This one is for Texas --IKE

[MossRoad]

I forgot to mention... on the way in to work this morning, my daughter and I noticed lots of huge mushrooms popping up all over the place... especially in city parks. We're talking plate sized 'shrooms!

 

[Bird]

I forgot to mention... on the way in to work this morning, my daughter and I noticed lots of huge mushrooms popping up all over the place... especially in city parks. We're talking plate sized 'shrooms!

It's almost the opposite here in my yard; lots of them have popped up, but they're all small ones. Of course, I mowed yesterday so I chopped them up before any got much bigger than golf ball diameter size.

 

[EddieWalker]

Day three with no electricity. The generator is starting to have issues. The power company takes our call and says they are working on it, but they also sais Houston is the priority and they want to get the largest numbers of people online the soonest. From what we can tell, everyone around us has power, but our place and a dozen homes down one street. Then the rest of that street has power, as do the homes on the streets that branch off of that one. Without any power, it's all we can do for excitement to drive up and down the roads looing for who has power and who doesn't.

Steph and the kids are staying with her mom. Power was out for two days at her place, but now that she has hot water, it's better for them.

Eddie

 

[mikim]

Moss -- I had 10" of rain in 2 hours last year -- flooded my house ....Ike came through and I just got back from reviewing damage at home (I've mostly been here at the office since Wed) ....Not so much as a lost shingle. Privacy fence is down -- me and everybody else in 100 miles -- but the house is fine. Bernice is coming back tonight or in the a.m. from our country place. Don't know why I'm so lucky this time -- but I'm in an area and am among the very few in town that has power and water -- operation normal.

 

[mikim]

Had 10 people in our old 12 x 60 mobile --- yesterday while I was trying to do a quick turn around to the country and back they hollered "septic is backed up" .... had to mount the backhoe - drag the tractor 15 miles - and dig up the septic tank lines ..... it's working again -- sorta -- I'll have to fix it right later -- I had to get back to the office. I was 6 hours late getting in which didn't make the boss happy -- but what's he gonna do? fire me? - I'm retiring in 110 days. Things are still hopping around the office here as we are in recovery mode. But I'm going to sleep at home tonight. This crap of sleeping on the floor of my office just don't make it.

 

[Bird]

Mike & Eddie, I feel for both of you. That's some tough time. Hope it all gets straightened out soon.

 

[lrunge]

Ike met a cold front as it hit Ky, Indiana, and Ohio on Sunday. No rain in Greater Cincinnati area but sustained winds between 40 -50 mph for hours and gusts up to 74 mph. Still have over 600,000 people without power. Which is a lot for Cinacinnati area. Mine came back on last night after about 30 hours. We had our diesel running at work but almost ran out of fuel.
I lost 2 large trees completely down, the tops of eight trrees broken off and lots of large and small branches. Chimney cap flew off and landed in the pool with concrete still attached to it. Their were thousands of houses with missing siding and roof shingles. Business signs blown down Trees laying on power lines everywhere. Duke sent crews down to Texas to help and are now calling them back. Only a couple of fatalities, thankfully.
I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Alicia a few posts ago.
All in all, nothing as bad as Galveston and Houston but bad enough in it's on right as we are used to tornados and ice storms not sustained strong winds.

 

[dmccarty]

Have any TBN Texans got a feel if Ike took many lives?

Looking at the destruction and hearing reports that people did not get off the islands its seems like a miracle that anyone survived out there. The best I can tell is that people may have only had 12 hours from the evacuation orders until the water rose and cut off access. Ike move right at the last minute which appears to have decreased the destruction on Galveston Island.

The media seems to have left the story of Ike alone and run off to talk about other stuff.

Later,
Dan

 

[mikim]

Dan -- I wrote a really long angry reply but then deleted it --- I can tell you that evac orders were given in plenty of time - starting 2-3 days prior -- the fact that people didn't leave ......well... I can't talk about it.....

 

[Bird]

Dan, the latest news stories in this area are claiming a death count of 40 so far, and I think most of those were outside Texas. However, at last report, some 2.2 million are still without electricity and much of the area has not been inspected yet for either survivors or bodies. They do expect to find more bodies.

And like Mikim said, they had plenty of warning and time to leave, if they had chosen to do so.

 

[texasjohn]

Newspaper this morning has death count at 40.... various reasons....given the number who did not leave, amazing it is not higher.

I'm developing the view that the human race is made up of some people who have good judgment, and some who don't. Initially it looked like Corpus was going to be dead center... I went down, picked up my MIL and scrubbed initial plans to take her to Houston area to visit granddaughter she hasn't seen in over a year and brought her to Central Texas. Turned out to be right decision... it was still a cat 2 when it passed relatives' house in Houston... we got no wind or rain. Some would say i went to lots of trouble for no reason. I think not.

Somehow, the decision to do unsafe things is embedded in human nature....without Columbus, Wright brothers, MLK, Madam Curie, innumerable others who pushed the envelope, history would be vastly different. We're built to take/seek risks... sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Sadly, take this attribute to the financial market and we have the current meltdown. And those who did not knowingly choose that risk are burdened with the consequences.

 

[EddieWalker]

Day four without electricity. The generator is getting kind of finicky. It's running strong for a few hours, then it dies. Everything in the fridge and freezer is still good, but if the generator gives out completely, I'm in trouble there. Steph and the kids have gone to her Mom's house where they can bath and get ready for the next day. Laundry is starting to stack up too.

