Surviving Hurricane Ike
When disaster strikes — even in modern America — the refugee experience gets primal pretty quickly.
It rained more Saturday night and Sunday morning. Sunday morning we ventured forth again and much had been accomplished. Roads were drivable, water receded, and the HEBs were open for non-perishable foods — they brought in generators before the storm, a wise gamble both for their bottom line and to serve the people. Lines snaked out for a long ways and people were allowed into the store a few at a time. No ice, though, and what people needed by this point was ice. Anything in the refrigerator was going bad even with stockpiled ice. Ice melts in a refrigerator and fairly quickly, too. The kids, so used to opening the fridge every time they walk by, were broken of the habit — my husband tied the doors shut.
Heat was rising in the refrigerator and the house, too. My anxiety and that of my neighbors rose with the temperature. Toughing it out with cans of tuna and a shotgun might seem fine without kids, but with children, the notion doesn’t seem so palatable especially considering Entergy’s three-week estimate for returned electricity. Two days without electricity felt like a long time. Two weeks?
In hopes of gathering information and improving our mood, we decided to go to church and see what else was going on in the community. By this time, most roadways had one lane open and the flooding receded in most places. Now, it was time to clean up yards and help those with severe roof damage. At noon, the landlines and my cell service went dead (AT&T). Sprint’s network had spotty service.
People exchanged stories. People seemed worried, but calm — and what can you do anyway? We went home and got to work. I enlisted the kids and had the pleasure of hours of bellyaching complaints about fire ants, bugs, sticks, hot and then cold, and “how long do we have to do this?” Their whining steeled my resolve. The yard got cleaned.
Before clearing the yard, I cleaned the house. The trashcan was filled. The temperature in the house was pushing 80 degrees. And the latest report was that power would be out for three weeks. So, we had a choice: either drive somewhere to buy a generator and the fuel to keep it going — which was scarce — or leave to stay with family. Since the former seemed dicey — people had bought up generators in anticipation of the storm — leaving seemed to be the logical answer. Our refrigerated food would be bad within another eight hours; the meat in the freezer, a loss without a generator. We had a hard time giving it away as no one else had refrigeration either. A friend of a friend drove in from Huntsville to get it. At least the meat wasn’t wasted. We gave perishables to neighbors. We packed clothes, kids, dry food, and the dogs before dark — no light — and we left.
For 60 miles the communities alongside I-45 sat dark. The drive was eerie. Traffic was light leaving Houston, but a steady stream of cars drove toward the city. Did these people realize there was no gas? No food? Why were people coming back already? Past Huntsville, every hotel was packed full. Until Dallas, hotels had no vacancy.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Plano. The hotel was filled with refugees like us. Some had nothing to go back to. Some had disasters to face. Some just wanted to be in a place where there was air conditioning, food, and fuel. The mood was resigned and anxious.
Perhaps the most challenging part of this experience is the lack of good information. Even as an evacuee, the national news is worthless. People need solid information about their neighborhood and their community. Specifics. Families outside the area want direct confirmation that their family is safe. With no communications from within the community, this is impossible.
Communication relies on power. So, when the cellular towers lose power, cell phones go down. When the government uses landlines for communication, people can’t connect with family.
In addition, the power companies themselves seemed reticent to keep the website updated. I’m speaking about Entergy in particular. It seems to me that a blog or Twitter feed updating residents about progress would be helpful. Even discouraging news helps people make their plans. No news is not good news. People need to have accurate information in order to make good decisions.
During a crisis, people surprise you and some don’t. People are kind and generous and giving. The community pulls together and helps one another. One of our friends hooked his generator up to two neighbors’ homes so they didn’t lose food even though it meant he lost air conditioning.
Only five days after the storm, it feels like time stretched. It doesn’t feel like this happened less than a week ago. For some people, the work is just beginning. They are just now coming home and seeing where it used to be. For others, like us, we aren’t sure of the final economic impact. We are small business owners and haven’t yet seen our office. We are assuming that it is okay, but we don’t know yet. We are just now having the luxury of thinking about it. Up to this point, it’s been survival — making sure we are able to feed and protect our kids.
In any natural disaster, it gets pretty primal pretty quickly. And even the best prepared and provisioned are looking at low fuel and frayed nerves by this point. So, here I sit in Florida. My neighbor called last night to report that our neighborhood had power. Other neighborhoods will get their power back over the next few days or weeks. We will head back this weekend and see what’s in store.
In the meantime, we decided to make this an adventure for the kids. We have some leftover multi-day passes to Disneyworld that we’ll probably use tomorrow. We are fortunate. Many Houstonians will be struggling for quite some time.
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Dr. Melissa Clouthier is a chiropractor who blogs at MelissaClouthier.com and Right Wing News.
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56 Comments
1. Kirk:It reads like a modest adventure, thanks for sharing it. You didn’t mention if you had sewege and water; I’m assuming you did. If you have drinkable water, a cardboard box of dry goods and a deck of cards your all set. It sounds like you had little or no preparation at all. Honestly though, it also sounds like you didn’t need any. Your biggest beefs were AC, wasted food and bored kids.
Every American family should have a ‘disaster pack’ seperate from other supplies in a closet somewhere. If you don’t, but have 3 plans to evacute your house in case of fire, your not paying attention. It doesn’t have to be too big. 10 lbs of rice, a radio and batteries, canned goods, crackers, a pickle barrel with a lid + cat litter, fill your washer and stop it, turn off your hot water heater , and you have 20 gallons drinking, 20 gallons bathing. You can go as crazy as you want, some people do, but the minimum is easy and would sustain a room full of bored stinky people for weeks.
