Texas and Ike

[Kirth Gersen]

Updates from H-Town:

Sounds as if 300K+ people have power back -- about 20-30% of Houston. Save for a minor SNAFU figuring out whether FEMA or the local gov was in charge, supplies seem ready to go out today (food & water) to people still out of power. I never thought much about Mayor White before this event, but he seems to be doing a bang-up job of getting things up and running again. All City personnel are back at work today.

The weather is almost unnaturally pleasant, and about 20oF cooler than usual for this time of year -- so loss of AC thankfully isn't life-threatening.

The usual gleeful reports of looting on the news have led to a curfew (9 pm to 6 am) on the streets -- probably wise, given the debris and downed power lines still about.

Flooding in Houston has mostly subsided -- last night I saw a guy park his truck in the middle of the street, put his hazard lights on, get out and clear a storm grate by hand, and then get back in and drive on his way. My wife drove halfway around the city to work this morning and reported the major highways on her route were fine -- most had several clear traffic lanes, and one default "debris" lane.

Still no sign of gasoline. Given the number of generators that have been made available, local supplies are sure to run out soon. Walked to the local filling station and the guys there said there's no way of telling when more might arrive: "We wait! Mebbe two days, mebbe a week, mebbe more." Given that FEMA supposedly is trucking in food, water, and ice -- but that people still have to travel to a local "pod" to get them -- gasoline would seem to be the key missing commodity.

Local grocery stores are closed, but there are signs up indicating that others might be open elsewhere. Actually saw a restaurant "open" last night, serving a few loyal customers from a small gas grill outside.

Overall, given the magnitude of some of the impacts, this is one of the fastest, best-coordinated responses I've ever seen (in comparison, I weathered hurricane Gloria in Connecticut in '85, and was out of power for 8-10 days after that).

[David Fryer]

How did Dallas fare? One of my students is from there and I want to be able to reassure her that everything is fine.

[Mairkurion {tm}]

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Updates from H-Town:

Thanks for the details, Kirth. Been listening to the news as I browse, and they are telling H'ians here at the Dallas Convention Cen. to stay put. Take care.

[Mairkurion {tm}]

David Fryer wrote:

How did Dallas fare? One of my students is from there and I want to be able to reassure her that everything is fine.

It was really a big nothing here in Dallas. Some abnormal wind gusts, some rain. It wasn't even a thunderstorm here. Nothing to worry about.

[CourtFool]

Thanks for the update, KG. Glad to see you are well.

[David Fryer]

The latest news we are getting here is that Galveston is "unihabitable." How does that square what you guys in Texas are hearing?

[Kirth Gersen]

David Fryer wrote:

The latest news we are getting here is that Galveston is "unihabitable." How does that square what you guys in Texas are hearing?

Some people on the radio seem optomistic that they can rebuild, in some cases from the ground up, using FEMA money -- your tax dollars at work. They got hit bad, though. Apparently, a lot of the people who decided to "tough it out" ended up calling 911 when the storm hit and asked to be rescued. It was a debacle.

[Mairkurion {tm}]

If there is only one building (a hotel) that has power and water (that must be boiled), then that sounds pretty uninhabitable to me.

EDIT: somehow the last part of my post was lost. Let me see if I can reproduce it -
I heard that there are distributions points for ice, so it raises the question of how many people really are staying put even now. The death count has only gone up to five. I keep checking the Galveston Daily News site, as it seems to have more specific info that, say, CNN. They haven't updated all that often, however, and it is frequently "down for maintenance".

[Kirth Gersen]

Just got off the phone with houstonderek. He's got power back as of last night, but no internet until the cable company can get out there and fix their lines. Sounds cheerful -- possibly due to all the overtime he can pick up at work this week, now that they're open again.

[Azzy]

Good to know you guys are alright. Hope your lives (as well as all those affected) return to normal as soon as possible.

[David Fryer]

Agreed, pass our good will on to Derek if you talk to him again.

[Lilith]

Anybody know how San Antonio's doing? They're far enough inland that it should be okay, but I'd like to know (news reports seem okay). :)

[Kirth Gersen]

Daigle wrote:

My family is in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area and I will keep y'all in my thoughts as I stay up worrying about them.

Daigle, how did your family come through? Have you heard from them?

