![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Post-Ike picture post
Sep. 14th, 2008 02:30 pmSo here are the pictures of damage caused by Hurricane Ike around our house. I warn you, in the scheme of things, it isn't really much. We got off really lightly!
( Pictures here! )
( Pictures here! )
Sunday afternoon update
Sep. 14th, 2008 02:01 pmWe woke up this morning to still no more than a trickle of water coming out of our faucets, so I was disappointed to still be unable to take a shower. This after they said last night that the failed pumping station was back online and thus water pressure should be restored in a matter of hours. This morning they said that most of the city had water except for isolated areas that were still having problems. But the 311 system was not yet back online so we couldn't call to report that we were still lacking water pressure. Well, this afternoon our water pressure seems to be coming back finally. The toilets are refilling themselves (slowly) after we flush, and we're getting more than a trickle from the faucets (though it is not back up to normal yet). Still waiting for it to come up a little more before I try to shower with my long hair.
We ventured out to our local HEB this morning because we were running very low on milk, and since we have power to keep it cold we wanted to restock and not put Corwin on water only when it wasn't necessary. Turns out that our neighborhood has lost a couple of trees near the entrance, and there were trees and tree limbs down all over the place between our house and the grocery store (which is at Westheimer and Kirkwood). True to the description of Cat 1 winds from the Saffir-Simpson scale, the vast majority of the damage we saw was downed trees and signs. There was a bit of street flooding as well, but it looked to be due to nothing more than clogged storm drains. Wilcrest was partially flooded coming up to the intersection with Richmond when we approached, but it was drained an hour or so later when we returned home again -- and it was clear that this was due to someone pulling debris out of the storm drain right there. Downed trees were occasionally partially blocking traffic lanes, and the street lights were either out completely or flashing red. There was a fair amount of traffic out.
There was a HUGE line to get into the HEB. Fortunately, it was moving quickly and everyone we encountered was civil. The store itself had areas of bare shelves (particularly in the nonperishable isles) but other parts were well-stocked. Since we have power but no water to speak of, we were mostly trying to stock up on frozen food we could cook without creating very
many dirty dishes. Hopefully now that water pressure is improving that will be less of an issue -- though we are still supposed to be boiling tap water before using it, which makes getting clean dishes more difficult than usual. I can't just run them through the dishwasher and call them good. At the time we were there they had several large pallets of 10-lb bags of ice parked in the frozen food isle, and they were handing them out 2 per family. (Yes, you still had to pay for them.) Fortunately, ice isn't a commodity we're in need of.
For those that know her, we talked to Carly briefly this afternoon as well. She and John were without power in their new house in Kingwood, and were heading out of town to go to Austin at the time we talked to them. So they're fine, if anyone was wondering.
Oh, Corwin update: we used the wipes on him again today and haven't seen a reaction. Guess it was just some freak thing yesterday. I wiped some dirt off his arm with one this morning, and didn't see any reaction. So I used them to clean his hands and face after lunch, and again no reaction.
We ventured out to our local HEB this morning because we were running very low on milk, and since we have power to keep it cold we wanted to restock and not put Corwin on water only when it wasn't necessary. Turns out that our neighborhood has lost a couple of trees near the entrance, and there were trees and tree limbs down all over the place between our house and the grocery store (which is at Westheimer and Kirkwood). True to the description of Cat 1 winds from the Saffir-Simpson scale, the vast majority of the damage we saw was downed trees and signs. There was a bit of street flooding as well, but it looked to be due to nothing more than clogged storm drains. Wilcrest was partially flooded coming up to the intersection with Richmond when we approached, but it was drained an hour or so later when we returned home again -- and it was clear that this was due to someone pulling debris out of the storm drain right there. Downed trees were occasionally partially blocking traffic lanes, and the street lights were either out completely or flashing red. There was a fair amount of traffic out.
There was a HUGE line to get into the HEB. Fortunately, it was moving quickly and everyone we encountered was civil. The store itself had areas of bare shelves (particularly in the nonperishable isles) but other parts were well-stocked. Since we have power but no water to speak of, we were mostly trying to stock up on frozen food we could cook without creating very
many dirty dishes. Hopefully now that water pressure is improving that will be less of an issue -- though we are still supposed to be boiling tap water before using it, which makes getting clean dishes more difficult than usual. I can't just run them through the dishwasher and call them good. At the time we were there they had several large pallets of 10-lb bags of ice parked in the frozen food isle, and they were handing them out 2 per family. (Yes, you still had to pay for them.) Fortunately, ice isn't a commodity we're in need of.
For those that know her, we talked to Carly briefly this afternoon as well. She and John were without power in their new house in Kingwood, and were heading out of town to go to Austin at the time we talked to them. So they're fine, if anyone was wondering.
Oh, Corwin update: we used the wipes on him again today and haven't seen a reaction. Guess it was just some freak thing yesterday. I wiped some dirt off his arm with one this morning, and didn't see any reaction. So I used them to clean his hands and face after lunch, and again no reaction.
We now have no water at all (as opposed to just really low water pressure). I'm starting to really want a bath, but don't have any real prospect of getting one until the city gets the water back online. Unless we just decide to head to Austin in search of cleanliness. If we go another 24 hours without water, I'll probably seriously consider that. Have I mentioned I am very very thankful we have air conditioning?
And Corwin appears to have had an allergic reaction to the wipes we've been using to clean him up after meals in lieu of water. I don't quite understand it, as they are the same wipes we have been using in restaurants for months now. I wiped his hands after dinner tonight with the last two wipes from the existing canister and then used a wipe from a new canister on his face. Not too long after I got him out of his high chair, his face turned bright red in all the spots where I'd wiped. So I guessed that maybe an ingredient had changed between the old package and the new package -- Andrew and I both scanned the ingredient list and they were exactly the same. So I'm not sure why he had a reaction to the new wipes, but not the old ones. Fortunately, the reaction didn't seem to bother him any...just scared his mama. I wiped his face off with some water and kept an eye on him and about 15 minutes later the redness was fading.
