Hurricane Ike . . . Part 3 . . . The Clean Up

Thanks to the few members of the ward that helped us clean up!

The one good thing Ike left behind . . .

Some great pictures of the Sky . . .

Hurricane Ike . . . Part 2 . . . The aftermath

Well, there was no church Sunday because no one had power, and lots of people had damage to clean up.

We got power back Sunday night at about 8 PM. We were really lucky, as there are still people even today with out power (about 150,000 or so). The neighborhoods all around uround us were without power for nearly 2 weeks. Driving was pretty crazy seeing that most of the traffic lights were inopperable.

Our neigborhood was pretty lucky because they have taken down a most of the big trees. I did drive through the last 2 neighborhoods that the Taylor's lived in where every yard has multiple huge trees, and every yard had at least one tree, if not three or four. Their are trees and fences down everywhere. Here are a few pictures (these pictures don't even give Ike an ounce of justice, it really was worse than these depict)
Here is the Taylor's neighborhood

Here is some of their last neighborhoods

I tried going to the store on Monday to get diapers and see if their was any food, because the older lady that lives behind Craig and Elaine didn't have much food. It was pretty interesting. Wal-Mart had hardly any food at all, but did have power. Kroger had some non perishable food, but no power. They would only let a few people in the store at a time, and you would have to use a flashlight to see what you were looking for. The gas stations and grocery stores both had extremely long lines, and higher prices. One gallon of milk (about 5 days after the storm) was $4.68 (about $1 higher than usual). Here are a few pictures

Many people have tremendous damage to their property. Many people still have no food or water. Some people lost everything that they own. Hurricane Ike distributed damage to many not only in Houston and Galveston, but many places in Texas and other midwest states. Please keep everyone in your prayers.

Hurricane Ike. . . The aftermath Part 1 . . . The Story and Pictures you have been waiting for!

First of all, I am sorry it has taken me a couple of weeks to get this up. I have recieved quite a few emails and calls wondering how we are doing and what happened, so hopefully this will answer a lot of questions.





The night of the hurricane I took the girls out to play. It was a little breezy but not bad. The girls enjoyed playing and running around in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. I was watching the neighbor's weeping willow tree sway in the wind, and would try to imagine what the wind would do to it. As the girls were running back and forth I looked up at the one and only pine tree in the backyard, and noticed that it was getting blown a bit more than the others seemed to. I just had a bad feeling about the tree. When I came in, I mentioned that the tree looked like it was going to fall over, but Megan informed me that it just what trees do here, but that she was sure it would be fine. My nerves were calmed, so I went in and put the girls to bed, and of course posted more stuff on here about what was going on, while Dan and Megan watched a movie.

I went to bed around 12:30 AM and then Kate woke up at 3 AM. So I took her out to the living room, where I found Craig listening to the radio. I guess the power went out around 2 AM. We just kind of sat there and watched Kate play for a little while. Around 4:45 Kate fell back asleep, and Craig was starting to doze. I figured I would wait a little bit to ensure that Kate wouldn't wake up, when we felt the house shake and heard a big thud, and the light in the formal living room clink around. We were like, umm. . . what was that? So I went and layed Kate down, and Craig and I tried to peer into the dark to see what had happened. Of course, with no power and no sunlight, it took us about 10 minutes to realize that the tree had in fact fallen on the house. You could only see about 3 feet of tree hanging off the roof. So, I went and woke Dan up and we proceeded to try and get all the furniture moved out of the Dining room so that if the ceiling fell down that it wouldn't ruin their new furniture. Luckily enough Craig had some sort of battery thing that could run a lamp, so we at least had a little bit of light to be able to see.

After we were done moving everything, Dan and Craig went up in the attic to see what damage had happened. That's when they found out that their were quite a few holes in the roof, and water was comming in. So they went and got a bunch of plastic that Craig had bought, and proceeded to try and cover up the insulation and such so that it wouldn't get all wet. Then they put a bunch of buckets to catch the water.