Sep 20, 2008 - 1:58 am 2. Hugh:I have first hand experience with surviving in a disaster area. Most recently, during this past week, much of my hometown was without electricity. Over half of the Columbus Ohio area was without power. I had to help my partially disabled 85 year old mother survive.
But my primary experience is from late 1995 when I was living on St. Thomas. Hurricane Marilyn rolled in and did tremendous damage to the island. The local electric utility, WAPA, did not even BEGIN to restore electricity to the island until 2 months after the storm…and some island residents went without power for over a year.
Yes, things get rather basic and primal. I did not worry too much about water (the house I lived in had a 40,000 gallon cistern)(though I was a lucky one…many houses lost their water supplies because of storm damage), but food was an issue. There was only so much canned food on the island…and you had to find a way to cook it (I had a propane camping stove and a few cans of fuel). The military started shipping in MREs and water for us. Every week I’d get a supply of food.
There was a 6pm curfew every night. Things were terribly quiet and strange. There I would be in my hot, dark apartment with absolutely nothing to do at night. Once again, I was lucky because a neighbor installed a generator and I would go to his house for A/C, tv, and company.
Sep 20, 2008 - 4:15 am 3. Sioux Lady:Melissa and Hugh – you wusses! Try surviving for two weeks without electricity on the back reaches of an Indian Reservation in South Dakota in the middle of winter when temperatures are below zero. (An ice storm had knocked down miles of electric line and poles.)
Fortunately, I had a Kerosen heater to huddle by and could finally get to town (20 miles away and after the highways were de-iced) to buy kerosene. I could also cook because at least the burners on my LP gas stove could be lit with a match.
I had begged my husband when we first moved out here, “BUY A GENERATOR!” (During the week, he lived and worked 200 miles away but could not come over for the weekend during the ice storm because of the roads.) He finally did buy the generator when he had to sit through another such outage and would have missed the Superbowl!
Sep 20, 2008 - 6:17 am 4. Chuck Pelto:TO: Sioux Lady
RE: BRAVA!!!!
Impressive. But we, at least all those who’ve done such for whatever reason, know it’s not TOO difficult, if you have the proper education, courage and will to survive. For you such came naturally. For me, 27 years in the infantry.
You, dear lady, are indeed impressive. And your rebuke of these ‘tenderfoots’ is apropos.
Personally?
I think everyone coming out of high school should be put into basic training, a la US Army. And part of that training would include survival training, on a par with the Ranger Course.
I think with that sort of ‘education’ we’d:
[1] Cull out the weaklings.
[2] Educate the rest on how to survive.
[3] Instill a sense of personal fortitude.
[4] Inspire a will to survive.
As for keeping supplies, I recommend a 2 year supply of food and a month’s supply of fuels.
RE: Hurricanes & Such
Fortunately for you, you don’t experience the sort of disasters in South Dakota as they just did in Galveston. The pictures are rather ‘impressive’. And I have to wonder what became of those fools who were holding a ‘hurricane party’ at a bar on the shore. Three guesses….first two don’t count.
As a general rule, it’s not a good idea to stick around on the proverbial ‘rail road tracks’ when you see the light of an on-coming express. So it’s better to move out of the way of such an event.
The point here being that if you have to leave a well-stocked and prepared position, you’d better be prepared to have what you need when you get to your alternate position. That means being (1) mobile, (2) agile and (3) frugile. And in this respect, I think Melissa did pretty good, not being an Airborne-Ranger.
New hi-tech is nice, but if there’s a REAL catastrophy—think Lucifers Hammer—electrical power is going to be hard to come by for quite some time. Let alone gasoline or even heating fuel, let alone food.
By the way, there are indications that such things as described Lucifer’s Hammer have happened five times in recorded history. The first being the ‘legends’ of the Great Flood/Gilgamesh and the latest being what brought on the Dark Ages. [See something about Professor Baille at the University in Dublin. Search on tree-ring analysis. Check....THIS LINK for information.]
The average time between such events is roughly 720 years. Albeit these things don’t run like a bus schedule, it’s been roughtly 1500 years since the last such event.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 7:10 am 5. David Thomson:[Chance favors the prepared mind. -- Louis Pasteur, father of modern microbiology]
We live in the West Bellfort and Sam Houston Parkway area of Houston—and the impact of the Hurricane has been rather minimal on our lives. The electricity was restored in about nineteen hours. My greatest suffering was an inability to purchase some hamburger meat. I was lucky this time, and have no intention of pushing it in the future. Purchasing a generator is now high on the list.
Sep 20, 2008 - 8:45 am 6. Chuck Pelto:TO: David Thomson
RE: Generators
In August 2006, State Fair Parade Day, we came back from a rained-out barbecue to find streets in our neighborhood were blocked by downed 19″ diameter tree limbs. [Note: Most of the trees in this old neighborhood are 100+ years old.]
We lost two major limbs off two of our own. One landed in the neighbor’s drive way….fortunately without his expensive SUV under it. And another in the street in front of the house. No loss of property or life….thank God.
However, we were without electrical power for over 24 hours.
Fortunately, we already had an electric generator from some camping outings. It saved our freezer full of meat.
However, for the REALLY BAD events, you’re going to need more than that. I recommend thinking seriously about some kerosene lamps and a better supply of food. Something to last at LEAST a week. Preferably a month.
And, if YOU’VE got food and some of the people in the neighborhood don’t……maybe a few weapons.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 9:12 am 7. Katrina: Democrat, Ike: Republican | The Anchoress:[Every government is only 3 meals away from a revolution.]
