Hurricane Ike - Everyone Make It Okay?

I'm glad you're ok, Bluesoul. I hope everyone else is too.

Ironically, a friend in Houston is fine. But a friend of mine near St. Louis, Missouri says they're flooded with the intense amount of rain.

The intense winds and rain woke me up early on Sunday morning (Downtown St. Louis), and I couldn't sleep so I decided to cook a big breakfast, make some bloody marys and watch the storm from my giant windows. It passed after a few hours and then everything was OK.

It wasn't until I turned on the news later in the evening to see that some parts of our town were badly flooded, with cars underwater. It was kind of depressing. It was very hit and miss here.

Doesn't Hurricane IKE just sound like some real badass, wife-beatin' kind of hurricane?





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Hey all,

Well it was a good and scary for us. We got smart and left Friday morning at 5:30 am and got to Austin to stay at my wife's Moms. It was only 2 1/2 hours for us. I have a brother there too. One of the smarter things we ever did because many got cocky and stayed. We just drove back yesterday and had no power still. The sad part was that our neighborhood and the neighboring two neighborhoods looked like war zones. Literally 50 year old, massive pines up rooted and in yards and in houses. Oak trees up rooted and in yards. Trees everywhere. It is hard to explain. The worst was many survived that and then got 12 hours of rain. I saw pictures from my neighbor. From their front door to my front door was water..it was a lake. One lady had to be rescued by canoe. It was up to their knees on their own curbs. We had put up sandbags and got lucky. We have a back side door that goes to our sunroom/baby's playroom. Some water seeped in to get the area carpet..that we removed to dry out.. but besides that the house was perfect...oh and 2 feet of water in the garage I had to sweep out. My neighbors had been really kind and collected all our limbs and laid them in front of the house. Massive amount. Our big, beautiful oak tree, which is gorgeous, lost many limbs and foliage but is still well and in tact. We got lucky too that we cut half our pecan last week that was dead and the other half remained upright. So no damage, just no electricity. Weather is beautiful so we just had candles last night and slept with windows open. We do have hot water and all. We walked some of the blocks last night and there were trees through roofs. I have a friend in a neighborhood next to us that has 6 mos old twins and their house was totaled by a tree through the middle.

One funny story was that my brother in law, who stayed and who lives a few blocks from us, rode his bike to check on our house. My neighbor across the street thought he was a looter and pulled a gun on him and his friend..lol. Told him he would verify his identity with us and to get back home and hunker down because it was still windy and raining.

So overall we got lucky and I feel grateful that we had a great weekend with nice weather in Austin. We have a gas top stove so we can light it and still make soup, etc. We also have our grill and alot of food we bought before and after the storm..alot fo milk on ice for the baby.

Also, from about Brenham into Houston if coming 290, lines for gas with sheriffs and state troopers surrounding the places to make sure there is no trouble.

What I find troubling about all of this is that we left mainly because we have a 1 year old but many of my friends were defiant and cocky about staying..even with kids. I don't want a mass cluster like Rita but people need to learn that even without electricity, sitting around with kids is no good. Luckily we enjoyed Austin before coming back. Just get out next time..it isn't worth it.

Thanks for that excellent summary. I could really kind of visualize what it's like down there.
I hope you get your electricity turned back on soon. Life is rough without electricity.

So glad to hear you guys who posted are ok. I wonder if there are Basenoter's who can't post, who might not be so lucky.

Toughcool, I'm glad that, for the most part, you're ok. Having gas to cook with is a big help at least. My mother in south FL often loses power from the storms, and she has an electric stove - they always have to cook on the grill when they lose power. And even if your house hasn't sustained damage from a storm, there're still the lines at the gas pumps, and all the other hassles and hardships, standstill traffic during evacuations. I have family in Louisiana, Mississippi (including on the gulf coast) and FL. Everytime I see yet another hurricane headed toward the U.S. I hold my breath and cross all my fingers and toes. I know the evacuations and clean up are exhausting enough, I can't even imagine what it's like to have your home completely destroyed. I feel so bad for people in Galveston.

Thanks. My wife and I went back to work yesterday and left the baby with the nanny but even with windows open and nice weather I believe it was too warm. So last night we headed to North Houston to my sister in laws. They were with us in Austin and now have power. It was nice to relax there but it is still tough because I'm sore and tired from restless nights and a bad bed..lol..at the mother in laws. The baby is in a pack and play next to our bed but she gets up so I've been snuggling with her at night..she rolls alot..lol. I just can't wait to have our peace and sanity back at home. I left for work at 6:00 to get gas because the lines were so long during the day. I really feel bad for those who don't even have close to what we have and who have lost it all....like the gas stove to make soup and grilled cheese and other meals. Its draining enough for us to just be moving around and many have no homes and nowhere to go. God Bless them.

I'm back at work today after having spent the last week at my parents' place near Austin. Three windows in my office building blew out (we're on the 17th floor), taking out an interior wall with them, several chunks of ceiling, and putting two inches of water in our server room. We're open for business and co-existing with all the construction workers, fans parked in front of every office trying to dry out everything, etc. etc.

My apartment is fine, no damage, but no power and no hot water. Last night was bearable with the windows up but the weather is now on a warming trend and will continue to get worse. I'm not scheduled to get my power back until sometime after Monday.

Finally, we lost my 98-year-old great aunt in the evacuation. She was in Brazoria county, and really had to be moved, but was just too fragile to take it. The worst part was that it was difficult to give her a proper service. Her church had no power, and none of the local florist shops were open. We had a simple graveside service for her and everyone purchased flowers at their local shops and drove them in their cars to the cemetery site, which for most family was 3+ hours away.

Update

Still no power. Still staying with inlaws.

Im perfectly fine, the storm was off by about 1500 miles PHEW!

I feel quite terrible about your loss

It's funny how things kind of cascade. A butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the earth, and all that.

Anyway, Hurricane Ike didn't affect me where I live. However I just found out that it did cause a re-location of an important test that I'm supposed to take. Houston was my first choice. They made me put 3 choices, so I listed L.A. as my second. And so, since the testing site in Houston is destroyed, it sounds like they relocated me to my second choice which was L.A.

So. . . I'll be in L.A. in the latter part of October. Anyone know of any quick places to shop for perfume?