurricane. :p

My husband did talk to his old roommate, he has evacuated to Fort Worth but his dad only went 30 miles out of Port Neches (Beaumont area). His dad is one of the local funeral directors and was quite necessary after Rita to help with the aftermath and even Katrina victims. :( His friend said they were just finally finishing up restoring the flood damage from Rita.

He doesn't know about his friends in Palacios but they are probably not going to get the bad stuff being South. I haven't checked on my college roommate and husband's family (Katy and Cleveland) because it was too late to call when they have an infant at home. Katy should be fine but Cleveland might get the nasty.

It is hitting such a populated area, I don't know how it won't be big on damage but hopefully not lives. If I separate myself from the damage and any loss of lives, I am quite fascinated by hurricane season. I thought about being a meteorologist for a while, until I took the class at A&M and found out how much Physics is involved. I hate Physics!

[Triskeliongirl]

We were spared here in San Antonio, worst was some wind on commute ride home yesterday. But Galveston was hit hard as everyone knows. So, I am spending my day prepping my house to host a family from Galveston. They hunkered down in Sugarland for the storm (~60 miles inland), as they wanted to be close enough to assess damage, but then said they would probably come here if they were going to be without power, etc. for an extended period. That seems to be the best case scenario at this point. I am also waiting to hear from a friend in Houston. I imagine he is without power and phone, as no word yet.

Houston/Galveston/Beumont area TE sisters, how are you??

[wackyjacky1]

Yeah, Ike was a total non-event here in S.A. I can't stand weathercasters -- you wouldn't believe how they hyped this storm here. A friend who works at Home Depot said people were panic-buying plywood, etc., so they could board up their homes. After all that, we didn't get a drop of rain, and only the merest puff of a breeze. Weathercasters don't know any more about the weather than you or I would know by sticking our head out the window and having a look around. :rolleyes:

My friend in Houston said they had heavy wind and rain, but the power stayed on, and everybody is just fine. Whew.

[Aggie_Ama]

I visited with my college roommate and her husband today. Her family in Katy (most western part of Houston) was fine, intermitent power issues but otherwise just like a big old thunderstorm. She said her friend is getting married in two weeks and now doesn't know what will happen. The restuarant they were having the bridal luncheon at burnt down, the same place was supposed to make the wedding favors. Her reception venue and church may be flooded due to the location but her family is okay.

My friend's husband said his parents were on a scheduled trip to Kansas. His brother and sister were home in Cleveland (NE Houston) and were without power and lost many trees. They wished after that they had left. They do have generators but expect to be without power for 2 weeks. But they are okay and so are his nieces and nephews. :)

Unfortunately it looks like there will be a high death toll but I am hoping I am VERY wrong about that. Just a lot people stayed and the flooding. Keep praying for all who did not evacuate and those who will head back to clean up.

[sundial]

Ike came to pay Arkansas a visit early this morning. The winds were scary--55-60 mph! The windows and the roof creaked and I was so afraid we'd lose something in the storm. A tornado touched down briefly in central Arkansas and there was 1 fatality. But overall, we are very fortunate and I only hope there are not many fatalities in Galveston.

[tulip]

I have family in the Beaumont area, Houston, and in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We're concerned about the Beaumont folks. We haven't heard from them, but the power is still out. Thinking of them all.

[TxRider]

Checking in from the Cypress area (Northwest part of Houston) - power was just restored to our area of town this afternoon, but most of the area around us is still without it.

Friday night/Saturday morning was scary - the winds were blowing really hard and we heard a few loud "bumps" in the night when a couple of trees snapped (thankfully, they missed the house!) and part of the fence fell, but fortunately did not receive any major damage. Some of my neighbors were not so lucky and there is definitely a lot of cleanup to be done even in our yard.

To add insult to injury, we had some pretty heavy thunderstorms today which is adding to the flooding and making the cleanup and restoration of services in the area take even longer.

Something to keep in mind for those waiting to hear from family - amazingly, while in my part of town, we have power, our landline still does not work and cell service is completely unaccessible. I have to drive about 5 miles away to get any cell service which isn't the smartest thing to do with all of the debris on the road. Funny thing is, where I am able to get cell service, there is still no power - it's really very sporadic.