I figure tomorrow we'll try an experiment and use a wipe on his arm and then check for a reaction.
Okie, off to get some ice cream and call my parents again and then perhaps I will post some of the pictures I took of the house today.
And Corwin appears to have had an allergic reaction to the wipes we've been using to clean him up after meals in lieu of water. I don't quite understand it, as they are the same wipes we have been using in restaurants for months now. I wiped his hands after dinner tonight with the last two wipes from the existing canister and then used a wipe from a new canister on his face. Not too long after I got him out of his high chair, his face turned bright red in all the spots where I'd wiped. So I guessed that maybe an ingredient had changed between the old package and the new package -- Andrew and I both scanned the ingredient list and they were exactly the same. So I'm not sure why he had a reaction to the new wipes, but not the old ones. Fortunately, the reaction didn't seem to bother him any...just scared his mama. I wiped his face off with some water and kept an eye on him and about 15 minutes later the redness was fading.
I figure tomorrow we'll try an experiment and use a wipe on his arm and then check for a reaction.
Okie, off to get some ice cream and call my parents again and then perhaps I will post some of the pictures I took of the house today.
1:41 p.m. - More detailed update
Sep. 13th, 2008 01:41 pmAndrew and I went to bed last night sometime between 10:30 and 11, hoping to get some sleep before we lost power and it potentially got too hot for comfort. Andrew dozed off and on, but I couldn't fall asleep listening to the wind. It was blowing so hard out there that we could feel the house shaking, and whenever it gusted hard enough for the house to shake, I'd hear this really loud obnoxious kazoo-like noise. Turned out that that was the wind forcing itself through the lower left quadrant of the front door -- guess our door is not weatherstripped sufficiently. Andrew tried blocking it with a towel and shoving a box in front of it to hold the towel in place, which helped a bit but not completely.
We lost power completely right around 2:20 a.m. (which is apparently when we were having the strongest winds in our area) and it was out until sometime between 5 and 6 a.m. The last time I'd checked the time it was 4:45 and the power was still out. I didn't look at the time when it actually came back on; by then, the winds were decreasing and I was finally able to fall asleep. We were really surprised we got power back that quickly; our only speculation is that maybe we are on the same grid with the West Houston Medical Center hospital?
We heard a loud thudding sound at one point while the power was out, so got up and made the rounds of the house to see if anything obvious had happened. At first I thought maybe the front door had blown open (remember, kazoo-sound?), but it was still shut tight. The only problem we found was that the wind was driving the rain so hard that it was getting in the guest bedroom under the balcony door and getting the carpet wet. We put a towel down, and the towel was soaked this morning, but the carpet only felt slightly damp. We didn't find anything to account for the thump, so assumed that something outside must have hit the house.
We haven't been outside to survey any damage yet as we are waiting for it to stop raining, but we have looked out the unboarded second-story windows. There is a big clump of shingles on the ground in the back yard, and one of our crepe myrtles is leaning at about a 70-degree angle. There are more shingles on the ground in the front yard as well, and scattered in the yard of a couple of the houses across the street. We'll probably have to go across the street to the neighbors and ask to stand on their balcony so we can survey our own roof, but ultimately we'll likely have the insurance company send an inspector out to inspect for any damage we can't see. Theoretically, the insurance company's inspector should only say there's damage if there really is, since the insurance company won't want to pay for unnecessary repairs.
All the fences I could see from the bedroom window were still intact. The folks who left their grill outside appear to have lost the grill cover, but all the potted plants and cinder blocks and such in the neighbors' yard don't even look like they moved.
We have power and internet, but no cable tv and very low water pressure. Apparently one pumping station in Houston has failed, so we are supposed to conserve water as much as possible and boil tap water for one minute before drinking it. So far, there's no evidence of water contamination; the boiling recommendation is a precaution only. Biggest issue I foresee is that we may not be able to bathe for a day or two. Fortunately, we have power so we won't be sweating like pigs while unable to bathe. We still seem to have enough water pressure to flush toilets, though we also filled up Corwin's bathtub so can use that for flushing if it becomes necessary.
Going to go check on the status of "is it still raining?" and venture outside for a bit if the answer is no.
We lost power completely right around 2:20 a.m. (which is apparently when we were having the strongest winds in our area) and it was out until sometime between 5 and 6 a.m. The last time I'd checked the time it was 4:45 and the power was still out. I didn't look at the time when it actually came back on; by then, the winds were decreasing and I was finally able to fall asleep. We were really surprised we got power back that quickly; our only speculation is that maybe we are on the same grid with the West Houston Medical Center hospital?
We heard a loud thudding sound at one point while the power was out, so got up and made the rounds of the house to see if anything obvious had happened. At first I thought maybe the front door had blown open (remember, kazoo-sound?), but it was still shut tight. The only problem we found was that the wind was driving the rain so hard that it was getting in the guest bedroom under the balcony door and getting the carpet wet. We put a towel down, and the towel was soaked this morning, but the carpet only felt slightly damp. We didn't find anything to account for the thump, so assumed that something outside must have hit the house.