[...] at Pajamas Media, Dr. Melissa Clouthier is having trouble integrating after Hurricane Ike even though, as she quickly admits, many are much worse off than she. Every home — and that is [...]
Sep 20, 2008 - 9:18 am 8. Nahanni:Sioux Lady:
Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. In fact your story is sorta wimpy compared to what I have lived through on the high plains. Try spending 4 days stuck in a pickup truck in a blizzard with below zero temperatures 20 miles south of Wildrose, North Dakota sometime for starters. And that is just for starters.
Melissa:
I know how you feel. I live over in Cypress. One of the reasons I did not buy a house in The Woodlands when I was house shopping was the terrible reputation Entergy had not to mention the flooding problems that area has. We were lucky, we were without power for only 2 days but the story in my subdivision is much the same as yours. People here are really pulling together to get things done-neighbors helping neighbors clean up yards, rebuild fences, chop up downed trees, make repairs on folks houses, etc. We also have been having nightly neighborhood block parties where all the neighbors sit outside and enjoy the evening while the kids play together. Tonight we are having a neighborhood barbecue, tomorrow a “fencing bee” where we are all going to rebuild/repair everyone’s fences. Each of us took stock of what we needed to do them and one of the guys in the neighborhood took his panel truck and went up to Austin and got the materials-those of us who have the cash on hand paid him for the materials, those who have to wait on the insurance companies or just don’t have it right now are not left out, they will just pay him back when they get their claim checks or in installments.
Sep 20, 2008 - 9:45 am 9. Living in the Present Tense » The American Mind:[...] Hurricane Ike“ Save and Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:33 am 10. Nancy:The cell phone towers don’t lose power when the power goes out. The cell companies have big standby generators and tons of extra fuel for them. Unfortunately, they don’t always test the generators as much as they should, and discover during the emegency that the generator isn’t working. But every switch site has generators and enough juice to last for at least a week.
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:46 am 11. Ron:Yep, life must be pretty tough when you have to spend a few days in a hotel and then go to Disneyland.
Gosh, got up to almost 80 degrees?
Darn near Primal, isn’t it?
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:46 am 12. Chuck Pelto:TO: Nahanni
RE: Wimpy Business
What a wuss.
No one here quite understands that you CAN survive in such circumstances. It’s more a matter of morale, with a good dose of education, over physical.
The problem is that the vaunted American public education system doesn’t teach what you need to know in a time of trial, such as we’re addressing here.
So….
….where do you propose people get this essential education?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:48 am 13. George:[You haven't lived until you've almost died.]
A friend of mine in Columbus, OH didn’t have electric power at home for 4 days. She had clean water, a functioning natural gas water heater, a car with a full gas tank, cell phone service, and power at work to recharge the cell phone. Take away any one of water, gasoline, or natural gas and her living conditions would have been much worse.
The common theme with inland Ike damage was strong wind knocking down trees onto power lines. Maybe we need to watch for potential tree/power line problems in our own neighborhoods. Not sure how I would report potential tree problems to my local utility. I have underground electric lines in my Plano, TX neighborhood with power lines on major streets at the perimeter.
Would requiring new gas stations/convenience stores to have a transfer switch for a generator be a reasonable local regulation? Not being able to buy gasoline due to electric power outages is a big problem.
The lack of neighborhood level information for evacuees is an interesting problem. I’m a ham radio operator and would likely have the ability to get information out, but not sure how one would make detailed local information available to people outside the area. I’m sure evacuees want to know if their roof is intact and when electric power has been restored.
Sep 20, 2008 - 10:52 am 14. Dennis:Well, it’s not like the Hurricane came out of nowhere and struck a city of unsuspecting and sleeping vicims, or something. Everybody had plenty of warning and should have either left or had the provisions for an extended time.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:03 am 15. Starhawk:All these short sighted stay behinders accomplished was forcing the few people that could actually get things fixed and working again to waste their valuable time catering to a bunch of whining crybabies that didn’t have any supplies. Willing victims, if you ask me, hoping to get a Government payout, or a free stay in a hotel in Las Vegas.
I work in the woodlands and live about 12 miles west of there. I just got the tree off my house today so they can start fixing the hole in the roof.
I have another 10 big oaks down that we are burning little by little.
Got a note yesterday to boil the water.
Power has been back for a few days but other places in the area are still out. We got hit with a microburst at about 4am Saturday that uprooted all the trees and snapped telephone poles in half.
Still it could have been a lot worse.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:11 am 16. obladioblada:We fared well, lost a fence and had water coming in thru the ceiling and windows, but our damages are low priority compared to others.
We’ve been without power for a week, but have been able to power the fridge with a line from a neighbor who does have power. We rapidly learned that the thing we wanted most was running water and use of our gas range. A radio is a necessity to keep track of recovery news– get a hand powered one when the stores have them again. With that, the loss of power is an annoyance, not a catastrophe.
The weather has been glorious, unseasonably cool until yesterday. With windows open during the day and at least the upstairs windows open at nite,
AC has been unecessary– it doesn’t come on during 65 degree nights, anyway.
Ike gave everyone plenty of warning, so it was lanterns, radios, bottled water, ice and non- perishables well in advance.
The overwhelming majority didn’t bother with supplies, then got surly the
afternoon before the storm because grocers ran out of perishables such as milk and bread. After the rush, the shelves were still well-stocked with nonperishables such as dried cereal, canned soup and meals, peanut butter, pasta and sauce and all sorts of foodstuffs that required little or no preparation. Rice and canned and dried beans were readily available. The stores were out of chips and snacks, though.