My parents are in the Katy area & they've had power back on since yesterday afternoon - the area was also not as heavily hit. I can only imagine what the areas to the south and east of me might look like.

[sundial]

TxRider, thanks for the update. Are you going to get around on that bike should traffic become snarled? ;) I'm glad you are ok and I hope other families faired well in this storm.

[makbike]

Ike hit the Ohio Valley hard today. It was an amazing display of power. Louisville was hit hard - lots of schools are closed tomorrow because of downed power lines and trees. I only ventured outside today to check the damage - lots of tree limbs are scattered about. It was a good day to sit on the couch and watch the action outside.

[Mr. Bloom]

Yep, roof damage and several large branches down.

1,000 miles inland and we still has 50 mph winds, 65mph gusts...and not one drop of much needed rain!

[Deborajen]

The remnants of Ike missed us thanks to a big storm system that moved across our part of the country from west to east - it got here before Ike and sent Ike away from us to the northeast.

HOWEVER - the big storm system that did get us dumped a little over 10 inches of rain on us in Wichita in less than 24 hours - a new record. They were saying nearly 1/4 of Wichita was underwater at one point. We're high and dry, but 2 blocks away they'd barricaded some roads due to high water.

Crazy!

Deb

[SouthernBelle]

We caught the edge. Lots of wind, a little rain. 2 guys were killed when a tree fell on their golf cart.

I spent a lot of time picking up wind-blown walnuts.

[Aggie_Ama]

200 miles inland from Houston and I saw nothing. :rolleyes: I didn't want the wind or excessive rain but we sure needed a good 3".

I hope some of our Houston gals get power and can tell us they are ok. I know several of them are west Houston and should be A-OK. But Ellen? TXDoc? We're thinking of you guys!

[OakLeaf]

We were in Indianapolis for the MotoGP race. If you didn't watch - the race was red-flagged due to lashing winds, and the 250cc class was first delayed due to standing water on the track, then cancelled because of the wind.

The electric's out at home and they're saying it could be a week before it comes back on. The electric companies are having to recall all their service workers from the Gulf. We can't stay at home until it's on, since we don't have emergency power for the pump (and with a 300 foot well, there's no point even thinking about installing a hand pump).

[sundial]

I hope some of our Houston gals get power and can tell us they are ok. But Ellen? TXDoc? We're thinking of you guys!

I hope we hear from them soon. I've been wondering how they are holding up. :confused: Anyone around there have pics to share?

Dad is with a mobile relief unit that prepares meals for the Red Cross. They were in Hoama, LA yesterday and packed up all the stuff and are headed for Waco, TX this morning. He's getting to be a pretty good cook at feeding 5000 or so. Think I'll put him in charge for Thanksgiving, lol.

[TxDoc]

I'm ok thank you everyone. I stayed in Houston Heights and we had >90mph wind but we did ok. Minor damages to trees, fences, and many out of power. Downtown Houston was damaged much worse. Our power comes and goes so the wireless is mostly off, today I was finally able to log in.
I hope I still have a home when I go back to the island... We have watched all the video, but could not see any images of our house. The neighborhood was flooded but we have no clue about our house - we hopethat there is no structural damage at least.
Thanks everyone, keep sending prayers.

[Smilie]

Glad you are safe. Sending good vibes to all.

[Biciclista]

the damage to Houston is unreal!
most of the sky scrapers have extensive wind and water damage. and they can't fix them because it's still raining!

[DrBadger]

Checking in.... I am at work for the first time since last Wed, and this is the first time I have had real internet connection or power since Friday night. My apartment in the Houston Heights area is fine, and the friend's place in Montrose area of Houston is also fine, but still without power 5 days later.

It was pretty crazy during the storm....the eye passed just to the east of us that were near downtown, so we never got a break... in the eye-wall for about 3 hours. Had about 1 hour of solid 90-100 mph winds from the north/north-west and then like someone flipped a switch the winds shifted to coming from the west. The west winds on the back side of the storm were a lot stronger and had a lot more rain the the front side. We sat in those winds for about 2 hours. Things finally eased up in the late morning and we were able to get out and survey the damage. Lots of trees down and the bayous were all flooded. We lost power when the first strong band came through around 12:30 am on Friday night/Sat morning.