We haven't been outside to survey any damage yet as we are waiting for it to stop raining, but we have looked out the unboarded second-story windows. There is a big clump of shingles on the ground in the back yard, and one of our crepe myrtles is leaning at about a 70-degree angle. There are more shingles on the ground in the front yard as well, and scattered in the yard of a couple of the houses across the street. We'll probably have to go across the street to the neighbors and ask to stand on their balcony so we can survey our own roof, but ultimately we'll likely have the insurance company send an inspector out to inspect for any damage we can't see. Theoretically, the insurance company's inspector should only say there's damage if there really is, since the insurance company won't want to pay for unnecessary repairs.
All the fences I could see from the bedroom window were still intact. The folks who left their grill outside appear to have lost the grill cover, but all the potted plants and cinder blocks and such in the neighbors' yard don't even look like they moved.
We have power and internet, but no cable tv and very low water pressure. Apparently one pumping station in Houston has failed, so we are supposed to conserve water as much as possible and boil tap water for one minute before drinking it. So far, there's no evidence of water contamination; the boiling recommendation is a precaution only. Biggest issue I foresee is that we may not be able to bathe for a day or two. Fortunately, we have power so we won't be sweating like pigs while unable to bathe. We still seem to have enough water pressure to flush toilets, though we also filled up Corwin's bathtub so can use that for flushing if it becomes necessary.
Going to go check on the status of "is it still raining?" and venture outside for a bit if the answer is no.
12:54 p.m.
Sep. 13th, 2008 12:54 pmFirst off, let me apologize for this late post. I didn't sleep last night until after 5 in the morning, and thus I didn't get up 'til 11:30 this morning. We've just finished lunch.
In sum: we are fine! :) Corwin slept through pretty much the entirety of his first hurricane. We put him to bed at his usual 8:00 last night. It took him 'til after 9 to stop thumping around in his bed and go to sleep, but he was still asleep at 9 this morning when Andrew got up. Admittedly we had no baby monitor last night (as the base unit in his room turned itself off at the first power flicker and we didn't bother turning it back on because...well it would have just turned itself right back off again the next time the power flickered), so we don't know if he was awake quietly at any point, but he never fussed or made any kind of ruckus that we could hear.
We even have power today; we appear to be very very lucky in this as it seems that somewhere between 90 and 95 percent of the city is without.
More details later. I have a poopy diaper to change and a boy to get started on his nap. But wanted to let folks know we're safe.
In sum: we are fine! :) Corwin slept through pretty much the entirety of his first hurricane. We put him to bed at his usual 8:00 last night. It took him 'til after 9 to stop thumping around in his bed and go to sleep, but he was still asleep at 9 this morning when Andrew got up. Admittedly we had no baby monitor last night (as the base unit in his room turned itself off at the first power flicker and we didn't bother turning it back on because...well it would have just turned itself right back off again the next time the power flickered), so we don't know if he was awake quietly at any point, but he never fussed or made any kind of ruckus that we could hear.
We even have power today; we appear to be very very lucky in this as it seems that somewhere between 90 and 95 percent of the city is without.
More details later. I have a poopy diaper to change and a boy to get started on his nap. But wanted to let folks know we're safe.
Cable TV seems to be gone. Internet still working, though. Odd.
Unrelated aside: FOX on Demand has the current week's episode of Bones available (and older eps also...I'm annoyed as it currently only has selected episodes from Season 3 rather than all of them). At any rate, I may be able to keep up with Season 4 after all, in spite of it showing on Wednesdays, and even without a DVR! :)
Unrelated aside: FOX on Demand has the current week's episode of Bones available (and older eps also...I'm annoyed as it currently only has selected episodes from Season 3 rather than all of them). At any rate, I may be able to keep up with Season 4 after all, in spite of it showing on Wednesdays, and even without a DVR! :)
Testing txtlj for use later.
[EDIT: It worked! Yay! I still get charged $0.20 per text message (sent or received) so I'll be using them sparingly. Plus they take me forever to type since I never text. :P However, this'll at least let me send a message that the power's out, and will let us keep in touch with family while conserving cell phone battery power.]
[EDIT: It worked! Yay! I still get charged $0.20 per text message (sent or received) so I'll be using them sparingly. Plus they take me forever to type since I never text. :P However, this'll at least let me send a message that the power's out, and will let us keep in touch with family while conserving cell phone battery power.]
Corwin is in bed.
Wind is picking up. Andrew and I just went out and chatted with the across-the-street neighbors for a bit. They have 2 generators and have said we're welcome to come over if we get too hot. Unfortunately, they seem to be the beer-drinking, partying types, and there are at least 6 cars over there so I think they have a large-ish crowd. So I'm not sure how well Corwin would do with that. But if we get hot enough and can't transfer ourselves to somewhere where there is power, we may end up over there for a little while at least. *shrug* It's good to have options. While we were out there, it was definitely windy, but nothing like when you see the reporters on tv standing out there trying not to get blown away.
That said, we have had the power flicker a couple of times already, so I'm pretty sure we're gonna lose it at some point tonight.
For those of you watching TV and worrying about us specifically -- we are not under water. We haven't even had any rain yet, and we're not in a surge zone so all that stuff you see inundating Galveston and southeastern parts of Houston isn't going to come anywhere near us. They keep showing reporters on the weather channel and saying they're in Houston, but I think they're actually in southeastern suburbs like League City and Clear Lake. That's still quite far from where we live (on the west side, just outside of Beltway 8 and south of I-10).
We're still fine at the moment, though it's starting to get windy enough that I'm occasionally hearing it even inside the house.
Wind is picking up. Andrew and I just went out and chatted with the across-the-street neighbors for a bit. They have 2 generators and have said we're welcome to come over if we get too hot. Unfortunately, they seem to be the beer-drinking, partying types, and there are at least 6 cars over there so I think they have a large-ish crowd. So I'm not sure how well Corwin would do with that. But if we get hot enough and can't transfer ourselves to somewhere where there is power, we may end up over there for a little while at least. *shrug* It's good to have options. While we were out there, it was definitely windy, but nothing like when you see the reporters on tv standing out there trying not to get blown away.