Some friends have power now, but their children are clamoring for regular “non-power” nights– seems the families had more together-time without lights.
The amount of preparation done well ahead of time and flexibility and resilience of the families who had minimal damage seems to be a good indicator of how well they fared.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:25 am 17. Chuck Pelto:TO: obladioblada
RE: Interesting Report
How far inland and how far away did the eye of the storm pass from you?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:41 am 18. David Ross:["Hell hath no fury".....and we wonder why they honored women by naming hurricanes after them......and the feminists 'objected'.]
Dennis writes: “Well, it’s not like the Hurricane came out of nowhere and struck a city of unsuspecting and sleeping vicims, or something. Everybody had plenty of warning and should have either left or had the provisions for an extended time. All these short sighted stay behinders accomplished was forcing the few people that could actually get things fixed and working again to waste their valuable time catering to a bunch of whining crybabies that didn’t have any supplies. Willing victims, if you ask me, hoping to get a Government payout, or a free stay in a hotel in Las Vegas.”
Hey Dennis! F*** you.
We stayed behind because we didn’t want to clog the evac routes which more vulnerable residents needed; and because we wanted to maintain order in these parts during the immediate aftermath.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:46 am 19. Full Metal Cynic:The sad fact is we have built too close to the water. After Katrina New Orleans should’ve been bulldozed over; in the natural world New Orleans, which sits below sea level, is known as a flood plain. Galveston island, where homes were devestated by Ike, is a barrier Island and should never have been built upon in the first place.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:58 am 20. jeffus:I live about six blocks north of the author. Modestly interesting pictures at http://www.the73rdvirgin.blogspot.com/
Most of the Woodlands kept their water pressure, although knowing whether to boil or not was a little tricky since Houston issued a boil order and our Montgomery County was pretty quiet for a while. We boiled but after several showers and accidentally brushing teeth with tap water, we just decided it must be okay. We had plenty of bottled on hand but got sloppy. Next time we’ll put tape over the faucets as a reminder.
The weather turned off cool by Monday night and sleeping was great. At least 15 degrees below normal. Those who survived Alicia in June 83 have told me how awful two weeks without power can be.
Yes of course there were many trees down in the “Hoodlands” but my family was exeptionally lucky. Didn’t lose a thing but sleep. I was VERY worried, but I don’t think the winds got as strong as they were supposed to.
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:06 pm 21. Chuck Pelto:TO: Full Mental Cynic
RE: Galveston
I disagree….
…if they can afford to replace the home every few years, they should be able to pay for the luxury of building a home in the proverbial ‘path of destruction’.
Let the free-market provide the opportunity to test Fate.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. Maybe they could build a pub that would withstand such an incident. Considering what I’ve experienced in weather along the Front Range, it could be quite an ‘attraction’, for the stimulus and/or rational-sense-of-survival challanged.
[Look upon it as evolution in action, i.e, Darwin Award competitors]
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:10 pm 22. lee:Vivid recall of our experience here in Charlotte from Hurricane Hugo as I read your post, which roared through here as a Category Three storm in September, 1989.
14 days without power let us see what a thin veneer our busy lives is lived on.
Decided we’d get a nuclear reactor for the crawl space just as soon as one is available—and drive to Ground Zero if there’s ever a nuclear event–no point in sticking around.
Went north to our lake house in Michigan for Y-2K after experiencing how feeble suburban living is in an off-the-grid situation, in case the dire predictions of disaster came to pass. At least at the lake in the winter, I had water, a wood stove and fuel, a gas stove, and cold outside to keep perishable food safe—none of which I’d have had in suburban Charlotte.
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:13 pm 23. obladioblada:Chuck–
Since the eye ran right up I45, we were 10-15 miles west of the eye. We live just off of I10, just west of Beltway 8. That’s about 40 miles due northwest of Galveston. Sustained winds here were estimated at 90-100 mph.
Our builder supposedly builds to a Cat 3. The windows did bulge inwards but didn’t break. Somebody will need to get on the roof to figure out why it’s leaking. We got off very easy, friends about 5 miles away lost their entire roof and have major tree damage.
In some cases it seems that the position in the neighborhood may have been a factor. Houses on the interior that were sheltered by other houses may have had less damage. A house at the end of a t-intersection seems to have been on the receiving end of the wind tunnel created by the street.
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:16 pm 24. Shelly Underhill:When we lived in the Atlanta area, one February we were two weeks without power from a wicked ice storm. The neighborhood afterwards looked like Sherman’s March to the Sea … barley any trees left standing, shattered stumps every where, houses broken from falling trees, cars smashed. Transformers and power lines down for miles in every direction. It took three days for the neighborhood men to cut our way out of our part of the subdivision, and then the misery set in. Cold, nearly 100% humidity, no power, no way to get to food easily. We had municipal water and natural gas but that was it. I agree, its not the same as lethal, time critical survival and we had more than enough camping gear to see us through but mercy … I do love modern civilization. Four kids and no power is no way to go if you can help it. Oh, and neighbors utterly unprepared to take of themselves. They can quickly become bad tempered and quite possibly dangerous.
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:22 pm 25. obladioblada:Chuck–PS
The wind altered things in quirky little ways as well. Some trees were defoliated, of course. Many trees tilt to the east. Strangely, two of our trees remain fully upright, but now have decided bows in a portion of their trunks. The lower trunks are at a right angle to the ground, but higher up the trunks look as if they have a sway back and the upper trunk grows slightly to the east of the lower. There is no indication of structural damage or cracking. Perhaps they would have snapped if they’d been dormant.
