Re: Ike

Noreen, I'm so glad you checked in. We have been concerned. I'm sorry to hear about the damage to your home & photos and books. Very relieved that you and your loved ones are OK. Maybe your missing turtles are still dug into the mud nearby & will emerge when it gets drier. We can hope. Take care, don't try to do it all at once. Judy B ----- Original Message ----- From: <TeichFauna@aol.com> 
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 1:26 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Ike
Hi all.....thanks for the many birthday wishes and concerns. I appreciate it very much!!! Needless to say, this was a memorable birthday, not one that I 
would want to repeat though, not any time soon....if ever.
Wow, how much we take the everyday things in life for granted. Boy does it feel good to have electricity back after 9 days!!! We are lucky, there are still over a million in the Houston area without it, and we were also lucky to 
have a bit of a break in the heat right after the storm....having to  live
without A/C, ice, etc.
We were fortunate to have running water, and gas stove instead of elect. so we were able to light the stove with a match to cook much of the food before 
it  spoiled.  I sure learned a lot about what to do prior to a storm that
nobody usually tells you about....such as empty as much of your freezer and refrigerator as possible the days before a storm is to hit.......even if it doesn't come your way, at least you have a clean frig. LOL But we were always told that a full freezer keeps the food longer....HA, not for 9 days....despite daily visits to the FEMA trailers almost 20 miles away for ice, etc.....of course much of it was melted by the time we got home....but every bit helped. Apparently FEMA didn't think the surrounding Counties other than Galveston and Harris needed supplies....but that is another issue. Luckily as power was restored to many businesses closer to us, we were able to get a little ice 
through their generosity.
They said that Ike was only a Cat. 2, however the storm was as large as most 
Cat 4 storms, and thus had the storm surge of a Cat 4  or 5.  This became
apparent on Friday morning, 20 hours before landfall, when Galveston and the coastal areas were already experiencing significant flooding due to the tides being much higher than usual. By noon, 12+ hours before landfall, the experts were saying that the flooding was worse than they had seen with Edouard, Rita or even Alicia. The city of Houston, although not directly on the coast, 
was bracing for the worst  by then, because all the storm drains from our
streets (Houston and surrounding counties) flow to the many Bayous, which in turn flow into the Gulf. The Bayous were already rising prior to the actual storm 
surge  getting there.
The winds picked up friday afternoon, by friday evening we had already lost power. We were right on the edge of the eye, so our winds never did let up 
at all, except changing directions.  The back half of the storm had much
higher winds, in excess of 100 mph, which did the most damage to trees, houses, the downtown Houston area, etc. The storm surge was much greater than anyone 
could have anticipated.  All in all, many paid too much attention to  the
"Catagory 2 rating" and didn't anticipate Cat 4 or 5 strength winds and surge. 
Far too many didn't evacuate thinking that they had riden out many  Cat 3
storms, so a Cat 2 would not be so bad.

On a personal note....we did suffer a bit of damage with the storm. We
didn't flood, although the water did come into the house a bit, but not bad enough that we were not able to keep a handle on it. However, our neighbors huge tree just blew apart and most of it landed on our yard and roof. Of course at 
night we didn't realize much, since it was at the other  end of the house.
There was so much noise, we didn't realize what really was happening, and with 
the pouring rain and everything pitch dark, was hard to  see what was
crashing where. The next morning we looked out the window to see a lot of debris all over our yard, all the fences down, and the back yard flooded. Did see a spot on the cieling in the living room dripping...put a bucket under it. It was still pouring continuously and tropical storm force winds that day...but we went out several times to try to locate the box turtles that we were unable 
to find the days  before the storm to bring in. Did locate all but two,
unfortunately. DH saw a huge branch on the roof, that had pulled down the gutter to my office....through the rain and debris, and at an odd angle it didn't look like too much damage to the roof other than several shingles damaged, and some shingles gone. Came inside to find that the cieling had fallen in the 
living room, and then heard another crash, the cieling to the  office came
down. We then saw that the plywood sheathing had areas where it had caved in from the large limbs hitting the roof. You could see clear out to the sky. 

Anyway, needless to say, we spent the next 4 days putting up and  securing
tarps on the roof, moving tons of wet things, a lot of books that I didn't want to part with...so I put paper towels between each page to absorb the water. 
(Had learned that from a flood we had 20 years  ago.) Unfortunately I did
find damage to several old family pictures.....that probably hurt the worst. DH moved furniture and cut out the wet carpet and removed it. Needless to say, our house literally looks like Ike marched through it. We have boxes, books, papers, etc. stacked on every chair, table, and any other surface one can 
imagine.  It's like a maze getting through the house.   Definitely a good
thing that we dont' have to "show" anything at any plant shows for the next months, because if I thought my plants weren't perfect before....you should see them now. (smile) No, it's not that bad....despite how terrible disastrous the yard initially looked, after removing an awful lot of debris, a lot more survived than didn't and hopefully will bounce back nicely. The shrubs and 
trees are very lopsided, and many needed serious pruning to cut  out the
damaged limbs, but hopefully in a year or so it'll all be back in shape. However, 
despite all this, we were very fortunate......we  still have a house, we
still have our lives, our "kids" are fine (although shaken up)......there are so many that sustained far more damage, some not even having a house to go home 
to.  And countless people still unaccounted  for.
Like many others, I still can't sleep through the night, waking up  with
every noise.......but that too will pass.

Anyway, thanks again, and please keep the folks here that are less
fortunate, and those in other states in your thoughts and prayers.

Noreen
zone 9
Texas Gulf Coast




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