[Adam Daigle]

Kirth Gersen wrote:

Daigle wrote:

My family is in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area and I will keep y'all in my thoughts as I stay up worrying about them.

Daigle, how did your family come through? Have you heard from them?

Heard from them? Hell, they're in my living room watching old Farscape DVDs right now. They rode out the storm at the house and then decided to ride out not having power at mine. I think my stepdad really wanted to know exactly what the damage to the house was instead of being in the situation they were in when they evacuated for Rita. After Rita hit, they weren't allowed to go back for weeks and not knowing how the house fared drove him insane.

Their place was fine. A little siding got stripped off, a couple of shingles and a s*%!load of limbs in the yard, but none on the roof or through a window. No water in house either. The mayor around there said that he thought the area was lucky because Rita stripped all the old limbs and trees when it went through three years ago, so there was not a heap of debris thrown around this time.

My lady's family (a few blocks away) had similar results, except for her sister that lives between Bridge City and Orange who had six feet of water in her house (complete with perch swimming around trapped inside).

I'm glad to hear that you guys fared pretty well. I haven't had a lot of time to post because I've been working and 'entertaining'.

[Kirth Gersen]

Daigle wrote:

My lady's family (a few blocks away) had similar results, except for her sister that lives between Bridge City and Orange who had six feet of water in her house (complete with perch swimming around trapped inside).

The morning after hurricane Floyd put us underwater in Virginia, I caught a two-foot-long catfish in the neighbor's driveway, using a bucket.

[Jess Door]

It's cool to hear there's so many Houstonians here on Paizo - I'm a new transplant from Michigan myself! I was another of the lucky ones, with power restored by late Saturday evening, and only a short interruption in water pressure.

In fact, I'm hosting my company's technology department in my house. :) My office is by Montrose and Westheimer, and they're still powerless!

[Wise Meerkat]

Lilith wrote:

Anybody know how San Antonio's doing? They're far enough inland that it should be okay, but I'd like to know (news reports seem okay). :)

My part of SA (Cibolo) did not even get any wind gusts. It was a big weather non-event. Local shelters took in almost 10,000 refugees. San Antonio, the city to visit while your hometown is having extreem weather.

[Lilith]

Awesome - thanks for letting me know, O Wise Meerkat. :)

[Kirth Gersen]

THESE are worth looking at.

[houstonderek]

hi guys, the internet came back on at work today, so just wanted to pop in and say hi and let y'all know everything is good here. :)

[David Fryer]

Welcome back Derek.

[Garydee]

houstonderek wrote:

hi guys, the internet came back on at work today, so just wanted to pop in and say hi and let y'all know everything is good here. :)

That's great! Nice to know everything's ok.

[Callous Jack]

houstonderek wrote:

hi guys, the internet came back on at work today, so just wanted to pop in and say hi and let y'all know everything is good here. :)

Welcome back.

[silverhair2008]

I also survived Hurricane Ike. However, it wasn't until 3 pm on Thursday that power got restored. Imagine 6 days without internet or TV. Thank the God and Goddess for battery powered radios. It is strange that Derek and I are about three blocks from each other but didn't know of each other until this board.

Thank you all for your concern and your prayers. I wish you all a long and happy life.

[Garydee]

silverhair2008 wrote:

I also survived Hurricane Ike. However, it wasn't until 3 pm on Thursday that power got restored. Imagine 6 days without internet or TV. Thank the God and Goddess for battery powered radios. It is strange that Derek and I are about three blocks from each other but didn't know of each other until this board.

Thank you all for your concern and your prayers. I wish you all a long and happy life.

Six days without being able to get on these boards is a hell I wouldn't want to experience. I'm glad everything worked out well for you.

[David Fryer]

I just saw on CNN that there are about 300 people still missing after Ike. It makes me glad that all of our Paizoans made it through safely.

[houstonderek]

Jess Door wrote:

It's cool to hear there's so many Houstonians here on Paizo - I'm a new transplant from Michigan myself! I was another of the lucky ones, with power restored by late Saturday evening, and only a short interruption in water pressure.

In fact, I'm hosting my company's technology department in my house. :) My office is by Montrose and Westheimer, and they're still powerless!

dude. um, do you know dave? i heard the people he works for were hosting out of someone's apartment...