That said, we have had the power flicker a couple of times already, so I'm pretty sure we're gonna lose it at some point tonight.
For those of you watching TV and worrying about us specifically -- we are not under water. We haven't even had any rain yet, and we're not in a surge zone so all that stuff you see inundating Galveston and southeastern parts of Houston isn't going to come anywhere near us. They keep showing reporters on the weather channel and saying they're in Houston, but I think they're actually in southeastern suburbs like League City and Clear Lake. That's still quite far from where we live (on the west side, just outside of Beltway 8 and south of I-10).
We're still fine at the moment, though it's starting to get windy enough that I'm occasionally hearing it even inside the house.
I'm feeling better after my nap. :)
Corwin is doing fine as long as he has both parents present in the room. If one of us tries to leave for any reason, he melts down. (Yes, this is worse than usual -- usually he's fine as long as he has one parent.) He did take a good nap this afternoon though, at least.
We went outside for a walk again around 4:45. It has cooled off out there (yay for something positive?) and is windier than it was this morning. But still not bad at all. Nice walking weather. Two police cars drove into the neighborhood while we were out walking and one of them felt it necessary to use their loudspeaker to warn us that there is "a hurricane coming." *sigh* Yeah, we were out walking trying to get our 18-month old to expend some energy. :P
The weather channel says that 40% of Galveston residents did not evacuate. *sigh* Stupid, stupid people.
I'll keep posting updates when I have something noteworthy enough to say (hey, gives me something to do, and I know a few of you are interested.). If we lose power or cable/internet, updates will stop, of course.
Corwin is doing fine as long as he has both parents present in the room. If one of us tries to leave for any reason, he melts down. (Yes, this is worse than usual -- usually he's fine as long as he has one parent.) He did take a good nap this afternoon though, at least.
We went outside for a walk again around 4:45. It has cooled off out there (yay for something positive?) and is windier than it was this morning. But still not bad at all. Nice walking weather. Two police cars drove into the neighborhood while we were out walking and one of them felt it necessary to use their loudspeaker to warn us that there is "a hurricane coming." *sigh* Yeah, we were out walking trying to get our 18-month old to expend some energy. :P
The weather channel says that 40% of Galveston residents did not evacuate. *sigh* Stupid, stupid people.
I'll keep posting updates when I have something noteworthy enough to say (hey, gives me something to do, and I know a few of you are interested.). If we lose power or cable/internet, updates will stop, of course.
Corwin is down for his nap. I'm going to go take a nap, too, so maybe I can be a bit less grumpy this afternoon.
Still looks breezy outside; there's maybe a little more wind than there was this morning, but still not much.
Neighbors haven't taken loose objects inside nearly to the extent I would like -- they have cinderblocks, a trashcan, and potted plants sitting out in their back yard. And diagonally behind us and down one house is a yard with a grill sitting in it. It's at least up against the house, but still...
Btw, this morning has been very boring so far. We're just twiddling our thumbs and waiting..waiting...waiting. Corwin is extra fussy 'cause he senses our tension. Usually I'm not the sort to go stir-crazy, but today I feel like I am. Hopefully that nap I mentioned will help with that. Less tired usually = better perspective for Paulina monsters.
Still looks breezy outside; there's maybe a little more wind than there was this morning, but still not much.
Neighbors haven't taken loose objects inside nearly to the extent I would like -- they have cinderblocks, a trashcan, and potted plants sitting out in their back yard. And diagonally behind us and down one house is a yard with a grill sitting in it. It's at least up against the house, but still...
Btw, this morning has been very boring so far. We're just twiddling our thumbs and waiting..waiting...waiting. Corwin is extra fussy 'cause he senses our tension. Usually I'm not the sort to go stir-crazy, but today I feel like I am. Hopefully that nap I mentioned will help with that. Less tired usually = better perspective for Paulina monsters.
Ike Prep Update #2
Sep. 11th, 2008 08:37 pmAll of our downstairs windows and the back door are boarded up. That was all our boarding party (har!har!) could manage before they lost the light this evening. Current plan is for them all to get up uber-early tomorrow morning, check the forecasts, and conference via phone. If we're looking at a Cat 4 or 3 coming at us, they'll get their butts moving and do the upper windows in the morning before the weather gets bad. If it's a Cat 3 going to Beaumont, or a Cat 2, they'll leave things as is.
Many many thanks to Bob, Nancy, and Ralph for helping us out. None of them are on lj, but they deserve kudos anyway. :)
My job was baby-wrangling (i.e. KEEPING HIM OUT OF THE WAY) and fixing dinner for everyone. I think I had the easy work.
The good news is that as of now, the maximum forecast sustained winds for our zip code are down to 77 MPH. Lets hope this trend continues.
[EDIT: As of the 10p.m. update, Max forecasted sustained winds are down to 66 mph for us.]
Many many thanks to Bob, Nancy, and Ralph for helping us out. None of them are on lj, but they deserve kudos anyway. :)
My job was baby-wrangling (i.e. KEEPING HIM OUT OF THE WAY) and fixing dinner for everyone. I think I had the easy work.
The good news is that as of now, the maximum forecast sustained winds for our zip code are down to 77 MPH. Lets hope this trend continues.
[EDIT: As of the 10p.m. update, Max forecasted sustained winds are down to 66 mph for us.]
Ike update
Sep. 11th, 2008 01:18 pmhttp://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org/ is now showing Forecasted Maximum Sustained Wind speed for our zip code of 96 mph. That's bare minimum Cat 2 winds. According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, Cat 2 winds will likely cause "Some roofing material, door, and window damage of buildings. Considerable damage to shrubbery and trees with some trees blown down. Considerable damage to mobile homes, poorly constructed signs, and piers."
That sounds scarier. Still waiting for the 1 p.m. update to load...hopefully it gets better rather than worse. We're definitely boarding up, if there was any question about it before.
Currently waiting for my headache to subside (I just took some Excedrin); then I will get to work on cleaning up in here a bit...both for my own sanity if I am going to be cooped up for a day or so, and so it looks vaguely decent when Bob & Nancy come over later this afternoon to help us with boarding up.
That sounds scarier. Still waiting for the 1 p.m. update to load...hopefully it gets better rather than worse. We're definitely boarding up, if there was any question about it before.
Currently waiting for my headache to subside (I just took some Excedrin); then I will get to work on cleaning up in here a bit...both for my own sanity if I am going to be cooped up for a day or so, and so it looks vaguely decent when Bob & Nancy come over later this afternoon to help us with boarding up.
So Ike is supposedly coming near to Houston, and we're currently scheduled to get the dirty side of it.
We don't live in a surge zone, even for a Cat 5 storm (which Ike is not supposed to be), so emergency planners, the city, etc. are all telling us to stay put and shelter in place. We evacuated for Rita because we were afraid of wind damage from what was at the time a Cat 5 storm tracking to head pretty much directly over our house. We were late Rita evacuees (we were actually on our way out of town when the radio announced that the hurricane was likely going elsewhere and evacuation was no longer necessary. But the car was all packed, the house was boarded up and we were already to Katy, so we kept going. And even so it took us 9 hours to get to Austin.
We have an 18-month old now. The idea of sitting in the car in stop-and-go traffic for 9 hours (and that was a short Rita commute) with Corwin in the car sounds like even less fun than it was when it was just Andrew and me. The idea of being stuck in our house without power doesn't sound terribly fun either, (not to mention being stuck in our house during a hurricane) but I don't think it's worth sitting in that kind of traffic to go to Austin now. If we could have left yesterday, I would have gone ahead and taken Corwin and me off to Austin for an unscheduled vacation, but the university where I work only an hour so ago announced that it is going to be closed this weekend. So we couldn't go yesterday....in case I needed to be back here to work at 9 a.m. Saturday and wouldn't have known in time.
Instead, we'll likely board up this afternoon or evening and plan to stay put unless things start to look really bad. If that's the case, we'll probably just "evacuate" up to Andrew's parents' house, which is a bit further north and has a generator (which is hopefully working by now....I know they were trying to get it fixed a few weeks ago). Likewise, if we ride out the storm and find ourselves without power afterwards, we'll likely go somewhere else then. I am of course assuming that roads will be passable and our cars will be in working condition...which are big if's. *shrug* I can only overthink so much.
Making me feel a bit better is http://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org/ which shows the "Forecasted Maximum Sustained Wind Data for the City of Houston by Zip Code." Currently for our zip code, that's 83 mph (Category 1 hurricane force). According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, Cat 1 winds will likely cause "no real damage to building structures. Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Some damage to poorly constructed signs."
Andrew's employer is closing at noon today, so he should be home reasonably soon.
We don't live in a surge zone, even for a Cat 5 storm (which Ike is not supposed to be), so emergency planners, the city, etc. are all telling us to stay put and shelter in place. We evacuated for Rita because we were afraid of wind damage from what was at the time a Cat 5 storm tracking to head pretty much directly over our house. We were late Rita evacuees (we were actually on our way out of town when the radio announced that the hurricane was likely going elsewhere and evacuation was no longer necessary. But the car was all packed, the house was boarded up and we were already to Katy, so we kept going. And even so it took us 9 hours to get to Austin.
We have an 18-month old now. The idea of sitting in the car in stop-and-go traffic for 9 hours (and that was a short Rita commute) with Corwin in the car sounds like even less fun than it was when it was just Andrew and me. The idea of being stuck in our house without power doesn't sound terribly fun either, (not to mention being stuck in our house during a hurricane) but I don't think it's worth sitting in that kind of traffic to go to Austin now. If we could have left yesterday, I would have gone ahead and taken Corwin and me off to Austin for an unscheduled vacation, but the university where I work only an hour so ago announced that it is going to be closed this weekend. So we couldn't go yesterday....in case I needed to be back here to work at 9 a.m. Saturday and wouldn't have known in time.
Instead, we'll likely board up this afternoon or evening and plan to stay put unless things start to look really bad. If that's the case, we'll probably just "evacuate" up to Andrew's parents' house, which is a bit further north and has a generator (which is hopefully working by now....I know they were trying to get it fixed a few weeks ago). Likewise, if we ride out the storm and find ourselves without power afterwards, we'll likely go somewhere else then. I am of course assuming that roads will be passable and our cars will be in working condition...which are big if's. *shrug* I can only overthink so much.
Making me feel a bit better is http://www.houstonhidefromthewind.org/ which shows the "Forecasted Maximum Sustained Wind Data for the City of Houston by Zip Code." Currently for our zip code, that's 83 mph (Category 1 hurricane force). According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, Cat 1 winds will likely cause "no real damage to building structures. Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Some damage to poorly constructed signs."
Andrew's employer is closing at noon today, so he should be home reasonably soon.
Rita's aftermath
Sep. 26th, 2005 05:42 pmWell, we're back in Houston now, still safe and sound. We left my parents' house at noon, and arrived back here at 4:00. If you take into account that we got gas that was a little out of our way on the way out of Austin, and stopped at Dairy Queen in Columbus for about 15-20 minutes (long line for ice cream!), the trip really wasn't much longer than usual. There were a few slow stop-and-go spots, but nothing even remotely like what we encountered on the way to Austin Thursday evening/Friday morning.
