AAR

[Gail K.]

Hope our fellow readers in Houston, Galveston, and other Ike-affected areas are doing OK! I was born in Texas and my family lived in Galveston, briefly, so I've been watching the news coverage closely. Let us know if you need help replenishing book (and other) collections...

-Gail

[MarianneM]

To begin with, this was the most terrifying hurricane I have experienced here since I married my Texan and moved here in 1971. We live 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico [that's how far inland the center of Houston is from the Gulf] but I felt as if our house was right on the shoreline. For 6 hours the wind came boiling in over our heads, scaring me quite a bit. We didn't lose our roof, but our fences blew down. The damage has been quite extensive in many areas, mainly from downed powerlines caused by broken tree limbs.

The worst part of the aftermath, for us, is the failure of the power distribution company, Centerpoint, to distribute power promptly. We were without power for eleven and a half days, as were most of the people inside Loop 610. Our windows are sealed, because we rely on air conditioning, as all of Houston does, so we were in a dark, sweltering steam bath. We have a little Honda generator, which had enough juice to run our fridge and a fan, and two 60-watt shop lights, and our neighbor's fridge. But it was Not a Good Time. And for safety's sake, we had to turn off the generator at 10 pm when we went to bed. Oddly enough, the towns down along the coast got power back within a couple of days.

When our body temps got too high, we immersed ourselves in tepid baths, which were literally a life-saver. Sometimes I took two of them a day. And we sat outside on our front porch as much as we could.

I still have a lot to do to straighten up the house, now that the power is back on. But mostly I'm trying to catch up on my sleep.

By the way. 400 people are still listed as missing, mostly from Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula and the coastal towns -- folks who didn't evacuate when they should have.

MarianneM

[Tee]

I cannot imagine what it would be like to listen to those high winds for hours on straight, Marianne. I'm glad to hear that all is as well as it can be, considering the ferocity of that storm. Having power turned back had to be a wonderful feeling. I can only compare when we in the northeastern area had the major power blackout some years ago. It wasn't for 11 days, though, but long enough to know that I wouldn't want to go thru it again.

Thanks for responding to Gail's post and we're happy you're back behind the computer and pounding the keyboard once again.

[LinnieGayl]

Marianne, what a terrifying experience. I'm glad you're all right.
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LinnieGayl

[Gail K.]

Oh wow, thanks for sharing your experience, MarianneM. You know, I don't think the severity and lengthy duration of the situation was reported on enough by the news media. I heard a couple reports re: power problems a couple days after Ike, but very little follow-up. I guess our news media was concerned with other events

[dick]

mariannem: A telling exemplification of Faulkner's comment when he received the Nobel Prize: Man-/womankind will persevere. Good on you.