The knotholes were blown out of the fences that remain standing. The new front door was installed and varnished in the spring. All of the varnish has been stripped from it. I suspect we’ll discover more of these little surprises as time goes on.
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:42 pm 26. Chuck Pelto:TO: obladioblada
RE: Storm Damage
VERY GOOD. Was the owner of the buiding company named President Jimmy Carter? That’s one of the few things he has done that are worthy of praise; building good houses in danger zones.
We had a hail storm roar through town last year that destroyed thousands of roofs and demolished hundreds of stained-glass windows of historic import.
When the hailstones started sounding like large-caliber, high-powered rifle rounds smacking against the windows of our own 100+ year old house, the distaff and I stepped out onto the back porch, lifted our hands and prayed to Him that He would protect our house from the damage raining down upon us.
Several seconds later, the hail stopped….for us…..
However, and I’m not in any ways bragging about this….LOTS of properties downstream from us STILL had severe damage. We still have roofers working in the community.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:44 pm 27. Tari:[To God be the glory.....]
Wow, you really know how to make things sound worse than they were, Melissa! Congratulations on whining your way through the hurricane! I’m embarrassed we share the same hometown; Houston deserves better.
We live in the Med. Center and were out of power until Thursday night. Yes, it was hot. Yes, my 8 and 5 year old sons were initially bored. But overall, Ike (for us) was proof of how strong our family and community are. Starting Saturday in the rain, we spent hours outside, working with neighbors clearing debris and cutting trees. One neighbor, who I’d always thought was a jerk, turned out to be the best guy on the block: he’d brought his farm truck into town the week before and ran all over the place helping others haul tree limbs and stumps into neat piles. People with generators gave shelf space in their fridge to neighbors, we gossiped and relaxed on front lawns when the weather cooled off, shared precious newspapers, and, well, half the men on the street ran off to The Gingerman every evening to “help” drink beer that was otherwise going to waste. Such generous guys!
Things inside the house were just as good. My kids soon got used to no TV; instead, biking up and down the street with friends was much more fun. We ate PB&J by candlelight (it tastes much better that way), cracked open long-shut windows and slept with the cool breeze blowing on us. When our offices re-opened, my husband and I took turns taking the boys to work, where they relished watching movies and being fed too much candy by secretaries.
We were blessed. We always had water. Some people had phone service (not us – we have VoIP). Restaurants nearby re-opened before FEMA had PODs in place. But we were blessed the most by our attitudes: we didn’t give in to despair and took nothing for granted. We relished how much the storm hadn’t taken from us, and when we did so we knew how rich we truly were.
I am so proud of the way we weathered the storm. I’ve learned more about my neighbors, my family and myself this past week. Everything I learned I’m proud to know.
Tari
Sep 20, 2008 - 12:50 pm 28. Chuck Pelto:http://thegrasswidowsdiary.blogspot.com/
TO: Tari
RE: How Much ‘Worse’ Can It Get?
So….
….tell US….
….what’s the WORST you’ve ever experienced?
Ever been under an artillery barrage? How about bombed by high-performance aircraft?
Actually. I’ve determined that disaster and the perception thereof is mostly something of a VERY ‘personal’ nature. I really doubt if you’ve had a 155mm HE round go off near you. Nor been bombed by a stupid pilot in an F4 Phantom. Let alone wandered into an M60 Machine Gun firing range…by mistake.
The ‘poit’ here being that we don’t seem to ‘appreciate’ danger until we’ve REALLY been in the nearby ‘vicinity’ thereor.
Melissa can describe her sense of ‘danger’. Sioux Lady can dsecribe her sense. You can denegrate either or both….as you will. BUT until each of us experiences the REAL life-threatening ‘danger’, we’re just beating our [wo]manly breast and claiming we’ve faced the abyss.
But, still and all, He knows better, what we’ve faced…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. Still and all….
….in the light of natural disasters, we can easily overcome….
….if we can keep our wits about US….
Sep 20, 2008 - 1:14 pm 29. Ubu Roi:Just for the information of people like Dennis, no one north or west of downtown Houston had any business evacuating unless/until their home took damage. (Except for those near the river, bay, or ship channel). That sort of silliness is what caused the Rita logjam.
Sep 20, 2008 - 1:25 pm 30. obladioblada:Tari–
Yes! There were no strangers after the storm and everyone has been generous. Plenty of neighborhood work parties. My 16yo earned close to $200 this week that wanted maintenance beyond the neighborly done and I’ve been pleased to see how entrepreneurial he suddenly became.
Without power, the streets were full of the sound of children playing, it sounded like the neighborhood of my youth. Sadly, the volume decreases as power returns and the kids withdraw to the interior of their houses.
The neighbor guy who was such a jerk will always be a jerk, but now he’s a friendly one.
Our house backs up to another subdivision, with different entrances, there is no interaction. The neighbors in back have been in their house 23 years, we’ve been here 4 and would never have met if the fence hadn’t come down.
Here in the Energy Corridor many woman hold the fort down while their husbands are out of the country for months at a time. It’s strong families and strong women who manage households, parenting and natural disasters while spouses are in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and so on. These women have always had my respect, but it was ratcheted up enormously after watching them handle Ike on their own, their mental attitude and well-earned
Sep 20, 2008 - 1:43 pm 31. Chuck Pelto:resilience helps them to cope a heckuva lot better than others. (Yes, I realize that I’ve just described military spouses as well, you have my respect and gratitude for your sacrifices.)
