Hurrican Ike

[JBE]

After having dodged one bullet with Hurricane Gustav, it looks like we might be going through the same thing again with Ike. They're saying that if it comes on land even as close to us as Galveston that we could still see a storm surge that surpasses that of Hurricane Rita from 3 years ago. :(

[gull wing]

I vividly recall :(RITA:(doing similar things. Heading to S. Texas then turning right into us.
Wow, this is stress:mad:ful.

[Doc Pyres]

Hope you guys are okay, it looks like a big one.

[JBE]

Well, it's been made official down here now; we're under a hurricane watch and mandatory evacs have been called for due to expected winds of at least tropical storm force and an incredible storm surge that could potentially affect us as the much as the one from Rita did. If that's the case, Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes (counties) will experience severe flooding. :(

Please pray for us.

[DRod]

My brother and his familiy live in Pearland just south of Houston. Right now they're boarding up their two houses, Tahoe'in the kids and dogs and shaggin ass to my moms in McKenney. Hope their new house makes it.

[MAT888]

Prayers send Drod;)

Hang in thight.. to all . Tornado Alley must be a hard and costwize expensive place to live.

We have major floodings in britain italy swiss france... The climate is changing. I think the balance is somewhat odd the last couple of years.

My parents life in a place where 1995 had a 2 miles away town flooded and all people taken out by the army. They were lucky living on the most altivated spot in the area..

I life in the eastern most safest part of netherlands . Still feel sorry for you dealing with this 3 or more times a year..

If you stay at your home: Keep a strong ladder in your living room.. to reach the second floor if waters rize swiftley.. It sounds strange but it will save you from drowning.
Most people forget this ..

Prior to warnings if your staying in your house move enough food and water to the attic /top floor just before the storm hits...

[asfaltpiloot]

I'm keeping you guys in my thoughts.
Stay safe.

[J Smith]

I know its causing gas to go nuts here.Went up .32 in 3 hours this afternoon and now most stations have a limit of 35.00.The place I filled up at tonight was out of reg but had no limit on mid and high test.They said the owners of the station called then and said it would be 5.00 to 6.00 per gallon in the morning.
Good Luck with this storm down in TX.

[Water Bug]

Best wishes to all of you in Hurricane Ike's path. Take care and stay safe.

[JBE]

We're getting 20-25 mph sustained winds right now with gusts up to 45 mph. No rain yet. Starting to see a lot of flooding on the coast and in the lower lying areas. My partner and I have volunteered to stay behind and man our station through the storm. We should be ok as we have a large genset capable of running all of our electrical utilities and plenty of supplies and provisions. We're also located in one of the highest elevation areas as well. We got out earlier before the winds made it dangerous to have the unit out and I was able to snap a few pics (I'll get them posted a bit later).

Also, if you're interested in seeing live news coverage for our area during the storm you can find it here at KPLC (http://www.kplctv.com)- it's our local TV news channel.

[TazKristi]

One of our newest members is in Ike's direct path.

Our thoughts are with all of you, be safe!

Kristi

[LowSpeedHighDrag]

My prayers are with you guys. Stay safe, hide your guns well, and make wise decisions.

[dete]

I'm in the north west side of Houston,

many stores are closed, gas has run out in some places.
Grocery stores that are open are JAM packed.

people acting like it's Armageddon, hopefully it won't be.

I'm staying, I'm in an apartment, got lots of H2O, food, to last more than a week.
I'm ready for even a zombie plague ;) LOL

[tonydahose]

stay safe down there guys.

[TR Graham]

I'm in the north west side of Houston,

many stores are closed, gas has run out in some places.
Grocery stores that are open are JAM packed.

people acting like it's Armageddon, hopefully it won't be.

I'm staying, I'm in an apartment, got lots of H2O, food, to last more than a week.
I'm ready for even a zombie plague ;) LOL

I'm on the southeast side of Houston, in Pasadena.

Winds are picking up.
Windows are boarded up.
Supplies are laid up.

We're hunkered down.

Just watching and waiting.......

TR Graham
The Glocksmith

[Tank]

Hope you all make it though ok,, be safe and hang in there.

[snuffaluff]

I'm up here in the Dallas area and while we won't take the brunt of the storm, I'm sure we will be hit pretty hard if the projected path is correct.

Prayers going out to ALL involved!!

[JBE]

Just an update...

