Read more about it at www.chron.com, The Houston Chronicle, Houston's news source.
Facts
West Houston survived, as did most of the City of Houston! Hurrah!
Unfortunately, we did have a great deal of devastation along the Gulf Coast communities. The news media might be lying to you somewhat, as some of the areas in Galveston and Chambers counties were labeled as "no fly" zones, meaning...the government did not want you to see the human and animal debris along the Bolivar Peninsula, mainly out of respect for the loved one's families.
Personal Perspective
My family was very fortunate. Although most of the city had no electricity for 11 days, we received electricity 3 days post-storm. I was shouting praises when the electricity came back on. If the lineman had been at my front door, I would have hugged him for dear life. God bless these behind the scenes people who are away from their loved ones to help us out!
POST HURRICANE - DAY 1
Saturday morning - A few hours post-storm, the neighbors all got together in the rain and cleared the sidewalks of large oak trees and debris. I never knew we had so many kind neighbors. On the other hand, I never knew I had so many CLUELESS neighbors...LOL!
Saturday afternoon - Two of those kind men happened to have a generator and a window unit (swamp cooler) air conditioner that they hooked up and ran non-stop for 3 days. (On the positive side, they did share it with the beautiful ladies next door.)
For those of you who have never heard a diesel generator run,let me tell you they are LOUD AS HELL !
POST HURRICANE - DAYS 1 - 3
After the first morning of frayed nerves and attempting to sleep with my windows opened and the battery operated fan in my face, I had to admit defeat and packed up the family and headed out to Dad's for air conditioning, laundry and showers. When I got to my Dad's I couldn't keep my eyes open - I sacked out with my head back on the couch and SNORED so loudly and obnoxiously that when I woke up, there were no family members left in the room.
POST HURRICANE - DAY 3
Monday, 2:00 p.m. - When we returned home 3 days later, that obnoxious generator was still running and we still had no electricity. Luckily, my freezer only had one package of meat to be cooked. So, I dragged out one of my necessary hurricane supplies, my Coleman gas stove, and set up shop on the front patio. My son and I enjoyed delicious turkey tacos with corn and all the fixins. Who says hurricane living has to be dull?
The other thing I found when I got home was a laundry full of wet and soured towels. I put my towels out on the front bushes and let them dry in the sun. I knew I would need to wash them again, yet at least I could rest in the fact knowing that they would not be mildewing in the washing machine.
Monday, 4:00 p.m. - Hurrah! The generator has stopped. Oh! It has only run out of diesel. One of the men comes out on the front porch. I yell across the courtyard at him, "Hey, can you guys give that thing a break, some of us haven't slept (slight lie, yet defending my neighbors) in 3 nights. Can you at least turn the thing off at 10:00 p.m. tonight so that we can ALL get some sleep?"
AMAZINGLY, those clueless guys gave into my guilt trip! They shut the generator right down, and put the window unit away!
Monday, 4:30 p.m. - I'm cleaning up all of the lunch mess off of my front porch. My neighbor across the way climbs down the stairs with her children in tow, points to my front porch, and states "I've had all of this I can put up with!" Oh no, now I'm the clueless neighbor!
I guess it's all a matter of perspective, eh? I cleaned up my front porch, slowly put all of the dried towels back in the laundry basket, and then the electricity came back on at 7:00 p.m. And that's how we Houstonians survived Hurricane Ike.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