TO: obladioblada
RE: The Good People
I’m reminded of people responding to the blizzard of March 2003 in Denver. Whole street-fulls of people turned out to clear the streets of 30″ of heavy, wet snow. [Note: The storm tore off large limbs of very old elm trees, brining one down over our 1997 Toyota Convertable. Got pictures of the Toy-in-a-Basket, from the morning after.]
The point being that the ‘good’ people recognize the necessity of working together for mutual benefit.
Keep up the Go[o]d work…..
….we’re all excited.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 2:00 pm 32. Chuck Pelto:TO: obladioblada
RE: The ‘Neighbors’
You REALLY need to consider moving to a smaller community.
We lived in Denver, until five years ago.
Then, in light of the distaff’s aging parents, we moved to a MUCH SMALLER community, in order to support them in the ‘winter of their life’.
Oddly enough…
[1] Our blood pressure dropped by 10 points.
[2] We became more active in our community activities.
[3] We became ‘commissars’ for severa; city and county commissions.
[4] We stood up a neighborhood association to resist being buried by the city council.
[5] We had an impact on local politics.
[6] And, based on information to-date, I think we’ve found a cure for cancer…..go fig…..
I think it has mostly something to do with stepping ‘out of the box’ that society likes to put US in.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 2:11 pm 33. holly:[God made the Earth, and everything therein, for Man.]
I have been without power (plenty of water, working generator, not one bit of damage to the house) in my just-outside-the-Loop home for a week. I’m bitchy and whiny because it’s hot and my house is filthy.
But I am aware that I am bitchy and whiny, and that what I am experiencing barely rises to the level of a minor inconvenience compared to what others have suffered from this storm, and that my family – all my family, all my friends, none of whom suffered injuries or major damage to their homes – are incredibly blessed.
Written as I sit in the living room of my baby sister’s beautiful house in Missouri City, with full power and someone else watching my kid…
Sep 20, 2008 - 2:12 pm 34. Chuck Pelto:TO: holly
RE: Don’t Worry….
…things can get worse….
….and probably will.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 20, 2008 - 2:55 pm 35. Tari:[If you think things are bad now, just wait until they've 'fixed' them. -- observations on the US 'Government'.]
Chuck,
Must be stupider than I thought I was, because I’m at a complete loss to understand the point of your response to my post.
Of course I’ve never faced dangers like those you described – and what exactly would be the point of bringing them up?
This past week I was not in any real danger, and neither was Melissa (especially since she lives 40+ miles north of me). Houstonians in as good a position as both of us are shouldn’t make light of others’ suffering by complaining about our own measly problems. It’s un[wo]manly.
Sep 20, 2008 - 3:08 pm 36. Dick:Stumped my big toe once and had to limp all the way across the living room to the bathroom for a bandaide.
Sep 20, 2008 - 3:08 pm 37. obladioblada:True story…
Chuck–
LOL! We actually lived in the country for 15 years before heading to the city. I’ll go to my grave missing that beautiful property and longing for a country place. I try to get to the mountains or high plains when I can.
City living has had too many advantages. This is not the prettiest place in the world, but at least folks in the South, Texas,and the West are generally very friendly and pretty self-sufficient. Heck, once you get south or west of Atlanta, it’s safe to use your turn signal to shift lanes on crowded highways. Folks in other places take a turn signal to mean they have to accelerate suddenly to cut you off.
Anyway, what I’ve finally learned about myself is that I’m infinitely capable of creating stress for myself no matter what the circumstances. Haven’t mastered correcting the problem, but, heck now I know about it.
Wish I could have my 25 to energy level with my existing life experience.
Sep 20, 2008 - 3:34 pm 38. One Week Later — September 20, 2008 « Kenneturner’s Weblog:[...] Surviving Hurricane Ike Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Tuesday, September 11th. Six Years LaterSlightly Later Night, 25th SeptemberSeptember 11th, 6 Years LaterCarla Bruni to appear on Later… With Jools Holland next week! [...]
Sep 20, 2008 - 3:34 pm 39. blogengeezer:I just finished reading every single comment. Every one of them taught me something. I blog often about the impending disaster in all peoples lives. My point stressed, is that when all is going well, mankind feels secure in his own power to resolve any situation. When true disaster strikes and man is forced to realise his own impotence and fraility, Man then and only then, out of utter dispair, turns to his Creator. Give thanks daily for his blessings that allow all of us, ‘His Children’ to exist for yet another day.
Sep 20, 2008 - 4:03 pm 40. Chuck Pelto:TO: Tari
RE: ‘Stupidity’
Stupid is a matter of ‘nature’, i.e., being ignorant and ‘proud’ of it.
You’re not THAT far gone….as far as I can tell. That’s a ‘progressive’ problem.
The point is that there are a LOT of other disasters that can impact on you and yours in a far more tramatic manner. [Note: Believe me....I've taught State Area Commands (STARCs) about such for 10+ uears.]
But if you’re thinking ahead, you’ll (1) plan ahead and (2) maybe even move to Oregon….
….during an exercise of the Oregon STARC, scenario an 8.3 earthquake near Portland, I was HIGHLY impressed with their preparedness for natural disasters. SERIOUSLY! I’d never seen anything as well organized/prepared in all my time dealing with state-level national guard formations.
For example….running the message center activity that drove the exercise, we threw in a message from the US Geological Service indicting that, after this hypothetical severe earthquake, there was a significant chance that Mount Hood would erupt, think Mount St. Helens….
