<p>Classes cancelled at Miami U of Ohio today. Power back on using emergency generators. MU lost 105 trees. No injuries reported. Rec center damaged.</p>
<p>Apparently the power company, Duke Energy, had a fair number of it’s workers dispatched to Texas, which is making local recovery more difficult. No one expected Ike to have that much left in him that far inland!</p>
<p>I agree - what a storm. We were watching the weather report last night, showing flooded streets in Chicago. The radar showed clouds stretching from the gulf, through Texas, northeast to Ohio then moving toward the Atlantic Ocean, circling around and heading right back toward Florida! One big circle.</p>
<p>Here in SW Ohio I think it caught us by surprise. Apparently Ike combined with another front coming through (the one that dropped 6" of rain on Chicago) to create the perfect storm.</p>
<p>So the “tropical storm” turned back into hurricane force as it came through NKy and Ohio. Based on weather predictions, it didn’t occur to us to stock up on ice, batteries, etc.</p>
<p>Luckily the power was only off about 24 hours in our neighborhood, but it’s still off in some areas, and there is much tree damage. Two houses in our immediate area suffered damage from trees falling on them. We just had a yard covered with leaves & branches.</p>
<p>Not nearly as bad as 6" of broken glass in downtown Houston! And we do have water to drink and no flooding.</p>
<p>Our HS was closed today, but S was doing his homework last night just in case. I was greatly amused–he was writing about Thoreau, by candlelight, in longhand! </p>
<p>I read “A Tale of Two Cities” by candlelight. I think you really get more of a feel for it that way. ;)</p>
<p>We had some serious wind - up to 75 MPH as reported. Power was out ~2 PM yesterday and just got back on. Spent quite sometime cleaning up the yard. Looking around, I must say that we are lucky this time.</p>
<p>Luckily we have had a “cold” front (highs of mid 80’s) come through here in Texas. No power is definitely more bearable when the temperatures are below 90. (edit; we have power here in Austin. We didn’t get a thing from IKE; no much-needed rain, no winds, nothing.)</p>
<p>We just arrived back in Houston from evacuating to Austin. We live in Bellaire (central Houston) and most of the traffic lights are still out and tons of tree limbs and branches are EVERYWHERE. Also, about 1/2 of all of the fences have been blown down. Our house appeared intact except for some liquidy brown goo leaking from our refrigerator (no electricity). My younger son’s private school is set to open on Wednesday but I heard Houston ISD will be closed for a week to 10 days. </p>
<p>At every gas station there were lines about 40 cars long and police officers stationed directing traffic. Almost all stores and restaurants we passed near our house were closed. </p>
<p>The electricity came back on at my office during the day today so I’ll be there tomorrow (although the elevators aren’t working due to flooding in the basement). At least I’m on the 3rd floor.</p>
<p>Wow. I feel so unfairly blessed. We got some rain and wind, and now the skies are clear and it’s cooler than normal - not even supposed to be 90 all week. I have all the windows open (free air conditioning!) and it’s so nice. It sure makes a difference which edge of the storm you happen to be on.
Been in hurricanes before, it’s just such a PITB cleaning up and dealing with it all even if you have no big losses yourself. My sympathies. Can I ship you a nice cool virtual yard to relax in? We just had the pool re-done and I mowed the grass this afternoon… fancy drinks with little umbrellas at any hour, Owlice will cater if we ask her…</p>
<p>We live in San Diego, but W got in on the full Ike experience because she was in Houston for her father’s surgery. She is staying with her sister in her dark, hot, humid house. Cell phones are working, so they’ve been calling me and I’ve been searching on-line to find stores and gas stations near them that are open. They have a little gas-powered generator that produces enough electricity to power their refrigerator and a fan an not much else.</p>
<p>She’s scheduled to fly home on Wednesday for a few days and return to Houston later. Hopefully the planes are flying.</p>
<p>Tomorrow we are flying to Detroit and staying with a friend. On Sunday Ike had reached Detroit. They lost electricity and his basement sump did not work. When he woke up his whole basement was flooded. In reality, he suffered more damage than us. We worked till 3:00 this afternoon cleaning up our yard. Final count: twenty five 55 gallon trash bags.</p>
<p>Just curious for those of you able to report from Houston. Are you willing to say what part of Houston you’re in. Are you seeing any trends on where the areas are that are getting power back?</p>
<p>No problem teriwitt. I am in NW corner of Houston. It seems that Western part (good side of the eye) had relatively less damage. So they are getting Power sooner. The electric company says that they are working on all areas simultaneously. The way they have set the priority is as follows:</p>
<p>(1) Hospital and Nursing Homes (2) Infrastructure e.g. airports, major roads, industry (3) People.</p>
<p>For people they have priority as follows:</p>
<p>(1) Circuits - typically feed 1,000 homes - analogous to a highway
(2) Lines - typically feed 100 homes - Major street
(3) Transformers - typically feed 10 homes - side street
(4) Individual Lines - single Home - like your driveway</p>
<p>So if a circuit can be repaired with minimum effort, you get the power. There are areas in which people across the street have power and others don’t. Basically they are going for the biggest bang with less effort.</p>
<p>thanks simba and susan; my family ranges from River Oaks to Briargrove Park, with one niece in Pearland. She evacuated, so I know she’s safe; while I’m sure her house is probably OK (built within the last three years), I know Pearland was hit hard, too, and I don’t know when she’ll be able to go back.</p>
<p>bandit - I can’t even imagine how bad Kemah must be. It will take a long time to make it habitable again, I’ll bet.</p>
<p>Not that I’m complaining by any stretch but funny enough here in Cincinnati, OH we have been without power for 2+ days after remnants of the storm blew through. I’ve never encountered anything like this and it gives us midwesterners a new respect for what you all are going through! I can’t even imagine the damage and destruction. Good luck to you all!</p>