Luckally a cool front came through on Saturday night/Sunday morning and it has been really plesent here since then, so even with no A/C we can have the windows open. However, the 9 pm curfew put a damper on things... if you weren't in the door somewhere to get food by 7 pm they wouldn't serve you, so that was a pain.

I got a lot of great photos just after the storm passed of the flooded bayous and some of the down trees. I should get those uploaded either tonight or this weekend at the latest, will post a link when I get them up.

All in all, I am glad that I did things the way I did... they didn't need me and all the other people in downtown Houston on the roads evacuating when the people on the coast really did have to get out of town. If the weather hadn't cooled down, I probably would have gotten out of town after the storm when we didn't have any power, but it was fine even with out AC. I don't know that I would stick around for a bigger storm headed over Houston, especially if it came ashore just south of Galveson, which would put Houston on the dirty side of the storm...but hopefully that isn't a decision i will have to make anytime soon!

Thanks for thinking about all of us down here in Texas! And my thoughts and prayers go out to those who live in Galveston and on the Bolivar Penninsula and to all the people through the mid-west who also felt the effects of Ike.

Ellen

[Aggie_Ama]

Ellen! Glad to hear you are okay. I am not good on Houston geography, I knew Katy had power by Saturday evening, our friend's family in Cleveland is still without, our friend from Port Neches (Beaumont) hasn't been home and I saw Brennan's burned! I went to a bridal luncheon there and it was some darn good food, only reason I knew it. So I wasn't sure how you were doing because my geographic check ins were spotty. Glad you and your friend are safe.

This is random but anyone seen how the Bolivar Lighthouse faired? My Nanny is a lover of all lighthouses but I remember going to the one at Bolivar as a kid because it is her favorite lighthouse. It will break her heart if it didn't make it through, I won't tell her though.

ETA: Looked it up and the beautiful lighthouse survived. At least if my Nanny asks I won't have to lie. http://www.crystalbeach.com/light.htm

[bmccasland]

Just heard on the radio that the Air Force will be using C-130's to spray insecticide for mosquitos. VERY big plane, flying low (100 ft). The mosquitos are starting to hatch in the extra water from the storm surge.

[DrBadger]

Hey-
I just finished uploading a selection of my photos from Hurricane Ike..... http://picasaweb.google.com/ellen.mallman/HurricaneIke#

enjoy!
Ellen

[jobob]

Wow, those were amazing ! Thanks Ellen!

[Aggie_Ama]

Wow Ellen, thanks for sharing. I know some of those areas from Houston visits, crazy stuff. :eek:

[sundial]

Ellen, that sunset--just beautiful. And deadly. I'm glad you are well and that you are safe. Thank you for sharing your pictures with us.

[Meaux]

We live in west Houston (between the Galleria and Westchase, for those of you who know). We were without power for a week. We had lots of canned goods, but an electric stove. (A minor oversight! LOL) Our apartment did not sustain any damage, though. There is a retirement home across the street from us, I felt so bad for those people because they didn't have electricity either. We kept seeing ambulances going in and out of there when it was really hot. My mom lives in La Porte, a bit north of Galveston, she lost a tree and some shingles. Some of my friends in the Heights area and my in-laws who live towards Katy still don't have power.

[Meaux]

Hey-
I just finished uploading a selection of my photos from Hurricane Ike..... http://picasaweb.google.com/ellen.mallman/HurricaneIke#

enjoy!
Ellen

Wow. I just looked at those pictures. I lived really close to that area near where Buffalo Bayou had flooded. As much as I miss living there, I am glad we aren't there after seeing those photos. YEESH! :eek:

[Red Rock]

Glad you all are "ok". Ellen those shots were very good. It looks like a lot to clean up though. Hang in there everyone.

Red Rock

[snapdragen]

Great pictures Ellen, so glad to know you came out relatively unscathed!