The director of the STARC EOC called the CG. The CG called the governor….think Governor Palin for Oregon….there was a telephonic conference….the director of the EOC punched a button….
a claxon went off in the EOC…everything went silent…..the director said, “Activate OPLAN HOOD”…..a dozen hands reached for a dozen loose-leaf binders labelled OPLAN HOOD….and a telephone alert list mobilized a hundrend national guard formations/elements to begin preparing for a possible eruption of the ancient volcano know as Mount Hood.
We were ‘impressed’ with their preparations. But, not letting that overwhelm our purpose….we threw in another monkey-wrench….a radioactive leak at the Trojan nuclear reactor electric-generator facility to the west of Portland.
Soooooo…..
…in goes a message from the facility manager that they’ve detected radiation inside of the confinement structure.
Again….
….the director of the EOC calls the AG….there’s a conference call with the governor…..the call is ended…..the finger goes down….the claxon sounds….silence descends….the director evokes, “Activate OPLAN TORJAN”….so many hands go to so many binders….so many call lists are activated….so many brave men and women assume their dutites to their fellow citizen…..
Why is anyone who lives in this great nation NOT impressed?
I guess I’d have to ask a ‘progressive’ for an answer to that question.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Liberals aren't. Progressives won't.]
P.S. In my professional opinion, the best place to survive a disaster in THIS country is Oregon. They’ve got their sh!t together…..last time I looked…..
Sep 20, 2008 - 4:34 pm 41. Tari:Thanks Chuck, but I’ll stick with TX just the same.
Sep 20, 2008 - 6:34 pm 42. Lisa:I’m in the Champions area of Spring, Texas. We just got our power back this evening and I’ll admit it- after eight days without power (only one day with a generator) I almost went bonkers. I’m a HUGE wuss! Thank God for my iPhone!
Sep 20, 2008 - 8:05 pm 43. obladioblada:Lisa– my iphone was a God-send as well, we could text friends and check the radar thru the storm and it’s been invaluable through recovery. It’s acting very strangely now, lots of crashes and hangs. Don’t have power so can’t reset with iTunes. It doesn’t seem to like the very heavy use. Are you having any problems with yours? (extremely hot and humid tonite. How did those of us who grew up without AC survive childhood?
)
Sep 20, 2008 - 8:58 pm 44. Gozer the Carpathian:For me I’ve lived my entire life under the threat of Flash Floods and Earthquakes. The deserts of Southern California don’t rain much, but every time it does you know power is going out somewhere. (I’m told the power companies actually figured out it’s cheaper to not put in better and more storm resistant equipment than to repair it each time it breaks. Odd…)
Rains and Floods you can kind of predict, but earthquakes? That freaks folks out. A hurricane you KNEW was coming. I mean how long did we hear about Ike before it hit? So at least you had time to plan and think about it. (Though for some that time just lead to dread.) Earthquakes just happen and you’d better be ready or you’re screwed.
All in all though it sounds like you handled your own personal crisis (80 Degrees, PFFT talk to me when you handle 120+ with no AC.) rather well and in your own ways. Here’s hoping everyone else gets through their own troubles during this crisis.
Sep 20, 2008 - 11:23 pm 45. Chuck Pelto:TO: Tari
RE: Taking Texas
Well….
….if you get the chance, ask questions of the Texas State Area Command (TX-STARC) and see if they’re as well prepared as Oregon was.
Heck. You could probably ask them for their OPLAN for dealing with hurricanes. If they don’t have one, guess what….
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 21, 2008 - 9:10 am 46. Weather Nerd » Ike and proto-Kyle:[A lack of planning is no substitute for inaction. -- Sardonic Army staff puke axiom]
[...] photos, check out The Big Picture from the Boston Globe. And John Little, Melissa Clouthier (also here), Ubu Roi, and the Houston Press have been blogging form the affected [...]
Sep 21, 2008 - 6:55 pm 47. Deb:We live just west of downtown Houston, lost pieces of our roof and had water damage: The only thing I felt bad about was how rattled I felt after listening to all the horrible wind and flying debris hitting the houst: WHAT MUST OUR SOLDIERS GO THROUGH AND if a little wind and rain rattled me so much, HOW MUST THE SOLDIERS FEEL?
How dare anyone in Texas complain! Most folks don’t know a darn thing about our military, nor do they want to! PLEASE keep your priorities in order! Pray for our marines and soldiers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deb
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:24 am 48. Roberto Pera:Impeach Chuck Pelto!
Roberto (minus 5 or 6 shingles)
Sep 22, 2008 - 6:34 am 49. Dewey:Southwest Houston
Did ya notice the continual coverage of Ike damage by the MSM? Me neither!
New Orleans was on day and night for weeks – Houston, Galveston and all the other Texas towns savaged by Ike got 1/2 day coverage with 5 and 10 minute coverage here and there for a few more days.
You didn’t hear about FEMA handing out Visa cards in Houston. You did not see 100,000’s people waiting for someone else to cleanup the mess, bring them dinner or give them a place to live. And I bet you are not going to see Houston people living in government trailers and dining on the American taxpayer’s back 3 years from now like tyou can find in New Orleans today.
You have got to ask yourself “Why?”
Well done Houston, Galveston and all the Texas towns that suffered.
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:26 am 50. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: A John Candy Movie Moment
Who is Roberto Pera and why is he saying these terrible things about me?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:59 am 51. Chuck Pelto:[Life imitates good movies.]
TO: Deb
RE: How Does It Feel?
