How Shall I begin......

Quick Note: This is a neighbors house, not ours...

As we watched TV on Friday, Sept. 12th we noticed that Galveston Bay was already seeing the effects of Hurricane Ike, which was to come ashore in the wee morning hours on the 13th. High tides were bringing in water much higher than expected and beach houses were already seeing water flowing under them. As the news cameras showed waves pounding up on the seawall in Galveston, a day before the storm was to hit, it was an eerie warning of what was to come. It was becoming too late to leave the island and those that did not heed the warning were suddenly trapped with no way out. They had been warned with a mandatory evacuation, but many did not heed those warnings.

All week long I had been preparing our family for the storm. Thursday evening, we filled all of our cars, and all gas cans with gas. I washed all of the clothes in anticipation of no power for several days. We had all of our batteries and our oil lamps were prepped for the storm. We put up all of our light weight items, from the yard, so that they would not become flying projectiles and “storm” groceries were purchased. I hunted down my single burner butane stove and three canisters of butane to cook with, just in case. Everything was ready. I got a call from my brother that he would be staying at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where he works for the duration of the storm. Both of my sisters are “sheltering in place”, just as we were. I prayed everyone would be safe.

Friday night came around and the wind started to pick up. As the evening progressed, so did the wind. Our neighbors were out in their back yard having a hurricane party. The barbeque was going and music was playing. The night progressed and the wind picked up more. At 9:00pm. we had our ham radio net and decided that we should monitor the storm and meet again at 9:00am., 4:00pm. and 9:00pm. the next day. It was eleven o’clock now and the group next door, were still partying. I wondered, how can they do this? The wind was pretty strong and I was getting really nervous. We watched TV and all the news of the storm as its outer rain bands were coming on shore. We had been told that we would get the wind first and then the rain and it was so true.

The group next door went inside and TF decided that he was going to go to bed. How can he sleep with this storm almost on top of us? Around 2:00am., our power went out. I turned on the battery powered TV to see where the storm was. Jennifer called to see if we were alright. At 3:00am. William called to see if we were alright. The rain was finally starting to fall and I wanted to go the sleep, so I lay down for a while. The phone rang again at 4:00am. and it was Jennifer checking on us again. I decided that I wasn’t going to get any sleep so I turned on the battery powered TV to see where the storm was. We were just on the west side of the eye and it had just passed us. The wind was now coming from the other side and it was getting worse. The rain was coming down harder and it was almost impossible to sleep. I kept looking out the front window to see what our next door neighbors pine trees were doing. They were swaying in the wind but they were still standing. I finally feel asleep and slept for two hours.

When the sun came up I decided to open the front door and look outside. I noticed limbs down everywhere and the rain was really falling hard now. I looked across the street and noticed that Mr. Blum’s huge pine tree had crashed into his house. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I stared at that sight. I ran to the bedroom and told TF to get up and go see if he could help Mr. Blum. He put on his pants and walked across the street to see what he could do. Bob (Mr. Blum), TF and Bonnie started to tarp the roof and at least try and keep as much water out as possible. They worked diligently for an hour before they could secure his roof from the rain. Bonnie dashed home and stripped in the entry way and ran upstairs to get a bath. TF followed and took a bath too. When our ham radio net met for the first time, we were just trying to get over the shock of all the mess outside. We made plans for our next net at noon and cleared the frequency. I stepped outside again to check out our own house for damage. There were limbs everywhere, but there was no damage to our house. Our neighbor’s fence had come down missing my car by about a foot. We have a lot of tall trees in our neighborhood and many of them were down. It looked like a war zone but without the bodies. Our water pressure was at a trickle so I decided that I could wait to take a bath. I cooked breakfast on our camp stove and the day progressed.

Noon rolled around and our next ham radio net met again. We started assessing the damage to our church members homes and worked to make a list of who needed help. The Funkes had six trees down, the Antezanna’s had two trees on the roof of their garage, the Washington’s, Schadlers, Scoggings, and many others had tree damage. Jack and Marta had a big pine tree twist off and fall right in front of their house. Many of our families had fence damage, the power was out and most had little water pressure. Cell phone towers were down so very few people had access to their phones. A lot of people had wireless phones and they didn’t work because the power was out. Those that had internet phone service were out of luck. Luckily we have a land line phone and it has worked all the way thru this mess. Our ham radio group went to work to keep communications going.

