A shed on my church grounds:
Debris along Hwy 146. After Ike, this was in the middle of the road, until it was pushed off to the side. It includes chairs, a roof, and a refrigerator:
My mother's major damage, plus as of today, she still doesn't have power. And when this cover fell, it cut her phone lines, so even when she gets power back, she won't have a phone or the Internet.
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As of today, over 1 million people are still without power, several 100,000 without water or are under 'boil' orders, and many still can't return to their homes. It's been said that some will be without power for up to 3 weeks. It's also worth noting that parts of Louisiana are still powerless, three weeks after Gustav struck.
While I understand the frustration, I think people need realize the parameters of this devastation. Houston has 26,000 miles of power lines....that's a lot of lines to follow and figure out where the outage problem starts. But people are out there working, one guy said he put in 16 hour days. We have workers from New Mexico, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida (that I know of, I'm sure there are more from other states) trying to get everyone back online. Though it only took Ike a few hours to do this, it'll take days, weeks, months and in some cases, years to recover. Patience is the key....which of course is easy for me to say, in my home which sustained minimal damage and has power back (though we were without for 4 days).
All I can say is God Bless us all. We'll be all right.
~Anna Kathryn
17 comments:
OMG, I can't believe those pictures! How horrible to go throught such devistation. I think I will stick to California earthquakes, lol.
I'm relieved most in the Clear Lake area didn't receive more damage, considering what a large storm it was. Those near the water suffered, but it's amazing to drive through the neighborhoods and see downed trees everywhere but not on anyone's home.
We evacuated to Dallas. Dh, me, 1 kid, 4 parrots and 1 french horn. Crawled through Conroe construction. Once the car slowed, the birds started fussing. Our mini macaw kept telling the other birds to "be quiet". Of course, the louder he got, the louder they got.
We're all happy to be home and have power. The gas stations are reopening and I was even able to get butter today!
Robin, I'm glad you had minimal damage, too. I havne't driven through Clear Lake yet. Conroe is still without power and likely to be for another 2-3 weeks. No power also means now water, because the water plant doesn't have power.
Thanks for the chuckle over the birds. I can only imagine what that was like.
~Anna Kathryn
Well, we were truly blessed...only out of power twice for 12 hours at a time...I told my friend that was because God knew John would have to live with me if we were without power. I do wish people would stop burning stuff up here, it truly doesn't help all my neighbors who don't have power!
My office building had the roof blown off and the damage got down to our floor, but I'm not sure of the severity of the damage yet.
My sister in law's parent's house is gone. It's so sad! But I'm so glad we've had lots of good reports from people with no damage too! Especially back home where Rita did so much damage three years ago.
I am glad to hear you are okey. We weren't as bad off as you but that hurricane came all the way inland and hit Southwestern Missouri as a category 2 hurricane and went clear up to Indiana near Great Lakes and hit my daughter as a category 1 hurricane. I was without power last Sunday and with water clear to Monday evening.
So praise God for his protection upon you. I prayed for God's safety over people but never thougth I would need it myself this far inland.
It makes me think of the line from Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult.
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men.
cmr
Thank goodness you got through with minimal damage and are safe. It's tough to lose possessions, but those can be replaced. Groups from my area in central Pennsylvania went to Texas to do what they could to help. I hope and pray your lives are back to normal as soon possible.
The power of Mother Nature is awe inspiring, isn't it? I was in Florida 9 months after Andrew hit down there and there were still boats in trees and debris everywhere 9 months later.
Interesting story about your wisteria! We have one here that covered a barn, but the barn fell over due to age. The wisteria has gone crazy spreading everywhere.
Having been through a catastrophic flood during Hurrican Floyd, I can relate to what you all are going through. But we did make it through, the town survived and the people rebuilt. It did make me appreciate all the more what I have and what is really important in life. There is nothing like a loving family and good friends to see you through times like these. And you certainly have all that!
My area just looks like Mother Nature didn't like our old trees very much. But then again, the limbs that I kept telling my son-in-law we needed to take a chain saw to are now gone thanks to IKE's landscaping service. Right now I am one of five houses that have power on my street, most of the houses have damage to the lines from the poles to the house and are just waiting for the repair trucks to arrive. But life seems to be returning to normal, at the Texaco station by my house, there were no lines for the first time/and they had gas. My prayers are with those tha lost more, and my have lost family members. But now I can say that I survived Carla in 1961, Alicia in 1983 and Ike in 2008 in the same house, and thankfully only tree damage and utility outages, and of the three, Alicia was much harder on me
Ruth
Wow, crazy pictures. Glad you were reasonably lucky.
So glad you were lucky and only had minor damage. Thanks for sharing pictures. I've seen some that were just mind boggling, like the sailboat sitting on top of the car. While mother nature struck with fury, God was looking out for everyone.
Those are such good pictures to share with the world. I think most people can empathize with the devastation here -- what people from other parts of the country can't really relate to is a disaster that is 600 miles wide. We may regret that "everything's bigger in Texas!"
I'm amazed more people weren't injured or worse. The pictures I've seen of the destruction are almost mind boggling.
Gerri, unfortuately, I don't think we have a correct death toll count. There are small enclaves around here that were hit pretty hard and have people missing, but because the media has focused on Galveston so much, the possible death tolls from those areas is not accruate. I'm afraid we'll have a much higher death toll when all is said and done.
~Anna Kathryn
Fantastic pictures, glad you were lucky and only suffered minimal damage.
When I moved to NC from MI, I knew I might experience a hurricane. That possibility influenced my decision to locate to the center of NC to be far enough from the coast to avoid a major hit. So far there has only been one hurricane that came inland far enough to affect my area and I was fortunate to avoid damage and power loss during the storm. Listening to that freight train sounding wind for the 8 hour duration was enough for me. Hope I never have to experience that (or worse) again.
Of all of the natural disasters, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes...I think I'd take a hurricane. At least there is time to prepare. My prayers are with all those folks living in the path of any hurricane.
My prayers are with those affected by Hurricane Ike. What devestation.
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