I kind of enjoy the fierce winds that race down the Front Range every now and then. A year ago, last March we had them gusting to near hurricane force. We lost a 100+ year-old that shaded the east side of the house, as it started leaning. Had to call the neighbor to advise him not to park his SUV in the driveway, against the chance the tree would go. Fortunately it didn’t. [Note: It was one of the two that lost major limbs in the fly-over tornado we had in 2006. I suspect it was weakened and unbalanced by that incident.]
We had to have the tree taken down for fear of a future storm blowing it over.
I miss that tree. It provided wonderful shade against the morning sunshine into my office and the play of its shadowed leaves on the sun-lace curtains was always pleasant.
At any rate….being shelled is not fun. Hence, I don’t mind a bit of wind. Heck, jumpmastering, one has to stick their body into the 178 mph slipstream outside the C130/C141 while doing the one-minute door check. Now THAT’S a ‘rush’.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 22, 2008 - 9:07 am 52. Chuck Pelto:[That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.]
TO: Texans
RE: Speaking of Your Soldiers, i.e., National Guard
Do you know where YOUR division is today?
When Katrina stormed ashore in Louisiana, Louisiana’s primary formation, an independent infantry-heavy brigade was off in Iraq.
I blame the former governor and her adjutant general for NOT having them stateside during the hurricane season. It would have been easy enough to insist they were stateside during that time. But they failed to plan ahead and object to the Department of the Army, i.e., Puzzle Palace, when the request came down.
[Note: This is one of the aspects of being a governor of a state that falls within the realm of 'executive' experience; managing the state's military assets in a manner that best supports that state. Governor Blanco failed, abysmally. Obama has had no such experience. Palin has.]
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 22, 2008 - 9:13 am 53. William:[Sleep well tonight IF your National Guard is alert.]
Having been through a hurricane or six myself (my first clear memory is of Hurricane Frederic slamming into Mobile and the effects weeks after) I can understand what you’re going through. Fortunately for us, Frederic hit in the days before people became accustomed to Uncle Sam stepping in to pull them out of every situation. I remember neighbors pulling together, chainsawing trees out of the street, repairing each others fences and houses, and one family with a generator and deep freezers storing food for the entire street. None of them sat around whining about the lack of government aid. It sounds as if your community is behaving in much the same way which is why I predict that Texas will rebound from Ike before Louisiana fully recovers from Katrina.
Also, to prepare for the next one: go camping. My love of camping makes a couple weeks without power seem inviting.
Sep 22, 2008 - 1:37 pm 54. AnnieB:I was going to comment but now I’ll just say…. listen to William, everybody.
A disaster kit in the closet it good – but far better is a disaster kit stored in your *head*.
Sep 22, 2008 - 1:59 pm 55. Susan:Nahanni-re: your comments on Entergy
Letter to CenterPoint Customers
September 22, 2008
Dear Residents:
As you know, Hurricane Ike made a direct hit on Galveston, Texas, and devastated the entire Houston region the morning of Sept. 13. Most Entergy and CenterPoint customers lost electricity for at least five days, and some, unfortunately, for longer.
We have received many calls, e-mails and messages from residents in CenterPoint’s service area who are disappointed that their power has not been restored as of today. We share your disappointment and send this letter to provide as much information as we can related to the power situation.
While it may be frustrating to see that much of The Woodlands has already had power restored, it is important to understand that The Woodlands is served by two electric companies: Entergy and CenterPoint. Entergy is a smaller company than CenterPoint, with power grids north of here and has been able to restore a majority of its customers. CenterPoint is a much larger company, with power grids south of The Woodlands, with The Woodlands being at the far north boundary of its service region.
In the 5,000-square mile service area centered around Houston, CenterPoint has about 50,000 miles of power lines—a great deal of infrastructure that was susceptible to the high winds and downed trees. Nearly 93 percent, or 2.15 million customers, lost power. CenterPoint is working to restore power to key facilities vital to health and safety, such as water treatment plants, hospitals and other public service facilities, and then focuses on restoring power to the greatest number of customers in the least amount of time across their territory, regardless of geographic location. CenterPoint is regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Leaders of the Community Associations have contacted CenterPoint and made every effort to get additional information. State Senator Tommy Williams and Representative Rob Eissler, along with leaders of the Community Associations and The Woodlands Township, have been contacting CenterPoint to make sure that CenterPoint knows that there are thousands of homes in The Woodlands still without power, and to make sure that CenterPoint does not forget us. We have been staunch advocates on behalf of our residents. According to CenterPoint, restoration for customers in zip codes 77380, 77382 and 77389 is estimated (not guaranteed) after Sept. 25. CenterPoint reports that they are working in their entire service area simultaneously and because of different levels of damage, some areas may come up before others.
We assure you that we have not forgotten about you. As some of our newest residents in The Woodlands, you are of utmost importance to us. Unfortunately, we cannot control the effects of Hurricane Ike, and we are asking for your patience in waiting for power to be restored. To make the wait a small bit easier, residents may visit any fire station in The Woodlands to recharge cell phones or laptops.
If you have further questions, please call our office at 281.210.3800, and know that we are doing everything within our power to work with CenterPoint to restore your electricity as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Joel Deretchin,
Sep 22, 2008 - 8:36 pm 56. Angela:President, The Woodlands Association
We’re moving to The Woodlands. Our truck arrives on Saturday, October 4. We have two young children. How are the food supplies in the grocery stores? How are the gas supplies at the stations? Should mom and kids stay behind for awhile if we’re facing standing in line for two hours for the bare minimum of groceries?
Oct 1, 2008 - 12:23 pm