When the rain let up and the winds died down, our “chain saw gang” went to work to cut down fallen trees and limbs. Nigh time fell and it was time to rest for another days work. I trimmed the wicks on our lamp, in the den, and lit it. The flashlights went into service and the moon came out to help light our way. Since our power was out many of the ham radio operators moved to their cars for battery power for the radios. At 9:00pm. we held our last net for the day. I sat out in the car, with my flashlight, trying to do net control and take notes. We discussed what we need to do the next day and closed the net down. I was so tired that I just fell into bed.

On Monday, Bonnie and I decided to venture out into the neighborhood to see what it looked like. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw all of the trees down. I took lots of pictures. At this point our ham radio net decided to meet every three hours to ckeck in and pass “traffic”. Messages were delivered, work assignments were doled out and locations for gasoline were passed. Did I mention that gas and ice were a scarcity? We were told not to drive our cars unless it was absolutely necessary, because gas was impossible to find. Ice was a “hot” commodity and those without ice, in Houston’s heat, were out of luck. I am soooooo grateful that TF has a generator. He uses it for his business; it has been a real lifesaver for us. He runs it for two hours at a time and we have the refrigerator, freezer, computer, a small lamp and a small fan plugged into it. So many friends of mine had to throw away food from their refrigerator and freezer because they did not have power. Andy Ricker has been cooking on his grill and using his Dutch ovens to cook fabulous meals every night since the storm. He put his food, from the refrigerator, in coolers and has put ice on it daily to help it stretch until the power comes on again. Last Thursday night he cooked a large turkey in a trash can. From what I hear, it was to die for. Later I will blog on how he cooked this turkey.

Last Friday, we got word that the Champions Forest Baptist church was passing out ice, drinking water, and Meals Ready to Eat (MRE’s) to anyone who needed it. Since the church is very close to me, I decided to go over there, mainly for the ice. Those people were so nice, that I almost started to cry. I took the water and some other ice to Chris Feriante so he could deliver it to some people who needed it. We spread the word about these items on our ham radio net and people were able to go over there and get what they needed.

Just so you know: Bob hired a tree company from Conroe to come out, with a crane, and take the tree out of his house. Bonnie counted 32 neighbors who came out to watch the event. I had never seen anything like this before and it was very interesting to watch these professionals do such a difficult job….They only charged him $ 2,100.00 to do the work. Don’t gulp, that is a fair price. There have been other tree companies out in our neighborhood, charging double and triple for the same work. The Attorney General of Texas will be breathing down their backs soon for price gouging.

Did I mention that our power is still out! We have been told that it won’t be back on till AFTER, next Thursday at the earliest. Evidently a tornado went thru the neighborhood and took out some of the major power lines and poles that service our area. We have also been told to boil our water for a little while longer. Of course I didn’t find this out till I had already washed a load of “whites” and hung them out to dry in our back yard. TF strung a 100 foot long extension cord between two trees and a fence post to make me a clothes line. The water looks fine to me and I have been showering in it. We have bottled drinking water and I wash my dishes with a little bleach in the rinse water. I know that sounds “Gross”!

With all of the tree work done and most of our phone lines working now, our ham radio net has officially closed shop for “hurricane IKE relief”. We will meet again next Wednesday night for our regular schedule.

Did I mention that my cousin and his wife, who lived in Crystal Beach, near Galveston lost his house to the storm. There is nothing left of his house or his charter boat business. I am so grateful that he listened to the authorities and left the area before the storm started. He is now in Oklahoma City staying with his son. If you have been reading the papers or listening to the news, Crystal Beach was virtually wiped off of the map. Galveston is devastated, with very little to come back to. If you compare the pictures of the 1900 hurricane, with the current situation, you can see comparisons. If you have noticed, the news channels has said very little about lose of life. TF has heard some things about this and I am not going to spread rumors, but there are things that are not being told to the general public……I can not say any more.

What have I learned from this:
1) People are at their best when the chips are down. I have never seen so much communication between neighbors. People are helping complete strangers and it gives me hope.
2) Be prepared……it is a must if you live in a coastal region. Even if you live in earthquake country or areas that have ice storms, you need to be prepared.
3) Stress can take its toile on the best of people and families. Be nice to each other.
4) Be grateful for all that you have, because it can disappear in a second.
5) Pray often.

To see some of our pictures, check out TF’s blog at:
http://tfsternsrantings.blogspot.com/2008/09/hurricane-ike-photographs-part-1-of-2.html

One last thought: I want to thank CenterPoint Energy for all of the work they have been doing to reconnect 2 million electric customers. They are doing an outstanding job. I also want to thank all of the city and county workers who have turned their life upside down to serve the public..... Thank you so much!