Here Comes Ike!

[HouTx]

Just took a look at latest prognostications..... of the 6 available hurricane models, 3 of them are directed toward the Galveston-Houston area. Looks like it may be another exciting weekend.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Everybody -

Please don't buy into all the media hype about the 'utter devastation' of Ike. It't true that it was a whopper of a storm. But the storm surge was much less than predicted. I am a native Texan/Houstonian & "hunkered down" during the storm - because I am well out of the storm surge/evacuation areas. Our hospitals in the evacuation zones were evacuated well before landfall. Patients & staff were moved to our inland sister facilities in Houston, San Antonio & Louisiana. It was a very orderly process.

Galveston is a barrier ISLAND - not a good place to be in any storm, let alone one as huge as Ike. There was a very well executed evacuation plan that began 36 hours prior to landfall. Anyone who chose to remain was making a very unwise decision... putting first responders in peril when they had to make the inevitable rescues.

As a native, I know that a gas grill, generator and chainsaw are essential appliances. The power outage from Ike is going to be longer than normal because Houston is a very green city and we had massive tree damage -which took down a lot of our power infrastructure. Along with my neighbors, I was out on Saturday afternoon with my chainsaw and it took 3 days to clear all the debris. Every house in my neighborhood has huge brush/debris piles on the curb which will be picked up by the city as soon as possible.

I am still using the generator at home & working with an aircard for Internet access. But water pressure is back. Gas lines have been replaced with long lines at the washaterias. There are >30 Points of Distribution (PODs) where people can pick up water, ice, MREs & other supplies with no questions asked. People are being moved out of shelters and into temporary housing in hotels & apartment complexes - billed to FEMA if necessary. We're figuring out the best way to handle school for all the kiddos whose schools are going to be out of action for a while.

We're getting a lot of help. I have seen enormous convoys of repair vehicles coming to our area from places as far away as Canada. We're a very multicultural area with a lot of internal resources such as huge mega-churches that have stepped up with an army of dedicated volunteers. Most of them have established their own PODs which continue to be supplied with commodities by FEMA.

Just heard that water has been restored to Galveston, but they need to continue to boil water. As soon as they can get the sewer system repaired, debris cleaned up, and gas lines restored, their residents can come back in and begin to rebuild also.

We're an adaptable bunch of folks. New social activies have begun to crop up such as neighborhood meals - with everyone dragging their grills into a common area and sharing food that remains in their freezers and fridges. One of the more interesting phenomena is the fact that Ike didn't respect affluent areas any more than the rest of us. The local 'home shows' on TV now have segments on 'cooking with sterno' and how to entertain during a power outage...

Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern and offered up your prayers for us. It'll take a while to get everything cleaned up. Houses will have to be rebuilt - maybe some areas should not be rebuilt. But we'll be just fine.

Please don't believe all the media hype - if you look carefully, they keep showing the same pictures over and over again. It was a mess - still very inconvenient but we'll be just fine.

[CHATSDALE]

i know from personal experience that the media can twist a story into an unrecognizeable mass words

i am glad that you are so resilient and can pick up your life and go on

day after gustav my sons were out cleaning up the yard, ditto for ike but we suffered no major damage [family that is] we were w/o power for 5 days on first storm, second was like a couple of hours, i know that we were lucky but as you said you have to take reasonable precautions and preparations

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

It is just the weather.....not aimed at us or made to punish us...is just the weather..... We choose to live in areas that have hurricanes. At one time I chose to live in an area that had blizzards often. We did not evacuate, we just prepared for it, just like we do now. Lights, heat and food were just as important. We did not stand to lose our houses or property, but we could freeze to death in them LOL. My heart goes out to those that have been hit so many times this year. But if you know this is what happens, then prepare or choose to move somewhere else. We can build on the shores and proclaim ownership, but you can not change the shape of the ocean and it's need to reclaim soil.

Thank you!!!

My family in Ohio called to check on me but were very sarcastic about it.

"Didn't this just happen 3 years ago? Why don't you move?"

Well how many times, my brother, have you slid off the road on the ice and put your car into the ditch risking killing yourself and everyone else in the car?

(crickets)

That's what I thought.

Every place has some natural phenomenon that is dangerous. Shoot, lightening kills more people than tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes combined. Last time I checked lightening is everywhere. It's so unhelpful to blame the victim of hurricanes and suggest their choice of where they live somehow caused their suffering.

[Liddle Noodnik]

(crickets).

NatKat - that was priceless!!! :chuckle