Hurricane Ike- Friday, Sept 12, 2008

Hurricane Ike was definitely not a fun experience! I really didn't remember much from Hurricane Alicia- after all, i was only 8. All i remember is my mom listening to her am battery operated radio- and looking outside our taped up windows in the dark without power seeing the big tree that fell down- luckily into our driveway, and not into our house! i don't remember seeing any of the aftermath- like i am seeing now- either it wasn't as bad, or i blocked it out of my memory...

For this storm- we first had our trampoline just tied to the posts of our patio - but later decided to disassemble it and move it to the garage (thank goodness we did- we saw alot of trampolines which had been blown over fences. WE moved everything off the back patio- and i started to get a little paranoid that we didn't have plywood or tape on the windows in the family room- especially since there are no blinds or curtains on them- nothing to prevent glass from flying into the room if the window's broke. Jeremy was certain that wouldn't happen, since the windows are double pane, but decided if i felt i needed to tape them, then i could.. i even had him take the ceiling fan from the patio down, too. scared it would fly into the window...

Jeremy set up the generator- ready to go once we lost power, and we both refueled our gas the night before (waited in line about 30 minutes).. stocked up on water and boxed/canned foods- and batteries and flashlights.. we were ready for the storm - since all of my county was under mandatory evacuation EXCEPT pearland (where i live) and alvin, i figured that it wouldn't be THAT bad in pearland. The majority of my friends DID evacuate, but i was very worried about sitting in 23 hours of traffic to drive a distance that normally takes 3 hours (that happened to several friends during evacuation for hurricane Rita). Also, i had to work Thursday when most people left, to be sure all of the payrolls were run- people still need to get paid! so we wouldn't have been able to leave until thurs night or Friday morning = more traffic. so, we decided to stay put.

The winds were gusting more than normal in pearland as early as 6pm- but the sky was pretty clear- some clouds, but not dark clouds- you'd never really know a hurricane was coming... by 7:30pm, our lights flickered- they flickered about 3-4 times between 7:30 and 8:50, at which point the went out- and are STILL out today, 8 days later.. i had put jacob to bed around 7:45 in hopes that he'd sleep through the storm- but the second the lights went out he woke up crying- (his music stopped and the fan we use for noise stopped, and he woke).. we were downstairs having a hurricane slumber party as we called it- the girls got their first taste of their own wine coolers, which they didn't like, btw- and no, i don't condone underage drinking- and i am not one of those moms who thinks they're cool bc they let their underage kids drink 'only in my house' this was a one time special occasion for our hurricane party- hopefully we will have no more hurricane parties before the girls turn 21. as soon as the power went out, jeremy set up the generator and we had light- and tv- to keep an eye on the storm... which was nice.. it got really windy REALLY fast, and once the power went out- it was pitch black outside- so you couldn't see what was flying around- but you could sure hear the wind- it was horribly loud- and since we had generator power, i could see the windows giving a little (which i know they are made to give a little, but it was still scary) it seemed that at any minute they might break- or something might fly into them breaking them-

around 12, the girls and jeremy went to rescue the dog in our back neighbors yard- the a-holes (who never even acknowledge the dog other than to feed it) left the dog there in the hurricane and evacuated!!!!! the girls and jeremy somehow managed in the storm to lift the 40 lb beagle over our fence and got it into our back yard, and it's doghouse, too... but once they were inside, we heard a strange noise- looked outside to check (with flashlight) and saw that the doghouse had blown over to the other side of the yard so we took the dog and doghouse in through our house to the garage- and left him there for the rest of the storm with some food and water- he was terrified, poor thing!

eventually, around 1? the girls went to sleep in the family room, and the boys and jeremy and i ended up in our room- but , of course since i am a light sleeper to begin with, i could NOT sleep- that wind was way too loud, i kept waking jeremy up asking him if we should move to the closet.. away from all windows- and he kept telling me we were fine- but i couldn't risk it, i said 'what if! what if we don't move in there and something DOES break the widows and glass flies into the room and hits one of us or the kids- and all we had to do was go to the closet to prevent it?' so finally, he agreed that if it made me feel better and made me shut up haha, go for it- so i woke up the girls and boys and we all moved to the closet.. jeremy stayed out in the family room watching the tv for the most part, he wouldn't quite fit in the closet with the rest of us- not laying down at least... well i ALMOST fell asleep, feeling a little safer- although i could still hear the wind in the closet... i texted my friends asking them if they were okay, etc- and found out we still had TWO hours until the eye hit! i really thought i might have a nervous breakdown- i was so anxious to get it OVER and it wasn't even THERE yet, and the end tail of the storm is supposed to be the worst!! i did hold it together- didn't want to upset the kids- esp the boys- but i was very nervous- well then, at 3:30am, the fire alarm went off in our house...

