Batten the hatches if you are in Houston...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My youngest son lives in Pearland, TX. His pretty little wife is a pharmacist a major hospital in Houston. She is on the Disaster Recovery team there. He called a few minutes ago. He got his home boarded up after helping a elderly neighbor (retired warrant officer) board his up. They had emergency supplies and were prepared to sit it out.


Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those in TX and surrounding areas. Stay safe!

[Belinda Barfield]

I will be thinking of them Ken. My cousin and his wife are oun Beaumont. His sister and her husband live in Dallas. As Ken said all in that area will be kept close in my heart in the coming days.

[skip coyne]

Ike is one scary looking storm , I hope everyone stays safe

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Yep, I had to go back to Hawaii for work and my wife is not having a lot of fun right now. Tornado warnings and one passed close to the house.

[Paul Greathouse]

I'm sitting here in my control room in the Lake Charles area (I work for the local power company). The units at our station are all on line and generating electricity.

The local TV station has their reporters running around town doing the typical wet and wind blown reporter bits. They are reporting alot of areas in town still have electricity. If any of you have family in our area you can log onto KPLCTV.com, they are streaming live news cast on their website.

The Galveston/Houston area is taking a beating right now. We are on the edge of Ike and getting sustained tropical force winds and some hurricane force gusts. The storm surge is the big deal for the folks south of us. Most of them lost everthing during hurricane Rita 3 years ago and now it looks like they may have similar damage again.

Kevin, my parents evacuated to Breaux Bridge, they are staying in an RV park. I saw the reports of the tornado warning in the Lafayette area but I haven't heard any details of possible damage.

Luckily for everyone involved, Ike didn't come in as strong as expected. Hopefully, all those that didn't evacuate Galveston are safe. They will be in my prayers.

As for the rest of us that didn't get storm damage, gas prices will surely increase. Ike passed right through the middle of the oil rigs off shore of Louisiana and many of the refineries are shutdown in southeast Texas.

If any of you have specific questions, let me know and I will see if I can find out. I'll be getting relieved a 6am this morning and will check back in tonight at 6pm when I come back on.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

As far as I know, and I have not yet talked to my wife yet this morning, most of the damage was up by Mamou.

My wife lost power for a little last night. It dropped at about 11 PM. I called Lafayette Utility Systems for her, I had the number hand on the computer. By 11:45 she had power back. 3 Cheers for LUS.

BTW, I used to work for Louisiana Energy & Power Authority.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My youngest son lives in Pearland, TX just south of Houston. He just called using a neighbor's cellphone that was functioning. They had a lot of water damage due to roof leaks but that is about it.

[Dennis Peacock]

Prayers for safety for everyone in the line of Ike and pending severe weather.

[David Duke]

I live about 30m north of Houston, we've faired pretty well here. While we had some pretty heavy winds (I'd guestimate 50-60 sustained with gusts to 80) our biggest issue has been rain. We lost power this morning at 12:45am, I installed a 15kw standby generator in the aftermath of Rita and believe it is probably the best 4,000.00 I've ever spent (may have to take up a collection to help pay for propane though, this thing uses 2+ gallons per hour), now if I can just get the sky to clear up so that I can get good satellite signal to watch the football games this evening and tomorrow. Hope everyone stays dry and safe.

[Jack A Entrekin]

I am in Arkansas and we had the remnants of Ike was still a tropical storm when it passed through.(535 mi) from Galveston. TX that was only the 8th one in history.
:eek:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My youngest son who lives in Pearland,TX called home again yesterday. He sustained roof damage, had leaks during the storm that he and his wife couldn't keep up with the water coming through the ceiling. Later chunks of sheetrock began falling from the ceiling due to water damage. They have hurricane insurance; had contacted the insurance company and they were supposed to come out yesterday afternoon. He was wondering if I knew any contractors in Idaho who would be willing to go to Houston, get licenced and repair his home. He said he'd bie willing to pay the licencing fee. Folks it's gonna be awhile before things get back to normal there.

[Belinda Barfield]

Ken, I was just watching Fox News coverage of the efforts to get ice and water to those in Houston. I believe the National Guard is on the way and hopefully the volunteer and charitable efforts will be up and in place. You are right, it will be a while before things are "normal". I was a volunteer after the big hurricane (can't remember the name) hit Charleston. I worked with group making sandwiches for rescue workers, other volunteers, etc. It can be overwhelming at times the sheer number of people who, despite all of the warnings, are completely unprepared for even a minor disaster, much less a week or so of power outages, etc. We forget how lucky we are to live in a society of such convenience.

Please let your son and DIL know that we are all thinking of them. The news coming out of the area is much different than what we saw after Katrina. Everyone really seems to be pitching in to help others. Gulf Coast folks are good people.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Hugo

My Mom ran the operations in Dorchester County after it. They were living in Summerville

[Belinda Barfield]

Hugo

My Mom ran the operations in Dorchester County after it. They were living in Summerville

Thanks, Kevin. Didn't think I would ever forget it. Your mom had her hands full!

[Tom Hamilton]

Ike Update:

In this part of town things are returning to normal, hence my ability to post! Power and phones came back on today.

I'm about a quarter of a mile south of Ken's son so can report Ike rocked our world. About 2:30Am when the winds turned to out of the northwest I flinched. That part lasted until about 5AM.

We will get a new roof but did not have water penetration from the roof. The metal window mullions leaked under the 100+mph wind and the front door leaded glass was not quite water tight at that force. Most interesting was the harmonic vibration from the copper weather stripping. We had about four different notes depending on the wind speed.

Living without power is a major pain. But small in comparison to injury or loss of a house. Fortunately we are experiencing a wonderful cool front.

Other parts of the Houston footprint, especially those will large trees, are in for a long haul to get juice back. The tree contractors must first clear the path so the power co. can repair the line. Our power co. tonight reported that they have 40% reconnected. That's 60% still living in the dark of a 2 million house hold customer base. Big job ahead.

Galveston and the Bolivar are destroyed. Much like the Gulf coast in Mississippi after Katrina. Just the foundation slabs for miles.

Best regards, Tom, in Houston, very happy that Ike moved on,

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Tom,

Glad to hear you faired well!

Mike and Kristy had their home saturated with water. A neighbor who is building contractor came over and told Mike if he was lowballing the damage they sustained he would say $50,000. That was before the entire kitchen ceiling caved in. They were going to try to find movers to store their furniture. They thought it would be months before it would be liveable. Mike had just finished gutting and remodeling the master bath. He said "Thank God...they had hurricane insurance." He also thought the premiums looked cheap now.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

I am glad to see all came through healthy, houses can be fixed.

For a look at some of the mess along the coast

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ike/...ns/bolivar.html (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ike/photo-comparisons/bolivar.html)

Before and after pictures on the Bolivar.

They also have many photos along the coast from Galveston to Oak Grove LA It is for use in Goggle Earth - kmz file

From Gustav

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/gust...t-storm-photos/ (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/gustav/post-storm-photos/)

[Belinda Barfield]

As Kevin said, it's good to know those reporting in made it through safely.