Our house seems unscathed. It seems the only thing with any problems is my poor car -- the gas gauge seems to have stopped working. We had an inkling it wasn't quite right when we filled up before heading out of town and I put in over 6 gallons of gas even though it said I had 3/4 tank. We KNEW something was wrong when we got back to Houston and it was still sitting on Full -- hadn't budged in the slightest. So I'll have to get that looked at sometime soon. I think I'll try calling tomorrow and see if anywhere is open to look at it. She also deserves a bath after transporting us so well this weekend, so I'll probably try to find an open car wash, too :)
We had a generally enjoyable weekend, once the hurricane was past and it was clear that Houston didn't sustain much damage of note. Friday we were exhausted and spent the day just lazing around and/or sleeping as the mood took us. Saturday evening some friends in Austin had a "Hurricane Party," and Sunday we visited![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sunflowerkwm and her family in the afternoon, and hung out with onefishclappin and kwikwennavd in the evening. sunflowerkwm's daughter just turned three this past week, and she was happy to tell us about it at the drop of the hat. For example:
Me and Kristen: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Maddie: I'm three!
Me: What do you want to do when you're older than three?
Maddie: I'm not two, I'm three!
Me: When was your birthday?
Maddie: I'm three!
And the conversation went on from there. She's the cutest little girl, though, and I really enjoy spending time with her. :)
After we left Kristen and Jim's, we met up with Christi and David at their place and went to Whole Foods for dinner. I picked up some dark chocolate almond bark for my dad ('cause it's one of his favorites, and it's hard to find these days) while we were wandering around deciding what to eat. Then we went to Dave and Busters and played pool for a few hours, meeting up with Christi and David's friends Gary and Kris who they'd wanted us to meet, and then we all went home and crashed. It was a pretty relaxing weekend (once I was able to stop stressing), so I'm glad we went, even though in hindsight we didn't really need to. It was nice to be in Austin without anything in particular to do, no schedule to stick to, etc. :)
All in all, the evacuation was a bigger disaster than the hurricane for the Houston area. My university isn't opening for classes again 'til Thursday, and I'm off work until noon on Wednesday. Hopefully that'll be enough time to get my house back in order and my car taken care of.
Our house seems unscathed. It seems the only thing with any problems is my poor car -- the gas gauge seems to have stopped working. We had an inkling it wasn't quite right when we filled up before heading out of town and I put in over 6 gallons of gas even though it said I had 3/4 tank. We KNEW something was wrong when we got back to Houston and it was still sitting on Full -- hadn't budged in the slightest. So I'll have to get that looked at sometime soon. I think I'll try calling tomorrow and see if anywhere is open to look at it. She also deserves a bath after transporting us so well this weekend, so I'll probably try to find an open car wash, too :)
We had a generally enjoyable weekend, once the hurricane was past and it was clear that Houston didn't sustain much damage of note. Friday we were exhausted and spent the day just lazing around and/or sleeping as the mood took us. Saturday evening some friends in Austin had a "Hurricane Party," and Sunday we visited
sunflowerkwm and her family in the afternoon, and hung out with onefishclappin and kwikwennavd in the evening. sunflowerkwm's daughter just turned three this past week, and she was happy to tell us about it at the drop of the hat. For example:Me and Kristen: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Maddie: I'm three!
Me: What do you want to do when you're older than three?
Maddie: I'm not two, I'm three!
Me: When was your birthday?
Maddie: I'm three!
And the conversation went on from there. She's the cutest little girl, though, and I really enjoy spending time with her. :)
After we left Kristen and Jim's, we met up with Christi and David at their place and went to Whole Foods for dinner. I picked up some dark chocolate almond bark for my dad ('cause it's one of his favorites, and it's hard to find these days) while we were wandering around deciding what to eat. Then we went to Dave and Busters and played pool for a few hours, meeting up with Christi and David's friends Gary and Kris who they'd wanted us to meet, and then we all went home and crashed. It was a pretty relaxing weekend (once I was able to stop stressing), so I'm glad we went, even though in hindsight we didn't really need to. It was nice to be in Austin without anything in particular to do, no schedule to stick to, etc. :)
All in all, the evacuation was a bigger disaster than the hurricane for the Houston area. My university isn't opening for classes again 'til Thursday, and I'm off work until noon on Wednesday. Hopefully that'll be enough time to get my house back in order and my car taken care of.
Another Rita update
Sep. 22nd, 2005 07:20 pmWell....hate to disappoint all of you who've spent the day being relieved that we left earlier. We didn't.
It took all day to get our house and Bob & Nancy's house boarded up, so we're heading out now.
The danger from the hurricane looks much smaller now, but we're already mostly packed from our packing frenzy this morning, and we think we can get to the mostly-moving counterflow lanes on I-10 fairly easily, so we're heading out in the next half-hour or so (soon as we get the computers taken apart and everything loaded into the car. Sitting around here for a couple of days with no power and possibly no water just doesn't sound terribly fun.
So yeah...we're heading out. For real, this time. Another update later, probably after we finally get some sleep.
It took all day to get our house and Bob & Nancy's house boarded up, so we're heading out now.
The danger from the hurricane looks much smaller now, but we're already mostly packed from our packing frenzy this morning, and we think we can get to the mostly-moving counterflow lanes on I-10 fairly easily, so we're heading out in the next half-hour or so (soon as we get the computers taken apart and everything loaded into the car. Sitting around here for a couple of days with no power and possibly no water just doesn't sound terribly fun.
So yeah...we're heading out. For real, this time. Another update later, probably after we finally get some sleep.
We're getting out.
Seeduncanius' journal for an image of Rita's current path. That's going almost directly over our house.
We're boarding up as soon as Andrew gets home from running a phone conference at work this morning, and heading out after that as soon as we can. I'm packing now.
And scared shitless. Fortunately, I'm too hyped on adrenaline to cry.
If anyone can get a hold ofravenessasashes or bindusara tell them to CALL US!
Paulina
See
duncanius' journal for an image of Rita's current path. That's going almost directly over our house.We're boarding up as soon as Andrew gets home from running a phone conference at work this morning, and heading out after that as soon as we can. I'm packing now.
And scared shitless. Fortunately, I'm too hyped on adrenaline to cry.
If anyone can get a hold of
ravenessasashes or bindusara tell them to CALL US!Paulina
Hurricane Rita Prep
Sep. 21st, 2005 05:02 pmAs of this moment, we're planning to stay here through the storm. I'm scared to death, but Andrew wants to stay with the house to protect it and take care of it afterwards, and I don't want to run off without him. So here we will be. Right now, it also sounds like spritenox and ravenessasashes will be here with us.
Andrew and Bob went and picked up plywood yesterday afternoon, and we're going to board up the lower-story windows on both our houses tomorrow. We've got tape for the inside of the upper-story windows, since we don't have a ladder to climb up to them.
My university closed at noon today, so we spent the afternoon scrounging for appropriate food and batteries to cope with loss of electricity after the storm. We couldn't find any D batteries anywhere, but are well stocked on AAs. We have some flashlights and one radio that run on AAs, so we'll at least have that much, and we'll be able to run our D flashlights for a little while, anyway (they have batteries in them at the moment, and we have three spare Ds sitting around).
We've also got a pretty good supply of water (lots of old cran-grape bottles, plus some other miscellaneous smaller bottles) and cran-grape that we picked up at the store today. We'll fill up the bathtubs before the storm hits, and use that for flushing toilets and stuff if needed.
We hope the house will come through it okay. I'm sure there's more we should have, but we'll have to make do with that much (though we may do some more hunting for D batteries in the interim).
We're on the west side of town, and not in any of the mandatory evacuation zones. We're also not in a flood plain, but our house didn't exist when Allison came through, so we don't have any previous flood experience to use to determine if our house is likely to flood this time. We DO have flood insurance, though, so I've got some peace of mind from that. Lastly our house was built after 2000, which is when the building code changed to require houses be built to withstand up to 110 mph winds. This morning, I was hearing Houston was likely to get sustained 75-100 mph winds from a category 4 storm, with occasional gusts higher than that. So if Rita comes ashore as a Category 4, I THINK we'll be okay. I know she's a Cat-5 at the moment, but everything I've seen says she's expected to weaken back to a 4 before making landfall. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that that happens.
Have I mentioned that I'm scared? Having never been through a hurricane before, I don't really know what to expect. I had a coworker explain to me today his experience riding out a cat-3, and it didn't sound fun. He said something about many hours in a confined space, hearing the wind roar around you without having any way to really know what's going on out there. He said that they had radio through the first part of the storm, but eventually lost even that. Let me just say this is not an experience I'm looking forward to. On the other hand, I'm NOT leaving Andrew here by himself, either.
spritenox and ravenessasashes will be here with us.Andrew and Bob went and picked up plywood yesterday afternoon, and we're going to board up the lower-story windows on both our houses tomorrow. We've got tape for the inside of the upper-story windows, since we don't have a ladder to climb up to them.
My university closed at noon today, so we spent the afternoon scrounging for appropriate food and batteries to cope with loss of electricity after the storm. We couldn't find any D batteries anywhere, but are well stocked on AAs. We have some flashlights and one radio that run on AAs, so we'll at least have that much, and we'll be able to run our D flashlights for a little while, anyway (they have batteries in them at the moment, and we have three spare Ds sitting around).
We've also got a pretty good supply of water (lots of old cran-grape bottles, plus some other miscellaneous smaller bottles) and cran-grape that we picked up at the store today. We'll fill up the bathtubs before the storm hits, and use that for flushing toilets and stuff if needed.
We hope the house will come through it okay. I'm sure there's more we should have, but we'll have to make do with that much (though we may do some more hunting for D batteries in the interim).
We're on the west side of town, and not in any of the mandatory evacuation zones. We're also not in a flood plain, but our house didn't exist when Allison came through, so we don't have any previous flood experience to use to determine if our house is likely to flood this time. We DO have flood insurance, though, so I've got some peace of mind from that. Lastly our house was built after 2000, which is when the building code changed to require houses be built to withstand up to 110 mph winds. This morning, I was hearing Houston was likely to get sustained 75-100 mph winds from a category 4 storm, with occasional gusts higher than that. So if Rita comes ashore as a Category 4, I THINK we'll be okay. I know she's a Cat-5 at the moment, but everything I've seen says she's expected to weaken back to a 4 before making landfall. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that that happens.
Have I mentioned that I'm scared? Having never been through a hurricane before, I don't really know what to expect. I had a coworker explain to me today his experience riding out a cat-3, and it didn't sound fun. He said something about many hours in a confined space, hearing the wind roar around you without having any way to really know what's going on out there. He said that they had radio through the first part of the storm, but eventually lost even that. Let me just say this is not an experience I'm looking forward to. On the other hand, I'm NOT leaving Andrew here by himself, either.
Had a busy weekend this weekend just past. Sunday evening Andrew and I went dancing at HavoK, since I was working late last night to teach classes and thus didn't have to be at work 'til noon yesterday. We'd hoped to meet some folks there, but they either didn't show at all, or were there before or after we were (we were there from about 10 to midnight). We caught the end of the listening party for KMFDM's new album, Hau Ruck, and for the most part we liked what we heard. I, of course, preferred the tracks where Lucia is singing, but I'm strange like that. ;) So yeah...we might have to pick that album up. Lucia has a solo album also, which I'm interested in hearing. Dunno if I'm brave enough to pick it up unheard, though.
Last night I worked 11:45 to 8:15, teaching two library instruction classes at 5:30 and 7:00. The classes went well, and I had nice commutes in both directions. If it wouldn't mean not getting to see Andrew much, I'd try to adopt something like that as a regular schedule. I could definitely do with less stressful commuting.
It's looking like my plan to work on the front flower bed this Saturday may not be happening, as it looks like it may be rather windy and wet outside right about then*. I love it when I finally make up my mind to do something and then get thwarted.
*Hurricane Rita is heading in our direction, currently expected to make landfall near Galveston sometime Saturday morning. Of course, there's still time between now and then for a change of course.
Last night I worked 11:45 to 8:15, teaching two library instruction classes at 5:30 and 7:00. The classes went well, and I had nice commutes in both directions. If it wouldn't mean not getting to see Andrew much, I'd try to adopt something like that as a regular schedule. I could definitely do with less stressful commuting.
It's looking like my plan to work on the front flower bed this Saturday may not be happening, as it looks like it may be rather windy and wet outside right about then*. I love it when I finally make up my mind to do something and then get thwarted.
*Hurricane Rita is heading in our direction, currently expected to make landfall near Galveston sometime Saturday morning. Of course, there's still time between now and then for a change of course.
(no subject)
Sep. 2nd, 2005 11:53 amI'm about to head out of here, taking off at noon today to finish getting ready for DragonCon. Our plane leaves at 6:55 p.m. from IAH, so I've got about 3.5 hours 'til we need to head toward the airport.
I'm feeling a little bit guilty about running off to have fun for the weekend when there are thousands of people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina who need help, and I have to keep telling myself that their disaster doesn't mean I should put my life on hold. Plus we paid for our plane tickets and Con tickets months ago; it would be silly to let that money go to waste. After the con, I'm going to look into what we can afford to give, whether it ends up being money, in-kind donations, or time spent volunteering here in Houston. I really DO want to help in some way.
I was going to say something else here, but I've now forgotten what it was. Ah well, it's time for me to run out the door anyway.
I'm feeling a little bit guilty about running off to have fun for the weekend when there are thousands of people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina who need help, and I have to keep telling myself that their disaster doesn't mean I should put my life on hold. Plus we paid for our plane tickets and Con tickets months ago; it would be silly to let that money go to waste. After the con, I'm going to look into what we can afford to give, whether it ends up being money, in-kind donations, or time spent volunteering here in Houston. I really DO want to help in some way.
I was going to say something else here, but I've now forgotten what it was. Ah well, it's time for me to run out the door anyway.
Hurricane and sick Paulina update
Aug. 31st, 2005 09:13 amI went to the doctor yesterday, waited nearly an hour to see her, coughed for her once, and got given an antibiotic and sent on my way. It's nice to know my self-diagnosis isn't too far off. I started taking it about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, and while I can't really tell any difference yet, I'm definitely doing better than I was this time last week. I just wish I could get over this darn cough I have...it's no fun. *barks*
Last night, we went up to Andrew's parents' house and visited with his aunt and grandmother, who are staying in a nearby hotel until such time as they can go back home. They live in Picayune, MS, just a little northeast of Lake Pontchartrain. As far as they know, their houses are okay, but they haven't been able to get in touch with Andrew's uncle (who stayed) since midday on Monday. Last night while we were there Andrew's cousin called, and she said she'd talked to her dad around 3 or 4 p.m. on Monday, and at that time the storm had passed and he was going outside to hook up the generator. Since then, it's been "all circuits are busy" whenever anyone has tried calling, so we're all hoping and assuming that he's okay.
geognome4 said her family had all safely evacuated New Orleans before the storm, so they are all physically safe, at least. I imagine it'll be good while before they find out the state of their homes and businesses. In the meantime, I'm just disgusted by the people who are looting the dry parts of the city. To some degree, I can understand people looting grocery stores if they need the supplies (Jean Valjean, anyone?), but the mass looting that's going on in the French Quarter, people shooting each other, etc.!? It just makes me sick...I don't understand what part of human nature makes people do things like that. Now is a time to help your neighbor, not shoot and steal from them.
Last night, we went up to Andrew's parents' house and visited with his aunt and grandmother, who are staying in a nearby hotel until such time as they can go back home. They live in Picayune, MS, just a little northeast of Lake Pontchartrain. As far as they know, their houses are okay, but they haven't been able to get in touch with Andrew's uncle (who stayed) since midday on Monday. Last night while we were there Andrew's cousin called, and she said she'd talked to her dad around 3 or 4 p.m. on Monday, and at that time the storm had passed and he was going outside to hook up the generator. Since then, it's been "all circuits are busy" whenever anyone has tried calling, so we're all hoping and assuming that he's okay.
geognome4 said her family had all safely evacuated New Orleans before the storm, so they are all physically safe, at least. I imagine it'll be good while before they find out the state of their homes and businesses. In the meantime, I'm just disgusted by the people who are looting the dry parts of the city. To some degree, I can understand people looting grocery stores if they need the supplies (Jean Valjean, anyone?), but the mass looting that's going on in the French Quarter, people shooting each other, etc.!? It just makes me sick...I don't understand what part of human nature makes people do things like that. Now is a time to help your neighbor, not shoot and steal from them.
