arin's attic | ~looks like we made it~

~looks like we made it~

September 14, 2008 @ 10:53 am Blogged, Texas, Politics,
Tagged as: texas,photos,videos,hurricanes

my power went out friday night about 2am, as ike blew through the area. sleep was completely out, so i spent the rest of the night watching the tree outside being blown back and forth and listening to things thud against the house scary enough on it’s own, but when the sky is flashing green... ~really~ scary. just when you’d think, “ok, this must be as bad as it’s going to get”, the winds would pick up. the eye never actually passed over my area, so we had no break from the storm. just a constant onslaught.

that’s the shnazzy area a mile or so to the north of me you’ve heard of the “wrong side of the tracks”, i’m the “wrong side of the bayou”

around 8am, the storm was lessening. checked the bayou, it was up over it’s banks and the street was flooded, but no water in our complex. we had fences down, a couple of carports damaged, broken window, gutters blown down, tree limbs and leaves ~everywhere~, a few shingles on the ground, and stucco siding ripped off one buiding, but otherwise, our condos seem to have weathered the storm just fine.

when i remembered to take my camera with me, this was the bayou:

trees down on the street

view down the bayou

water treatment plant (behind the trees) - either this or the medical center are responsible for my power being restored so quickly

bayou when it’s ~normal~, just as a comparison.

i caught a nap or two, for an hour or so, during the day, but it was sooo hot and muggy that sleep was almost impossible. 85F with 89% humidity… and it was cooler ~outside~ than in :| glued to the radio for news in the city, but almost all radio news was devoted to galveston, high island, baytown, pearland, and the other outlying areas. short of a few callers reporting their circumstances in the city, it was impossible to find out what was happening. we knew power was out for 4.5 million people and that boiling water was ~suggested~, but then the radio people would refer you to their website for more information :| ~that’s~ helpful. as it turns out, boiling water was not only suggested, but an order from the mayor’s office. didn’t find that out til later.

did drive around the neighbourhood… but the mayor was asking everyone to stay off the streets, so didn’t want to drive around much, but man oh man, that car a/c felt ~good~. take away my cable, take away my water, do NOT take my air-conditioning :o

my major damage. i lost a fence board :O and the gutter came down in front, hopefully i can put that back up without having to have it replaced.

fence down, minor carport damage in the condos

security fence ~bent~ over.

about 5pm, our power was restored. i credit it to being so close to the medical center (or possibly that water treatment plant). i’m one of the lucky ones. they are saying that total power restoration may take up to a month in some areas.

it wasn’t until i had power that i could really get any information on what the city was facing. lots of damage ~everywhere~.

streets are still unsafe to travel on in most areas. downed trees, limbs, and power lines are everywhere. plus, we’ve flooding today due to more storms coming through.

houston, in it’s entirety, are under a curfew from 9pm to 6am every night through saturday, september 20th.

food and water are being distributed by ~~fema~~ (update: 5:40pm - cities are complaining that fema has not shown up and that fema is referring them to their website… in areas that have no electricity or access to the internet) and the red cross. some shelters have been opened in areas where power has been restored.

it’ll be a long way back to normal.

houston’s mayor has come out repeatedly and reminded people to take care of one another. as power is restored, reach out to those around you, whose power is still out. check on your neighbours, make sure everyone is okay.

“It will be very frustrating for people dealing with getting our electrical power back up,” White said. “It’s time to reflect that we have built this city in little more than 150 years out of a virtual wilderness. If people help each other and keep in good spirits then this will be something that Houstonians will remember for the rest of their lives.”

i love our mayor

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On 09/15/08, Carol said...

Wow, some nasty damage there. I am glad that you’re safe though arin

And duh@ radio stations and FEMA refering ppl to websites… smart cookies aren’t they?

On 09/15/08, Orc said...

Hi there! I’m glad to hear you’re ok!

Thought of you when I’ve heard that Ike was about to hit Houston.. Should have known that it’d take more than a “breeze” from the Gulf to upset you

On 09/15/08, arin721 said...

@carol - thanks after going through it, if anything larger than a cat 3 ever came through houston, i’d be evacuating. we were just very, very lucky that we didn’t have worse damage in this area.

@orc - ltns @ you! and thanks! yeah, that’s it, i stared down ike and scared him off

Check out arin721's latest entry: ed brayton on rachel maddow show