Sorry, but I had to definately start a new thread on this, Lots of pix !
Well here's how it went for us:
Thursday Sept. 11 The storm is expected to come our way, no matter the forcast shift, we would be getting it. So I called in to work
at 8:00 am saying I wouldn't be in, They were in the process of closing anyway. I made my way to Lowes (building suppy store).
At 8:30 I bought 2 sheets of plywood, some batteries for flashlights. By 8:45 all the plywood was gone. I barely made it. It was chaos in there...
Back home, throughout the day I put everything away that was outside... Our trailer, lawn furniture, chairs.. anything that could be moved.
On the news, we could see what's coming!
As you can see, They're predicting basically a direct hit!
Friday Morning: 6:00 am Stacy got me out of bed... Galveston is already flooding from water being pushed in ahead of the storm!
It's going to be bad! So we started on our final preperations.
Filled our gas tanks full. Went to the store and stocked up on food, water, snacks. Stacy reminded me about the A/C units... Crap!!!
We quickly went back to the store and found some metal stakes designed to tether large dogs... We used a sledgehammer to put them in the
ground, and used ratcheting tie-downs to secure the A/C units in place, so the won't blow over!
Got all chores in the house done, we don't know what's to come, and we don't want to run out of clean towels, dishes etc!
Checked the Generator, Oil, Fluids, etc... All Ready To Go!
Friday Afternoon: Our house is going to be the shelter for our family members... My sister's family, Stacy's Parents & my Mom. So we have 8 people over tonight!! As soon as everyone showed up, we got everyone situated.
Here we are, trying to relax....
Friday Evening: Before dark, Stacy prepared dinner for everyone, This might be the last comfortable hot meal for a while!!
After we got done with dinner, we continued to watch the news, watching the wind outside pick up. I decided we all needed a good laugh, so I
got out the episode of The Simpsons, called Hurricane Neddy!
If you know the Simpsons, this is the episode where a hurricane hits Springfield. It is a very funny episode, especially if you've ever been through a hurricane!
Now That It's Getting Dark: I walked outside one last time to make sure everything is taken care of. The Game Room... I switched off all the ceiling fans, Turned off the A/C unit. The only thing left on is the de-humidifier. I taped up the window to the game room, just in case..... I was really scared on how the Game Room Building would react to hurricane force winds.
Lastly... I took down our hummingbird feeders, They have been showing up all day to the feeders, I wonder where they will go when the storm hits?
I hope they make it!!
Back to the news... We can se Ike Charging In!!
Getting Closer......
Later That Night.... (pardon any continuity errors, the time was a total blur)
Here It Comes!
Around 1 or 2 am, The power started to blink on & off many times, Off in the distance, in front and back of our house, we saw many blue, green & red explosions of light, Powerlines touching, Transformers failing, and lines going down!
After 2am (guess?) The power finally went out. 10 seconds later our generator detected the loss and started up, restoring our power.
I put my hands against a main wall in the house, I could feel it shaking as Ike pounded on it. I tried as hard as I could, but you couldn't see
NOTHING outside... If the house was shaking under the pressure, I wonder how the game room is doing!!
In the bathrooms a wierd sound is heard... the pressure outside is sucking the water out of the toilets & sink P traps! The gurgle sound lasted for hours!
Our house faces perfectly North & South, The storm is hitting our house East & West.... a very good thing, the house is getting hit from the smaller
sides! On the east side, we have the guest room with a bathroom, When I checked the water was spraying in from the window over the shower. The window has a drain in the track, so If water sprays in from the shower, it will drain out, but now it is in reverse.. the water is being forced in, so I put a towel there. I had to check all the windows, water was being forced in between the track & window itself! So I put rags on all the windowsills.
We tried to keep up with the news on the T.V. but then we got the error message from Dish Network.. Satellite Signal Lost. I'll bet the dish is totally gone!! I can't see it in the dark!
I was scared that the windows would break.. I didn't have enought to cover all the windows.. I could see them move in & out as the wind blew.
Around 3:00 am The Eye Passes Over............
The winds died down, Just a little drizzle outside.. I quickly grabbed a flashlight and a towel......
Checked the house... Water had pourd through the chimney for the water heater on to the heater itself, but the water was caught by the overflow pan!! Outside everything looks fine... Many of the trees around the house were twisted up, branches broken off. It was soooo dark,
no power anywhere. No roof damage, no shingles missing.. Generator running properly!
Checked the gameroom... Outside looks fine... I noticed the cap for the furnace chimney was missing. Inside.. The water poured down the chimney
pipe into the unit.. but no problem.. The water went right into the overflow drain pan!!! Just a few drips of water on the outside around the unit. Easy and quick clean up with a rag.
I can see that the building shook alot during the storm, On the east wall, Several of my Simpsons action figures were knocked off the shelves onto the floor, Showing how much the building was hit by the winds!
About 4ish??.. The second half of the storm arrives, This time coming from the WEST! Now the game room is getting the brunt of the storm!
It's the same drill, scary winds, but now the heavy rain is coming in with the second half.. Still no news, Everyone is getting text messages from people.. The cell phone towers must be getting damage, getting no bars, If you do get through to someone, it cuts off... so everyone keeps texting and leaving voice mails.
Around 7am.... Light appears... Stacy is making breakfast for everyone... Outside the storm still rages. At lease we can begin to see what has happened! After we got through enjoying pancakes.. I grabbed an umbrella and went outside to check on everything.
Basically still the same, Just more branches down and lots of water standing! Around 9 or 10ish... the winds finally die down and the rain stops.
My sister decides to get out and go see if their house is ok. Stacy's parents go to check on their house & pets.. We decided to venture out to
see what's happened.
The following will be a summary of the next weeks, I'll try my best to keep the continuity, forgive any errors, please, I was sooo tired!
Here's what we saw around the area:
Trees down
Water over the road
Tons of Power Lines Down!!!
We came back to the house and found this little guy in the driveway...
The Hummingbirds were chirping outside for their feeders... Where did they hide during the storm??
We got their feeders back outside!! There were so many, I was able to hold a feeder out, and they came right up to me to feed! Awesome!
Well, here is why we're getting no T.V. Note, this pole used to be perfectly straight up.
So, time to get out the little T.V. that we actually used for Hurricane Alicia, back in 1983.. A certain game came out that year too, hmm..
This is how we got our news for the next few days!
POD's are Points Of Distrbution.. for Ice Water & food, EVERYONE DEFINATLEY NEEDED THIS!
(4 days later) When some stores opened up, Stacy found us some "ultra high tech antennas" for our T.V. Back To Bunny Ears! LOL
It'll be another week before we get Dish network out to fix the Dish.
This is Sunset on the first night after the hurricane, Taken from behind our generator!
The sky was so beautiful, like nothing ever happened!
Oh, One fun thing I forgot to mention, Even though we have power from our generator, The water is OFF! The water pump failed on the community well right after the storm, and it took 2 days to get it fixed, So I had the pleasure of bringing in buckets of water from the road ditches to flush the toilets after usage!!
Everyone in the neighborhood had to do this!! My neighbor let me have some extra buckets!!
Happy Joy!!
The next day or so we ventured into Baytown, (where I grew up) Got some pizza at Ci Ci's
(yes!! They were open & had power!)
We went to Stacy's parents house and got their generator running... It had clogged fuel lines & carb. Saw what damage they had.
Street lights all screwed up!
The San Jacinto Mall got damage.. Most was roped off and coudn't see it.
The Baytown Marina suffered Severe Damage, all the watercraft torn loose from the docks that were completly destroyed!
Next we went to my Sister's house to see what happened..... They live closer to Galveston......
They lost everything!
You can see the water lines, that they had 5 feet of water in the house.. A total loss.
They have insurance.. but it's going to be hard to have to start over. FEMA (government) will decide if they can rebuild or have to relocate.
On the way home, we stopped to pick up water, ice, & food. (these are pix over several days)
We definately needed the water to brush our teeth, clean up, eat etc...
On the 3rd day, we needed a top off on the propane tank... 115 gallons $355.00!!
hope the power doesn't stay off too long.. !!!
After the propane provider left, I decided to stop the generator to check fluids, oil etc. .... After letting it cool off, everything looked good, So I switched it back on.....
N O T H I N G...
What The F****!!???
I was getting an error message on the control panel... I was starting to panic.. It could be weeks before we get power!!!!
I called a Generac Technician.. After getting me to try several things.. He come to the conclusion that the Starter is no good. I requested that one be sent overnight!!
So, we spent one night in the dark... We got lucky.. A mild cool front passed through... and the temps were in the 60s with LOW HUMIDITY!!!!
The next morning, we got a call that the starter came in, but we'd have to install it ourseleves.. NO Problem!! We drove to the other side of Houston to pick up the starter, came back home... Began to install it, The new starter had a slight modification to the body that didn't allow it to fit, so my neighbor helped me use a grinder to remove the unneeded change with a bench grinder, Just an 1/8th of an inch to big.. No Problem.. Done!!
I bolted it right on, connected the wires, crossed my fingers, hit the switch back into automatic mode... It STARTED right back up!!!
Yes, I jumped for joy...
because the power did not come back on untill 4 days later.. and they were very HOT days!
A footnote: The part cost us 375.00, We had to pay the local dealer for the part. The generator is still under warranty, a Refund Check is already on it's way, with an apology letter from Generac, as THEY were supposed to do the work!
Several Days Later... Yes, Still no power, Generator is saving us!!
We have been averaging about 10% usage of the propane per day... (the tank holds 400 gallons of propane)
We took a look down in Galveston......
What we Saw...
This is the memorial to the great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the plaques were wiped clean off and the sign still says Hurricane.. (above)
The Flagship is Inaccessable!
More Galveston.....
I really believe that we were very lucky.. We sustained no real damage.. So many people lost so much more!! I thank God that we went through Hurricane Ike with little more than "minor setbacks" Hurricane Ike was a strong Cat 2 Storm. If it had been much stronger like a Strong 3, 4 or 5..
I believe we would have lost it all.
I couldn't pass this up! LOL
Just like Hurricane Alicia on August 18, 1983..... We will never forget Hurricane Ike September 13, 2008
