Aftermath

We're now more than a month on from Ike... things have largely gone back to normal around the city, with almost all power restored (though some people waited more than a month!), the once-ubiquitous flashing or completely dead traffic lights, which slowed down even the shortest journey, are almost all fixed, and the piles of brush and logs and branches which decorated every kerb are slowly being gathered by the city (apparently they have enough to fill the Astrodome more than four times over; there's a competition in progress to work out a way to use it all and avoid it all going into landfill).

Here's a partial photographic history of the aftermath of Ike:

We got rid of the front yard tree a day or two after the hurricane; we'd wanted to anyway, as it was half dead, but hadn't had a chance to (plus the quotes we'd had were quite expensive!). Anyway, the guy in the red shirt lives locally, and quoted us a much smaller amount than earlier, so we had him take it down on the spot. The guy with the chainsaw is also a neighbour; it was great, how much people helped one another out, propping up fences, lending equipment, offering ice (back in the first couple of days when there was no power) etc etc.


Clean-up happened VERY quickly - within a few days of the hurricane most streets looked like ours, below (or worse, the closer you got to the city). Our piles are gone now; some are still waiting in the parts of the city that were harder hit.

There must be absolute MILES of fencing down across Harris County... some, like ours, has been propped up with boards, while others have been removed and replaced with plastic netting or similar. Very few have been replaced properly - I guess it's a combination of people waiting for insurance payouts, and not wanting to be gouged - everyone's been warned to be careful of people purporting to be tradesmen, and wanting money up-front.



This sort of damage was actually relatively unusual - the only major structural damage tended to be to more flimsy structures such as this one.


Almost all the billboards in the area were stripped clean... one just up the road from this one was bent completely over; I missed my chance to get a photo though as when I went back for it, it was gone; it must have been incredibly dangerous.
Note the many missing signs down at street level too - very few have escaped some sort of damage, and there are bits of plastic EVERYWHERE, even still. It was weird to see the (relatively) sturdy plastic in shards, while many of the (relatively) flimsy fluorescent tubes inside survived ok.


This is a road near work - there were at least a dozen trees down along it, all looking like this one. When I passed late last week they'd all been cut off, leaving a perpendicular stump, even though none of them had died.


This building is downtown - much of the city centre was closed in the days immediately following Ike, to allow clean-up of all the glass (and other materials) that came off buildings. Most events, right across the city, on the weekend after the hurricane were cancelled, at the request of the police.


Literacy Advance, the place where I've been volunteering (more on this later!) was hit pretty badly - while there was no major damage to the outside of the building, water came in through all the external walls, soaking the carpet and the plaster... when the building went for more than a week without power, the mold got a real foot-hold. All the plaster lining external walls had to be ripped out, and all the carpets; we lost some materials and books to the damp as well.


After two weeks' hiatus, classes were able to go ahead again, in a different part of the building - the workmen were in the main part of the building until late last week.


Not far from us is Addicks Reservoir, which is normally dry - the only reason you know it's a reservoir is the sign; there's a road right through the middle. After the hurricane it was full for a couple of weeks.



In the end, flooding probably caused more damage around the city than the wind... quite a few roads were cut, including this one not far from home. I took these photos last week, when it was still impassable.




All in all, I just have to repeat what I said in my previous post: we were so very blessed throughout all of this; we had no major damage, we went without power for a VERY short time, and we've had no real consequences to deal with, unlike some. We are very thankful.

Oh, and I have to mention the best quote of the time, which Dave and I heard on the first morning, when were listening to the radio and trying to get a handle on what the damage was and what we should be doing: some rescue workers were being interviewed, and they said they'd been kept indoors by the weather, and that "Until we can get out, we're stuck here."

A wild night, and a grey and sodden dawn

We made it! as no doubt most of you know by now... and we have really been quite amazingly fortunate, especially in comparison to so many others - we were out of power for only two days, when millions of others are STILL waiting to be re-connected; we had running water throughout; our damage was really only superficial, when so many others have lost everything... life here in our neighbourhood is almost back to normal (except for the distant sound of chainsaws).