I never imagined it would take this long.

Eddie

 

[dmccarty]

Dan -- I wrote a really long angry reply but then deleted it --- I can tell you that evac orders were given in plenty of time - starting 2-3 days prior -- the fact that people didn't leave ......well... I can't talk about it.....

The reason I mentioned the time frame was that on the weatherunderground blog, the ONLY place I'm finding any real information on Ike's aftermath besides the Houston paper/TV stations, someone posted the government maps showing the watch and warning areas. The map progression they showed started on Wed. The warning was from Thursday afternoon/evening. One of the survivor stories I read said they tried to get off the island 9:00am ish on Friday and the water was already up and they could not get out. These people ran a wrecker server and were helping people leave and they got trapped.

The blog also referenced a new conference where the Galveston mayor was asked about the "certain death" warning. The reference was a link to one of the local TV stations that filmed the conference. She had not heard the warning and did not believe it. If the mayor has not heard a serious warning that the NWS put out there is a big problem.

I went back to the blog to try to find the info but I can't find the info now. Just not familiar enough with how that site works.

It certainly seems the mayor did not get the "certain death" warning and I wonder if that effected the evacuation from her city.

There are always the ignorant people who think the storm is not serous, like the group that was drunk and partying that required an emergency evacation. Or the guy that stayed behind because he wanted to go surfing after the storm passed. They are just nuts.

When Andrew made the left turn to head to SE Florida nobody had to tell me to leave. I left as pronto as I could.

The aftermath of Ike is not a focus for local media. And I'm not seeing much on the national level either. Maybe I just expect more coverage when millions are effected in Texas and then the big surprise in the Ohio valley with hundreds of thousands of people without power. I saw 800,000 mentioned at one point.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

It certainly seems the mayor did not get the "certain death" warning and I wonder if that effected the evacuation from her city.

Dan, did you get that information from a blog where people can just post anything they want? I know the news media makes plenty of mistakes, but I'd trust blogs even less.

 

[dmccarty]

I called and told him what some emer ops people were telling people. Ok if you don't leave - then take a permanent marker and write your ssn on your arm so IF we find your body we'll be able to identify you.

Mike I read that 911 dispatchers where telling callers to write the SSN on thier bodies as well. That drives home the point.

Don't take it that I'm dissing the NWS. I'm not. I just trying to find info on the storm. It seems like the water came up and it came up fast. Which might have took some people by surprise. Maybe they thought they had more time than they really did. That does not apply to the idiots who stay behind to get drunk and surf.

I really shocked at how little info is out there. NC usually goes nuts with coverage and more importantly HELPING out the survivors. But I'm just seeing NOTHING. Almost 3 million people without power in the US and there is just a mention here and a mention there.

Later,
Dan

 

[mikim]

Mike I read that 911 dispatchers where telling callers to write the SSN on thier bodies as well. That drives home the point.
Maybe that's where I heard it - the 911 admin offices are downstairs

Don't take it that I'm dissing the NWS. I'm not. I just trying to find info on the storm. It seems like the water came up and it came up fast. Which might have took some people by surprise. Maybe they thought they had more time than they really did. That does not apply to the idiots who stay behind to get drunk and surf.
I watched my boss run the slosh (a program to help forecast the storm surge) a couple of days before Ike got here -- that info went out--


I really shocked at how little info is out there. NC usually goes nuts with coverage and more importantly HELPING out the survivors. But I'm just seeing NOTHING. Almost 3 million people without power in the US and there is just a mention here and a mention there.
hey - no news is good news --right? .... I hope the media drops it as quickly as possible--it'll mean we're getting back to what is considered normal around here (normal Texas style doesn't suit everybody)

Later,
Dan

huh?? msg too short? ///ok---ooops meant to add this -- pics of interest
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ike/photo-comparisons/bolivar.html

 

[turbo36]

huh?? msg too short? ///ok---ooops meant to add this -- pics of interest
Hurricane Ike - Coastal Change Hazards: Hurricanes and Extreme Storms

Wow! What a picture. The question that I keep wondering is will these people rebuild and who will pay for it?

 

[Bird]

I really shocked at how little info is out there. NC usually goes nuts with coverage and more importantly HELPING out the survivors. But I'm just seeing NOTHING.

I guess it's just the part of the country that you're in, because we're still seeing and hearing plenty about it, both on local TV stations, local newspapers, and even the national FOX channel on DirecTV (channel 360 for us).

One of our daughters works for a national railway company and of course they shut down operations in the Houston area before the hurricane hit. Normally, our daughter's job (in Ft. Worth) is benefits manager. And now they've set up an extra "800" number for their employees who were affected by the hurricane to call if they need a little immediate financial assistance with lodging, food, etc. So she says that's all she's done the last two days. I don't know about today, but she said at least two of the employees she contacted yesterday lost everything; discovered their homes are gone. But at least it sounds as if she's working for a good company; one that tries to take care of their employees.

Incidentally, on the noon news on the TV today they were requesting donations to help Hurricane Ike victims. They said people could go to Albertson's or Krogers if they wished to make food donations, or they could donate cash online to the North Texas Food Bank or to the Salvation Army. I elected to send money online to the Salvation Army myself.

 

[EddieWalker]

Power is back on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPY

Almost exactly four days without electricity really sucked. I'm making microwave popcorn, watching tv with the volume up and turning on the ceiling fan AND the AC!!!! In an hour or two, I'm even going to take a shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie