<p>Midtown Houston, two blocks from downtown. Still no power.
Somewhat glad to be back at work, where there <em>is</em> power, though a little panicky that my internal deadline has not slid in the least… (Guys, there was a hurricane on! Cut me some slack, I haven’t had a hot shower in four days!!)</p>
<p>Anybody gotten their MREs yet??
After Ivan we had good friends (upper middle class, like most of you guys) who were left without power for over 3 weeks. During the first few days they went to the long line to get ice only - they were well stocked with food, etc, had a generator - but they were given 4 MREs, because if you stayed in the line you got MREs. Then about a week after the storm, they came home from work one day and there was a case of MREs on the porch.
So even if you feel you don’t actually need the food and want to save for those who are in true need, MREs may be in your future. Also the Anheuser-Busch water.</p>
<p>If you get an MRE, be sure to try it, it is quite the experience - where do they get those tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce??</p>
<p>just heard from one niece who lives in River Oaks, close to Memorial Park. No power, but she found a friend with power and internet. She says lines to get gas are 50+ cars long, and lines to get ice are 100+ people deep. She also said all traffic lights are still out, if not gone altogether. She’s thinking of heading up to NYC where she can do some work.</p>
<p>There are actually restaurants starting to open in Houston, as well as grocery stores. It looks like the city is starting to recover, and from talking to the people in my office, it seems as though people either have power or know someone who does. The people who have power are being incredibly gracious and opening their homes to those of us who are still without, and in turn, those of us who don’t have power are bringing over our thawing steaks and tenderloins and we’re havin’ us some cookouts. =)</p>
<p>I worry about Galveston and about those whose homes were destroyed, but I’m starting to feel better about the idea that we’ll limp through this.</p>
<p>Photos:
[Ike</a> Photos](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■.com/5zq4ry]Ike”>Weather - The Patrick Family)</p>
<p>Just talked to one of my rural Beaumont friends. She asked if it was true that 200 people had been found dead inside a store on Bolivar Peninsula. I told her I hadn’t heard anything like that. One of her big complaints is that she feels like she’s not getting any information. She and her family regret not evacuating. She was in her bedroom when a window blew out and the wind blowing around her room was really frightening. They have a generator and take turns moving it around between the septic tank, the refrigerator, and a room air conditioner. Her kids were out of school for 3 weeks with Rita and she anticipates the same with Ike.</p>
<p>Here in southern Indiana we were without power for 36-40 hours or so. Little rain but fierce winds. A significant portion of our county was without electric at some point in time. (thus my first visit to CC in a few days–had to conserve the cell phone battery)</p>
<p>One year we were in Florida as a tropical storm blew up through the Gulf with lots of rain and wind. I think the wind was stronger here. </p>
<p>Glad our Houston posters are okay.</p>
<p>You know, I’ve watched the national news quite a bit lately, and I’ve learned more about local conditions from the comments here, by far.</p>
<p>Good luck getting your power back, all. I don’t envy you!</p>
<p>We had that tons of rain that fell onto Chicago, but our house is fine. Lots of local flooding, tho.</p>
<p>The latest toll I heard was 17 dead in Texas, 8 in Harris County, most from carbon monoxide poisoning by generator. Please be careful with the generators…don’t even put them in detached garages because the fumes can travel through the breezeways.</p>
<p>Careful with the generators, and with the chain saws and with over-exertion and heat exhaustion as things begin to warm up. Watch out for gators and snakes - do ya’ll have gators there??</p>
<p>aibarr - It sounds weird to say I enjoyed looking at your photos, but they give me a better idea of the damage in Houston proper than ones I’ve seen from the media.</p>
<p>Two I liked in particular… the one of the one-way sign that is now pointing up to the sky, and the one that says, Go Away Ike, Tina’s Not Here.</p>
<p>
and fire ants ! Watch out for big balled-up groups of flooded out fire ants.</p>
<p>Fire ants = yuck!</p>
<p>Still no power in my neighborhood, but I found a shopping area with power and wifi. The neighborhoods around me got power yesterday. Lots of tree damage, some into houses On Sunday everyone was grilling what had thawed. No school for at least this week. Husband’s building downtown is still closed (possible asbestos damage?). The best thing that happened is this lovely, lovely cool front that makes life without A/C bearable. Glad to be back in touch.</p>