i was totally freaked out- i am very paranoid of fires- after running through smoke down 8 flights of stairs in my old apartment building (fire was maybe on floor 5? and running down from floor 8, once i got to 5 we were running in the smoke)... i couldn't sleep for weeks after that- anyway- fire alarm goes off and so we have brittany stay in the closet with the boys while brooke, jeremy and i went to look for the fire..we couldn't find a fire- looked in all rooms, closets and even the attic (which jeremy saw some small leaks of water coming in) so we started to dismantle the fire alarms, we found no fire, and a friend told me it could be bc of the change in air pressure- they were LOUD and there was no way to stop them - one by one we took them down and took the back up batteries out- and when we got to the last one- in our room jeremy goes to unwire it and water is dripping out of it- great! a leak in our ceiling- we then noticed it going down the side of our wall that backs up to the fireplace- we pulled the dresser away, moved the flat screen off the wall, and lined towels up along the wall- and put buckets where the main leaks were. luckily, our entire ceiling did not collapse like some of our friends- but we do have some sheet rock work that needs to be done.

here' the ceiling:



here's our house taped up before the storm (the back of it)



pre-storm, you see it's already windy by looking at their hair!





sleeping on the floor of my closet





when we finished with all that drama, the kids actually fell asleep in the closet for a few hours- i, on the other hand could NOT fall asleep- i was way too scared of our windows crashing in on us, the wind was HORRIBLY scary sounding and it was still pitch black still so we couldn't see what was going on outside. eventually, after what seemed like DAYS, we saw daylight. some neighbors a few streets over were driving around and stopped by- and we decided we'd head out, too to see the damage. and damage there was- HORRIBLE damage- trees down, fences down, trampolines hanging over fences, power out everywhere, roofs ripped off, street lights dangling- it was like we were in another world- NOT the pearland we live in- was this really happening?! for the first week, it was near impossible to get gas anywhere- either there was no power at gas stations, or they were out of gas, or the lines were hours long- this was the same for groceries- especially ICE and refrigerated goods- it was true what they say, you really DO need to fill up and stock up on gas and groceries before a storm... thank goodness i waited 45 mintues the night before the storm to fill up...After our drive around town, we got back to the house- in laws and grandmother in law moved in- for 3 days- at first we were taking the generator back and forth between our house and theirs to keep the fridges cold, but then realized that was stupid and moved all of their food to our house- and just kept the generator there.

driving around pearland the morning after the storm...







here is the rest of the roof of the above picture- across the street on a power line!



this is the building where jacob has school (below)





shingles everywhere



a game of cards in our driveway



jake helping clean up- all hot and sweaty!



a house with some pretty bad roof damage in our hood



fences down in our hood



here's the light into our hood- the power lines were just hanging in the street for a few days



and some more dangling lights











my friend from HS, amy- her house did not fair so well- she had MAJOR water damage- ceilings caved in in 4 rooms in her house- luckily she and family are safe- here is just one of the rooms- see the sheetrock falling- insulation all over the place-a mess! you can see more in the flickr album



garden road church- roof off





lines of power trucks are not a strange thing to see these days



here's the line at the randalls (grocery store) 3 days after the storm- they let groups of 5-10 people in at a time to control the crowd..



and the gas station line on my way to work 5 days after the storm



the sign at this hotel fell and crushed the cars parked underneath it



bank of america on 59 with plywood on broken windows



the one good thing about the storm, was that since no one had power, and the generator power was on gas, which there was a HUGE shortage of- we spent alot of time outside with the kids playing, neighbors talking, etc. and luckily, it was nice weather- you'd never know by the weather that a storm had just come through. At night, we grilled in the driveway and invited the neighbors over. Also, it kind of made me refocus on the important things in life (like LIFE, family, a home, etc) and not nitpick the stupid things.. and we all slept upstairs in the AC bc the generator would run the upstairs AC. monday, the in laws got power back! we were so excited- a little disappointed that WE didn't have power, but excited one of us did- so, we all moved to their house- 9 of us in a 2 bedroom house (well 3 bedroom but one is the sewing room so no room for us).. jeremy and i slept on a mattress in the family room, the girls on an air mattress in the study, mee maw on a bed, and the boys in kay and jerry's room- we did this from monday til friday- until friday night around 8:30, WE GOT POWER! we were so excited!!!

i had to go back to work on the tuesday after the storm- but most people were off longer- due to having no power, and downtown had glass everywhere- it was like a warzone my friend told me (she is a houston police officer who was patrolling downtown during the cleanup efforts. The girls just went back to school TODAY , two weeks later- but luckily, the state has waived the 10 days they missed (due to natural disaster clause or something) and they will not have to make it up in the summer . Justin went back this past wednesday, and JAcob, will surprisingly go back on Monday. His building had alot of roof damage, and our first estimate of when he'd go back was 6 weeks- so monday is only the 3rd week, so we're excited!

there are stil 446,000 people in houston without power- 2 weeks later- i am thankful that i got it after one week and hope those others get it SOON!

last weekend, on saturday, care and her son, david, jennifer and her two kids (trey and kayla), elizabeth, britt, brooke, justin and myself all went to the Pearland POD (point of delivery) to help hand out supplies to those still without power- we handed out water, ice and MRE's (meals ready to eat). Justin, care, david, ali seth and i went again on sunday. It was nice to be able to help out those who lost alot more than we did. Here are a few pics:



there was a steady line of cars needing relief:







britt and lizzie handing out MRE's





justin and his friend, david loading a trunk with brittany



trey loaded water



brooke and kayla





ice is a huge demand when you have no power to keep a fridge cold



i have way too many pictures i have taken of the aftermath to try to post here, so if you want to look, check it out...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephturnerfamily/sets/72157607327727475/