Winds are definitely picking up down here - sustained at about 30 mph with gusts over 50 mph. Still not much rain. We lost power about 30 min ago but our genset is running fine so we're comfortable. Lots of reports of tornado touchdowns with damage and injuries to the northeast of us. No fatalities to my knowledge so far. I'm afraid that when the storm surge comes in we're going to lose two of our stations that are closer to the coast. I'm in no hurry to see what daylight is going to bring.

I just posted some pics over in the Picture Gallery under "Hurricane Ike photos" for those that are interested.

[Peter1960]

Guys, my prayers are with you. Take care!

[dete]

TR Graham I hope your doing ok man.

during the storm, as the wind, rain increased, I was at first playing video games, and the power repeatedly went out, but would come right back on again, eventually as I hit the sack around 2:00am, power went completely out, no fan, no AC, so I opened the window a bit and was enjoying it.
I slept really quite well under the circumstances! The problem for my area is more the aftermath...
When I woke up, I heard my apartment neighbors talking, and then my security alarm went off, apparently the entire neihborhood had the same problem, it' super loud and will not shut off, and then the water went out, so basically I put on my ear protection and went to sleep, woke up and decided, it's better if I just left. Who knows how long it could stay this way. So I drove out, the roads by my place were dry, gas looked impossible to get, either it was gone or jam packed, H-E-B grocery stores were open but super packed, maybe a few Whataburgers also, so if you drive around, so even if you had nothing, it's possible to live in these conditions, although a big pain in the rear. Toll ways were all free, I was worried about getting gas because my drive to my folks was 6 hrs. Finding gas wasn't too bad, about 50% less than normal. Anyways I made it out, and just waiting for things to go back to normal so I can drive back and get back to everyday life.

For those of you that stayed, my prayers go out to you.

[raggasonic]

Take care and keep safe, I'll pray for you guys ;)

[Doc Pyres]

I imagine the power is still out for a lot of you guys that toughed it out. Hope there was no serious damage or loss for any of you. Let us know how you're doing when you're back online.

[JBE]

Wanted to let everyone know that we made it through the hurricane ok where we were at. Lost internet and cable late Friday evening and just had it restored here late this evening. Water still isn't safe to drink, however. Not much visible wind damage in our coverage area but quite a few flooded homes from the storm surge. The rest of the parish (county) has very extensive flood damage and there's ongoing search and rescue operations (no reported fatalities here thus far). We for sure lost one of our outlying stations and we still haven't been able to access the other one due to high waters and washed out roadways. I'll finally be going off-duty in the morning and will finally get to see my family and go check my house (from what my wife says we only had minimal wind damage). I have some more pics to add and will put those in the Pic Gallery as soon as I have a bit more time. Good to see everyone again.

[tonydahose]

glad you made it through ok:)

[JBE]

Thanks Tony! We have some long days ahead of us down here.

[Doc Pyres]

Good to hear you're okay, JBE!

[Water Bug]

Thanks for the update, JBE! Glad you guys are okay. Stay safe!

[JBE]

Thank you for all of your well-wishes. It's really heart-breaking to see some of the same people who lost their homes to Hurricane Rita go through it all over again with Ike almost exactly 3 years later to the date. There were many who had still never fully recovered from Rita and now this.:(

The people who were affected by this storm could really use our collective prayers and thoughts right now.


*I did get a chance to add a few more photos over in the Pic Gallery if you're interested.

[dete]

I just returned to Houston today.

apparently power returned to some areas by last thursday,
I noticed in my neighborhood there are still some traffic lights that are out.

my apartment seemed like half the people still haven't returned.
I'm not gonna drink tap water for a while,
and try to be real careful with gas, they say when it gets real low at the stations, dirt and stuff can accumulate in it, not sure how that is so, but my car apparently now has problems because of this. And now I believe I need to get a fuel injection cleaner liquid.

[TR Graham]

Hi friends,

Just got power back yesterday - 8 days after the storm.

We (in Pasadena) did not get a whole lot of water damage or flooding - we did however get a great deal of wind damage. Trees down, roofs blown off, fences blown down. The church next door to us had its steeple blown off. My wife and I were lucky. We had no damage outside of a few trees down around the house. All kinds of debris in the streets, and all traffic lights were out. Tap water was not safe to drink until a few days ago. Power was out because of blown transformers and power line damage. The first few days after the storm there were LONG lines in the few stores and gas stations that were open and had power.

People here have been busy, through - it is amazing how fast the mess that Ike left is being cleaned up. (And without the majority of people screaming for FEMA assistance.) Getting power back helped a lot. Things are slowly getting back to normal.

TR Graham
The Glocksmith