Our friends in Houston

[Christiern]

Lon and others in the area, I hope you have evacuated or are in a safe place—it really looks bad from what I see n TV. Let us hear from you when possible.

[kh1958]

I think Lon lives in Austin, which is safely inland, about 160 miles or so northwest of Houston. Dallas is even farther inland, but Saturday the forecast is winds up to 50 mph and lots of rain.

Edited September 13, 2008 by kh1958

[Soul Stream]

Everything's fine here in Austin. We're so far inland that it will just be rain and wind here. Matter of fact, it's veered kind of east, so they were talking like we will just see a few inches of rain and that'll be it more or less.

[BERIGAN]

Here's a shot of the radar....man, what a big storm! And right over Galveston and right over Houston....

Edited September 13, 2008 by BERIGAN

[BERIGAN]

I mean the eye over Galveston and Houston....it's really bad near Houston from what they are showing on the Weather channel...

[Dan Gould]

I think the surge and the wind in Galveston will be extraordinary.

[jazzbo]

Lon and others in the area, I hope you have evacuated or are in a safe place—it really looks bad from what I see n TV. Let us hear from you when possible.

Chris, thanks for the concern. I was in Houston this time last year but since I lost Helen in October last year and no longer need to be there at M. D. Anderson Cancer Research Center I have not returned to Houston and have been here in Austin, retired since May and getting better all the time.

As Mike mentions there is little expected here in Austin than some heavy rain.

I hope Garth and possibly a few other posters from Houston are well.

[Dan Gould]

Here's a frightening first-hand account of Galveston up to the point that the back-side of the storm came ashore:

The eye of Hurricane Ike arrived here at 2:10 a.m. A deafening howl suddenly disappeared, and an eerie silence woke up a curious few who ventured out onto the streets.

With winds that raged at more than 110 miles per hour hammering the barrier island most of the night and delivering storm surges topping 15 feet, the Gulf waters came all the way up to and through the bottom floors of the restaurants and hotels that used to sit several hundred feet from the water’s edge.

But for an hour or so, those winds and rains suddenly stopped and the city took on the feel of a haunted house. The island was covered mostly in darkness as more than 1.4 million people’s homes in the region were without power. The only lights to be seen came from the strobes of several building’s fire alarms. Some sections of the east end of the island glowed orange from house fires. At the cemetery, grave statues of saints and white tombstones barely stuck their heads above muddy waters.

The crashing waves and the echoes of car alarms were the only sounds. A thick smell of leaking gas permeated some blocks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/14gal...amp;oref=slogin

[papsrus]

The ferocity of these storms really gives you pause sometimes.

I've never heard anyone who decided to ride one out say anything other than, "Never again." When Charlie hit near here a few years ago, some co-workers found themselves directly in the shit when the storm took a sharp turn and made landfall. They were literally hiding in closets under mattresses as the roofs of their homes were peeling off. They definitely suffered some scares that took quite a while to heal.

Hope folks here got the hell out of the way.

[sidewinder]

Hope things are OK with Aggs. Wasn't he somewhere near the coast?

[Shawn]

Hope things are OK with Aggs. Wasn't he somewhere near the coast?

I believe he was heading to San Antonio.

[sidewinder]

Ah - good to hear. Thanks for the update !

[Aggie87]

I'm back, and thanks for the concern. I did go up to San Antonio (actually had a mini-reunion with some of my high school friends from Wiesbaden, Germany - also had a drink in the Menger Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt put together his Rough Riders), and it was nice weather all weekend there. Finished unboarding my windows about an hour ago. We had no problem here in town with the hurricane.

My sister lives in Houston and they heeded the mayor/governor's recommendation to "hunker down". They live in the center of the city, and had some damage, but nothing major. They are without electricity though, and have been told it may be up to 2 weeks before it comes back on. And no running water, either. Talked to her on her cell phone earlier today, and she said they wouldn't likely ride another one out, but this one turned towards Houston so late the officials didn't want another scenario like they had during Hurricane Rita, when everyone was stuck on the highways trying to get away, and have the storm hit at that point.

I hope Garthsj and Clifford's family and anyone else in Houston or the path of the storm are doing ok.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Aggie87

[papsrus]

Good to hear all's well with you Aggie.

[BFrank]

Glad you rode it out OK, Agg!

Edited September 15, 2008 by BFrank

[sidewinder]

Good news ! :rsmile:

[jazzbo]

Whew!

