Here's Ike!

September 11th being remembered for the day of devastation seven years ago also brought another scare for those of us in the Houston, Galveston area. We had hurricane Ike headed straight for us and had a mandatory evacuation that day. As before, with Gustav, Tom booked a hotel room in Austin in advance Monday night not knowing where it was going to hit at the time just to be safe. Glad we were prepared because after they announced evacuation it was impossible to find a vacant hotel room any where.

Tom went to work that morning only to return a half hour latter. We finished packing and moved furniture away from the windows and left our apartment at 9:30 am. We didn't want to get stuck on the freeway for hours. We made it to Austin in good time even with little detours along the way. Watching the news when we got to our room we saw how bad the freeways had gotten. It was like a parking lot. What should have been an hour trip took up to three hours or more. So glad we left early.

After we got settled into our hotel room we decided to go find some dinner. As we were leaving, for some reason, I decided to check to see if our door locked, which I never do, but luckily I did because it didn't lock. Tom went and got help and they ended up having to replace the lock but then they couldn't get the key to work so we had to use the manager key. They offered to let us trade rooms but that would have been more of a hassle than it was worth so instead they discounted our room. In the end it all worked out well.

"Over the next two days, Ike maintained a steady course towards Galveston and Houston. It increased only slightly in intensity to 110 mph - the high end of Category 2 - but exhibited an unusually large wind field. This caused a projected storm surge of a Category 4 height though the wind speeds were that of a Category 2. As it approached the Texas coast, the inner structure and eye wall became more organized."

"Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, on September 13th at 2:10 am as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph."

We decided, after finding out from friends that returned home Sunday that our power was back on, to return home Monday. Before going back we did some grocery shopping and filled our gas tank knowing there probably wouldn't be anything available once we were home.

On our way back, the freeway would be going great until we got close to a town and then it would just crawl because so many people were trying to exit to get gas that it backed up traffic. When we got back to Houston gas stations were either out of gas completely or the line to get gas was out into the streets and around the corners in some cases. That's why we filled up before we left Austin hearing that that was what was happening.

As we entered into the Houston area we started to see some of the damage of Ike. Roof shingles were blown off, big billboards were destroyed, windows were broken, trees were blown all over the place, traffic lights were bent or just hanging and not working and there was debris everywhere. Here are some pictures we took of the destruction.

This is looking at the window of our apartment outside and in



Here is Tom and Cole standing next to what used to be a tree by our apartment
The fence at our rental house blew over as well.



Where did the lights go? Space Center is supposed to be running the other direction

Hanging by a wire

Ship wrecked

The Hilton where all the emergency crew and reporters stayed during the hurricane and another sad tree

We were very blessed to have power when we got home. In fact just in our apartment complex half of the buildings had power and the other half didn't. We felt so bad because the lady across from us had no power and was looking around with a flash light while we were cooking dinner with lights on and our A/C running. Like I said a blessing. There are still tons of places, residential and commercial, that still have no power and are not expected to have power for quite some time still. And what little damage we have with the window and fence is also a blessing.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that we just had a natural disaster because our lives have gone back to normal but it all comes rushing back as you drive down the streets. For many people life won't be back to normal for a while.