When it was light outside we tried to run out in between the wind gusts to see the tree and the roof. It was pouring rain so we ran fast and couldn't get any pictures. The part of the tree that had broken was almost completely on top of the roof, and was hooked over one of the ridges into the other side of the roof. We figured that there wasn't anything that we could do about that part, and just figured we would try to keep the inside of the house from getting damage.

We went back into the dining room, and noticed that the ceiling was really wet and looked like it was going to fall through in one place. I tried to encourage them to let me cut a little piece of sheetrock out of the ceiling so that it could drain and not cause such a mess, but by the time I had talked them into it, it was too late. About 5 seconds later the ceiling fell down in that place. There had been a bucket of water in the attic their, so that came crashing down. Water and insulation went everywhere.

The buckets had all been used by this point, so we got a big red tub that the water could drip into. Then the water started leaking through all over the place. We ended up with half of us in the attic for the majority of the hurricane, trying to keep the damage to a minimum, with the others working in the house.

Then when another big wind surge came through the tree got dislodged from the roof where it had landed, and rolled down the roof where it caught on the chimney, where you see it in the pictures. When it dislodged, it pulled all the little tree nubs out of the roof, causing even more water to come into the house.

We tried to keep as much water as we could from comming in, but we still had about ten 25 lb tubs of water that we had to take outside. We even tried duct taping the holes closed.

I will let the rest of Saturday suffice to say that we spent the day cleaning up the inside of the house.

Well, we thought that was it. Then Saturday night it started raining again. Dan and I were sleeping in the front guest bedroom since our room had stuff all over from the carpet being pulled up. The girls slept upstairs. About 5:00 AM Sunday, Dan woke me up saying that water was dripping on his back. So we started again, trying to get the rain out of the attic, and trying to get all the furniture moved out of the bedroom.

This story, however, could go on forever. So, instead of continuing this novel, I will let if again suffice to say that Sunday we spent the day again, cleaning up the inside of the house, Here is a list of some of the damage and a few of the 400 pictures that we took of the damage. (Yes, I know thats a lot of pictures, but mostly for insurance sake.)

The formal dining room will have to have the whole ceiling redone, as their are 2 large holes, and many other wet places in the sheetrock. The entryway/hallway and front coat closet will also have to have the entire ceiling replaced as their are multiple places where water came through (just small holes), but the sheet rock is all wet. It came through the light fixture and a few other places in the entry way, and through the ceiling in the closet, and down the wall in the closet. The carpet pad and possibly the carpet will have to be replaced in the formal living room and the coat closet.

The front guest bedroom that the girls had been staying in also was leaking water from the ceiling. It was comming from the vent, but wasn't very bad until Saturday night. Then the water came through the ceiling and down the wall. The ceiling will have to be redone, new carpet pad, possibly new carpet. Plus the wall will have work done.

The back guest bedroom and Megan's bedroom had water come in some how so that the carpet all along the wall was wet. So we had to pull out all that carpet pad as well.

The attic has at least 12 holes from what we could count. The vent for the front 2 bathrooms is broken (the one comming out of the roof). One of the water heaters is unattached in the attic, and the exhaust vent is bent. The wood on the roof near where the exhaust vent comes out is broken. The vent for the Gas stove came loose, and the pipes for the heater came unattached. The fence will have to be replaced, the tree taken out, and some of the lanscaping fixed. The rain gutters will have to be fixed, and the insulation will have to be fixed. Plus, who knows what else. This is just what I can think of right now!

It is so sad to think that they just built this house, and that they haven't even lived in it a year yet and now their is so much damage.

Anyways, look for part two of Hurricane Ike.

Farwell for now

Sunset
Sunset in Spring
Take a Hike Ike
Current Track as of 9 PM Friday
Seawall Friday Morning
Sealwall Friday Morning
Statue dedicated to the devastating Hurricane in 1900
Traffic on I-45 Northbound

Here are some pictures from Friday. I will see you on the other side of the storm! Pray for us all

Currently . . .

Ike is schedualed to arrive around 2 AM (That is the center of Ike, winds will start this afternoon/evening). He is projected to be a strong Hurricane 2 or weak Hurricane 3. However, the Surge levels (not wind speeds) are more like a hurricane level 5. Parts of Galveston are already under water. The piers have already collapsed and homes are already beginning to flood. Those who are still in Galveston have been told that if they don't leave, they WILL DIE! The whole island of Galveston is supposed to be completely under water for at least 12 hours, possibly days. SCARY!!

