Ike’s Aftermath

Posted by Joni in General

Hurricane Ike

Power was restored to my neighborhood around 3:30 p.m. today. I was in the shower at the time, soap in my eyes and shampoo in my hair, when I heard the security system screetch like a banshee. It took me a split second to figure out what was going on. Sooo very happy about that.

And my house … “She’s a brick house // she’s mighty mightay…” Our 75-year old girl stared down Ike with only the loss of a piece of gutter, a few shingles, a part of a small tree, and a strip of siding off the big garage. After surveying the damage in my neighborhood, I’m grateful we were basically unscathed. There are a lot of old, tall trees here in Idylwood and quite a few of them ended up on top of houses or garages or in the street. The sound of chain saws buzzing filled the air this morning like the droning of a hundred angry bees.

Sophia home now!

Status of Hurricane Ike

Posted by Joni in General

Hurricane Ike

From the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management:

Status of Hurricane IKE at 8AM CDT Friday, September 12:

• Moving WNW at 12mph
• 100 mph sustained winds
• CAT 2 could make landfall as a CAT 3
• Will make landfall West of Galveston Bay Area
• Houston/Harris County will feel Tropical Storm force winds around
  3pm Friday
• Onset of Tropical Storm Winds for South-East TX 9am to noon Friday
• Hurricane Winds South-East TX after 6pm Friday
• Some areas in Galveston Bay will receive 23 ft storm surge
• Accumulative rainfall will be over 10 inches

Preparation H

Posted by Joni in General

Hurricane Ike

We’ve decided to hunker down here. I don’t know how prepared we are. I haven’t (and don’t plan to, since it seems to be an utter waste of time and effort) tape or board windows.

I made a grocery run today to Sellers Brothers, a small local grocery around the corner from my house. At 1:30PM today, it was wall to wall people and kids. Fortunately, because they were closing early today and wouldn’t be open again for a few days, they put all their produce, meat and dairy products on sale for 50% off. I came away with some cold cuts, apples, oranges, lemons, pineapple, hazelnut coffee creamer and milk, plus a few other staples. No one seemed particularly frustrated or rude, but heh, it was still early.

The gas station in front of my house was pandemonium, however. Fortunately, I had a pretty full tank of gas and since we aren’t evacuating, we’ll be fine.

Landfall is expected around 1AM Saturday morning. Here’s my hurricane preparedness to-do list:

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