[Dan Gould]

Glad to hear you're OK Erick though I am puzzled by what you say the officials said. It looked to me for several days that there were strong odds that Galveston and then Houston would get hammered, and that's just what happened.

[Aggie87]

Glad to hear you're OK Erick though I am puzzled by what you say the officials said. It looked to me for several days that there were strong odds that Galveston and then Houston would get hammered, and that's just what happened.

I agree it was odd, Dan, especially in light of the "CERTAIN DEATH" warnings that were being issued for people (even those in 2 story homes) on Galveston Island.

But that's what the Houston folks were told to do.

From CBS's website, back on Thursday:

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain, but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

Authorities hoped to avoid the panic of three years ago, when evacuations ordered in advance of Hurricane Rita sent millions scurrying in fright and caused a monumental traffic jam so big that cars ran out of gas or overheated. Ultimately, the evacuation proved deadlier than the storm itself. A total of 110 people died during the exodus, including 23 nursing home patients whose bus burst into flames while stuck in traffic.

This time, traffic was bumper-to-bumper on the freeway leading away from Galveston immediately after the evacuation order, but by late afternoon, many evacuees had made it past Houston, to the north. And just in time: Waves were already inundating the beach on one end of Galveston Island.

Houston Mayor Bill White said one of the lessons of Rita mess was that too many people fled who didn't need to. Instead, he asked residents to protect their homes.

[7/4]

Glad to see you made out OK Aggie.

My current big customer has three offfices in Houston and 60 employees that survived. Insurance will cover damages...

[medjuck]

Heard from Garth. He's ok. Had some damage to some trees but not his house. (Most important his cds and Lps weren't damaged. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/style_ima...cons/icon1.gif)

This was an attempt to add a smiley emoticon. I just dragged it up to here. What else should I have done?

Edited September 15, 2008 by medjuck

[Neal Pomea]

On the line for bold, italic etc click the second green link (for image) then insert the URL of the image.

Edited September 15, 2008 by It Should be You

[Dave Garrett]

Glad to hear you're OK Erick though I am puzzled by what you say the officials said. It looked to me for several days that there were strong odds that Galveston and then Houston would get hammered, and that's just what happened.

I agree it was odd, Dan, especially in light of the "CERTAIN DEATH" warnings that were being issued for people (even those in 2 story homes) on Galveston Island.

But that's what the Houston folks were told to do.

From CBS's website, back on Thursday:

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain, but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."

Authorities hoped to avoid the panic of three years ago, when evacuations ordered in advance of Hurricane Rita sent millions scurrying in fright and caused a monumental traffic jam so big that cars ran out of gas or overheated. Ultimately, the evacuation proved deadlier than the storm itself. A total of 110 people died during the exodus, including 23 nursing home patients whose bus burst into flames while stuck in traffic.

This time, traffic was bumper-to-bumper on the freeway leading away from Galveston immediately after the evacuation order, but by late afternoon, many evacuees had made it past Houston, to the north. And just in time: Waves were already inundating the beach on one end of Galveston Island.

Houston Mayor Bill White said one of the lessons of Rita mess was that too many people fled who didn't need to. Instead, he asked residents to protect their homes.

The problem is that there is no way to evacuate the entire metro region of Houston in the timeframe generally available before a hurricane strikes, as was proven three years ago when everyone tried to flee in advance of Rita. The highways simply don't have the capacity to get several million people out of the area quickly. The people that really need to evacuate are the ones at risk of storm surge, and that generally means the coastal counties (although for a cat 5, the evacuation zone reaches into the eastern boundaries of Houston along the Ship Channel). A 10' storm surge can kill you, but even 100 mph winds won't if you have a reasonably well-built home. Hence the advice for most Houstonians to stay at home and take the usual hurricane precautions such as securing loose objects outdoors, stocking up on canned food and bottled water, and preparing to be without power for an extended period of time.

I distinctly remember the last hurricane that scored a direct hit on Houston, Alicia in 1983. Ike was definitely worse. There were sustained winds between 75-95 mph in metro Houston, with gusts at significantly higher speeds, for several hours. My house was unharmed, but my parents' house flooded and there are a lot of places in the city that look like a bomb went off, although cleanup is moving along nicely considering the massive scope of the damage. Somewhere between 50-60% of the city is still without power - it's really strange to be driving in familiar areas at night and not see a single light anywhere.

25 years between hurricanes, and I really hope it's at least another 25 years before we get hit by the next one.

[BERIGAN]

Some amazing, amazing photos of the damage caused from Haiti on west....

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/t...ul_life_of.html