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

Category One Hurricane:
Winds 74-95 mph (64-82 kt or 119-153 km/hr). Storm surge generally 4-5 ft above normal. No real damage to building structures. Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Some damage to poorly constructed signs. Also, some coastal road flooding and minor pier damage. Hurricane Lili of 2002 made landfall on the Louisiana coast as a Category One hurricane. Hurricane Gaston of 2004 was a Category One hurricane that made landfall along the central South Carolina coast.


Category Two Hurricane:
Winds 96-110 mph (83-95 kt or 154-177 km/hr). Storm surge generally 6-8 feet above normal. Some roofing material, door, and window damage of buildings. Considerable damage to shrubbery and trees with some trees blown down. Considerable damage to mobile homes, poorly constructed signs, and piers. Coastal and low-lying escape routes flood 2-4 hours before arrival of the hurricane center. Small craft in unprotected anchorages break moorings. Hurricane Frances of 2004 made landfall over the southern end of Hutchinson Island, Florida as a Category Two hurricane. Hurricane Isabel of 2003 made landfall near Drum Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane.


Category Three Hurricane:
Winds 111-130 mph (96-113 kt or 178-209 km/hr). Storm surge generally 9-12 ft above normal. Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings with a minor amount of curtainwall failures. Damage to shrubbery and trees with foliage blown off trees and large trees blown down. Mobile homes and poorly constructed signs are destroyed. Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the center of the hurricane. Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by battering from floating debris. Terrain continuously lower than 5 ft above mean sea level may be flooded inland 8 miles (13 km) or more. Evacuation of low-lying residences with several blocks of the shoreline may be required. Hurricanes Jeanne and Ivan of 2004 were Category Three hurricanes when they made landfall in Florida and in Alabama, respectively.


Category Four Hurricane:
Winds 131-155 mph (114-135 kt or 210-249 km/hr). Storm surge generally 13-18 ft above normal. More extensive curtainwall failures with some complete roof structure failures on small residences. Shrubs, trees, and all signs are blown down. Complete destruction of mobile homes. Extensive damage to doors and windows. Low-lying escape routes may be cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the center of the hurricane. Major damage to lower floors of structures near the shore. Terrain lower than 10 ft above sea level may be flooded requiring massive evacuation of residential areas as far inland as 6 miles (10 km). Hurricane Charley of 2004 was a Category Four hurricane made landfall in Charlotte County, Florida with winds of 150 mph. Hurricane Dennis (pdf) of 2005 struck the island of Cuba as a Category Four hurricane.


Category Five Hurricane:
Winds greater than 155 mph (135 kt or 249 km/hr). Storm surge generally greater than 18 ft above normal. Complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. All shrubs, trees, and signs blown down. Complete destruction of mobile homes. Severe and extensive window and door damage. Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the center of the hurricane. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 ft above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within 5-10 miles (8-16 km) of the shoreline may be required. Only 3 Category Five Hurricanes have made landfall in the United States since records began: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille (1969), and Hurricane Andrew in August, 1992. The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane struck the Florida Keys with a minimum pressure of 892 mb--the lowest pressure ever observed in the United States. Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast causing a 25-foot storm surge, which inundated Pass Christian. Hurricane Katrina (pdf), a category 5 storm over the Gulf of Mexico, was still responsible for at least 81 billion dollars of property damage when it struck the U.S. Gulf Coast as a category 3. It is by far the costliest hurricane to ever strike the United States. In addition, Hurricane Wilma (pdf) of 2005 was a Category Five hurricane at peak intensity and is the strongest Atlantic tropical cyclone on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.