<p>FFS- same here. Still no power, but back at work in our undamaged building downtown, where there <em>is</em> power. Walking around downtown, there’s small chunks of broken glass all over the sidewalk, even after they’ve cleaned most everything up.</p>
<p>Wonderful, amazing cold front. So thankful.</p>
<p>We too had a cookout, on Monday night. Pork tenderloin, pork chops, chicken quarters, steaks. We ate very well!</p>
<p>The cold I had before the storm has turned into bronchitis, so I’m trying to shower at the homes of friends who have power restored so I’m not having to take cold showers at the risk of getting pneumonia… that would really stink.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping for electricity…</p>
<p>The electricity is on in Bellaire now! Now I just need to figure out where to buy milk and fresh vegetables. The grocery store I went to yesterday had nothing in their refrigerated or freezer cases (dumped what they had and hadn’t received new shipments) and only had some onions in the produce aisle.</p>
<p>Electricity came on this evening at 6 PM!! Our doors were open. My husband and I looked at each other for about ten seconds and I shrieked. Our doors were open, and about twenty seconds after I shrieked, we heard a bunch of girls across the street shriek. The water is heating, the fridge is cooling, and we took all our friends out to dinner. It’s amazing how much you miss utilities until they’re gone…</p>
<p>Blackeyedsusan, check out [HOUSTON</a>, TEXAS NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas](<a href=“http://www.khou.com%5DHOUSTON”>http://www.khou.com)… They have a list of open grocery stores on their homepage, and which ones are selling perishables.</p>
<p>My family in southwest Ohio have been without power for 4 days so far. Winds up to 80 miles per hour, complements of Ike. Dayton Power and Light is saying it could be 4 more days until power is restored. They have called employees sent to Texas to return to Ohio. Everything is closed, gas stations food stores, schools and restaurants.</p>
<p>Ike packed a powerful punch.</p>
<p>Aibarr, I laughed about the shrieking. I have heard many similar tales of the jubilant reactions that come when that first stream of electrons hits!</p>
<p>We have a Christmas tree farm, so today we hired 3 boys (since they are all out of school!) to help H push the leaning trees upright and stake them. There are thousands. <groan!> I helped for awhile but then decided I really needed to put everything back into the closet I had emptied for us to ride the storm out in if necessary…and also I really hate doing hard manual labor.</groan!></p>
<p>KPRC took about three hours of footage of Galveston from a helicopter and has put up a link on their website. Basically it was done after so many requests came into the station, from people wanting to know if their reporters had seen such-and-such house when helicopters went through earlier. So KPRC e-mailed these Galveston residents back, and offered to make another flight and actually speak to the residents on the phone as they were flying over their houses. The residents were so grateful to be able to see their houses, despite whether it had lots of damage or little. At least they will know what to expect when they return.</p>
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<p>Hey, it powered the TV, but since the cable was out, we were stuck with 24/7 Ike coverage on local channels that we could get through rabbit ears. It also recharged the cell phones–which turned out to make our house popular with the neighbors who didn’t have a generator or electricity. </p>
<p>Glad to be back from the land of the hurricane to the land of earthquakes and wildfires!</p>
<p>My sister, at whose house I stayed, lives in West Houston, so we got a lot of wind and rain, but no real house damage. Nearby homes and streets were littered with limbs that broke off trees and lampposts/signal lights. It will take time to clean that mess all up. The lack of signal lights made intersections a dicey proposition–but I only saw one accident.</p>
<p>They lost electricity for 4 days–the loss of power made life the most difficult. Water pressure got low, but you could still take a trickle shower. Their gas water heater still worked, so those showers could be warm ones. The local Krogers opened up pretty quickly and their local gas station had gas with no more than a 15 minute line.</p>
<p>Thank goodness a cold front came in on Sunday and made Houston pleasant. </p>
<p>Interesting observation–different parts of the neighborhood/city got electricity back at different times. So if a restaurant was in a block that had power and water, it was open for business. So you could be living in rough conditions at home, but go out and enjoy a lovely meal at the restaurant–complete with AC, great food, and cold drinks!</p>