But first things first...

We spent Friday getting prepared: we moved all the outside things indoors (table and chairs - which had only just gone outside, after arriving from Australia! - plants in pots, the doormats, the washing line), cut a couple of dead branches off the tree at the front, and laid in a stock of fresh water, as recommended. Dave spent a bit of time getting his parents' place ready as well. When we'd done as much as we could, we all went out for dinner - the restaurant lost power three times while we were in there, but it came back on after about 20 seconds every time, and while the winds were really getting up by the time we were going home, the sunset was quite spectacular.





Dave's mum came back to ours; she thought our place was probably a bit safer than theirs; when we checked in with Dean we found that the power had gone off at their place at 6pm, and as we were still powered up, Dean decided to come over and stay with us. He and Dave and I then 'hunkered down' at the kitchen table and played Boggle for hours as the winds rose... when we all went to bed at around 11pm it was blowing pretty fiercely, but it was nothing compared to what was coming.

Strong winds really set in around midnight, and continued til after 7am; none of us got much sleep. It's hard to describe the experience really; the main thing is the noise, as branches and other things hit the house and the windows with sharp sounds like shrapnel; the wind tosses the trees more than they're ever meant to move, and the siding on the house and chimney vibrates and bangs. It's worrying to be anywhere near windows, and none of ours were covered (except the one in Dave's mum's room, where we'd pushed the wardrobe over it!) Most disconcerting of all is the way the house shudders from time to time - like it's being lifted slightly off its foundation and settling back again. And when it all happens at night, and the power goes down, so EVERYTHING is pitch black - well, I guess the imagination fills in any blanks left by reality! It's a very helpless feeling too - there is NOWHERE to go, and NOTHING you can do, but get through it - and it goes on and on and ON... emergency services are suspended until the worst of the weather is over, and there is simply no one to call on, should you have a problem. And of course, all the way through I was reminding myself that Ike was a Category ONE by the time he hit us - I simply cannot imagine going through a Cat3 or a Cat4; it would be unthinkable.

Below is a little snippet of footage I took as soon as it was light enough - it doesn't really give anything close to a complete picture, but at least it's something.

As soon as it was light enough, we started peering out to see what sort of damage we'd sustained - we saw fences down on both sides of the yard, and the trees were pretty torn apart in places, but generally our damage was pretty minor.









As I mentioned above, we never lost running water throughout the hurricane - though the whole of Houston is still being told to boil water before drinking it - and we were only without power for two days (though as Saturday was VERY humid and hot, we were very grateful for an invitation from Chris and Don to come over and have dinner with them on both Saturday and Sunday nights!) We watched power come back in streets all around us before we were re-connected, so there was lots of mock-grumbling about being last, but really, when you see what others are dealing with, we can't believe how easily we got off. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts - when we were finally re-connected to the internet on Monday, it was so touching to see all the messages and good wishes waiting.

More updates soon!

Batten down the hatches! - for real this time

Well, the only topic of conversation here is Hurricane Ike...


Originally tipped to make landfall further to the south of us, we're now expecting pretty much a direct hit. Galveston (on the coast) is under mandatory evacuation, as are parts of Houston (though not us at present), and the Houston ISD (Independent School District) has closed all schools for tomorrow (Friday), which means most of the businesses in the area are following suit. There's talk of putting the freeways into contra-flow, meaning that the only traffic would be OUT of the city, on both sides of the road, and we're all being advised to buy up gas, food and water... I'm not seriously worried about the winds, though they may be unpleasant (and I'm a bit concerned that the junky old tree in the front yard might take this opportunity to make a better acquaintance with our windows!), but we could be hit with some flooding, and if we lose power the weekend could be interesting...

It's a weird thing to sit and wait for something like this; the weather is normal right now, sunny and still for the most part, and yet I keep looking out at the garden and at our neighbours' homes and wondering what it's all going to look like in a few days' time... if you want to track the hurricane, CNN has a map here.

Anyway, we're remaining calm about it, and hope to weather this with minimal damage! Even so, your prayers would be appreciated.

I'll check in again after the storm is over!