From the National Hurricane Weather Center

AT 700 AM CDT...1200Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 26.9 NORTH...LONGITUDE 92.2 WEST OR ABOUT 365 MILES...585
KM...EAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS AND ABOUT 230 MILES...370 KM...
SOUTHEAST OF GALVESTON TEXAS.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH...20 KM/HR. A
TURN TOWARD THE NORTHWEST IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY...WITH A TURN
TOWARD THE NORTH EXPECTED ON SATURDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE
CENTER OF IKE WILL BE VERY NEAR THE UPPER TEXAS COAST BY LATE TODAY
OR EARLY SATURDAY. HOWEVER...BECAUSE IKE IS A VERY LARGE TROPICAL
CYCLONE...WEATHER WILL DETERIORATE ALONG THE COASTLINE TODAY...LONG
BEFORE THE CENTER REACHES THE COAST.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 105 MPH...165 KM/HR...WITH
HIGHER GUSTS. IKE IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
SCALE. SOME ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS...AND IKE IS FORECAST TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE BEFORE THE
CENTER REACHES THE COAST.

IKE REMAINS A VERY LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS
EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 120 MILES...195 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 275 MILES...445 KM.
AN OIL PLATFORM IN THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO RECENTLY
REPORTED SUSTAINED WINDS OF 109 MPH...176 KM/HR...AT AN ELEVATION OF
400 FEET.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 956 MB...28.23 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF UP TO 20 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE
EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER OF IKE MAKES
LANDFALL...EXTENDING A GREATER THAN USUAL DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER
DUE TO THE LARGE SIZE OF THE CYCLONE. SURGE FLOODING OF UP
TO 25 FEET...AND POSSIBLY HIGHER...COULD OCCUR AT THE HEADS OF BAYS.
COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 6 TO 8 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED
WITHIN THE TROPICAL STORM WARNING AREA ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF
COAST. ABOVE NORMAL TIDES IN THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO SHOULD
GRADUALLY SUBSIDE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO.

IKE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES OVER
EASTERN TEXAS AND EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA...WITH ISOLATED
AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES POSSIBLE.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE TODAY OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN
LOUISIANA AND EXTREME SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE
POSSIBLE TONIGHT OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA AND
SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS.

REPEATING THE 700 AM CDT POSITION...26.9 N...92.2 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...105
MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...956 MB.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT
1000 AM CDT.

Update

Well, last I heard, Ike has moved a little northward, and is projected to make landfall in Galveston and Houston as a strong level 3. If you go to the 3rd 'here' in the previous post of " . . . Is A Hurricane a blowin?" you will be taken to channel 13's website. Here you can go to the interactive tracker of Ike, and can zoom into Spring, where you will see that we are currently projected as being less than 5 miles from the eye of the storm. However, things change frequently, so I will update again in the morning. Hope everyone has a peaceful night!

Hurricane Ike

Is It Raining? Is It Pouring? Is A Hurricane A Blowing?

So, As most people have probably heard, Hurricaine Ike is on its way to the Houston Area. Right now the projection is for Ike to hit Freeport, putting Galveston and Houston on the dirty side (worst side) of the storm. Ike is projected to be either a strong level 3 or weak level 4 (out of 5 levels) when it hits, sending 15-19 ft storm surges (rise in sea level) with waves on top of that. Winds are supposed to be about 125 miles an hour when it hits, and about 100 miles an hour when it hits us in Houston. It is supposed to Rain 6-10" so flooding is inevitable, and power is expected to be out in some parts of the city for up to 2 weeks. Mandatory Evacuation orders have been placed in most coastal areas, and Voulentary Evacuation orders have been placed in other parts of 3 different counties.

We, in North Houston have been asked to stay put unless we live near a bayou, so that the coastal people will actually be able to get out and not be stuck on the freeways. A lot of things are shutting down tomorrow.

We are planning on staying where we are and riding out the storm. Later today we will go shopping for more food that doesn't have to be cooked, and other necessities that we may need. For those of you who want to be up to date on the hurricane here, you can go here, here, or here. We live in North Houston (Spring), which is near I-45 south of The Woodlands, just off 2920.

Dan did have school today, but doesn't tommorow. I am just hoping that with all the evacuations that it doesn't take him hours to get home from school tonight.

Well, to sum it up, YES!! A Hurricane IS A BLOWIN!! (from Willy Wonka)

I will keep you updated if at all possible, but for now, wish us luck!