Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Update on the fly....

Our neighbor called us on Sunday: our house is fine, with fencing down on one side, and lots of tree limbs in the yard. The big pines are damaged and will likely need to come down.

I've talked with Hope and Marie and Janitha. Last night Hope said Kingwood was absolutely crazy; gas is not to be found (for those with generators this is a huge problem) and the few places with food have line snaking around the block. Kingwood alone has 55,000 people; and eventually most families will run out of food this week...imagine the mess.

Marie is back at work (a huge building owned by a significant company; they got power restored) but she has a tree in her living room , as you might have read in her post. She is still living in that house.

Janitha was closest to the coast, and said it was the most terrifying night of her life.

It really is just starting to dawn on me what it means to be in Houston. You likely can't leave, either because there is no place to fill up your tank again on the way to the next major city (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio.) Many businesses can't work; employees will have no paycheck for awhile. There is no sewer or water or power in Galveston.

I know Florida and Louisiana has been through this before, and areas have done without power for month(s) at a time. The difference is the amount of people. If you look at a map you will see that there is nothing much around Houston to go to.

And as Ike headed north, other smaller towns were suddenly flooded, and wind damaged, and without power too.

I've got a bit of survivor guilt going. Glad I'm not there, yet feel like I should be doing something. Of course I pray....

This storm will make the sale of our house be pushed back at least a month, even if we did have a buyer, which we don't, so we will have to plan to be in the apartment at least through Christmas.

Off to work!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel for those affected by Ike, especially in Texas. Those who were affected by Ike's remnants through the rest of the country are having to deal with something they've never before experienced. I can't believe the widespread destruction this storm caused. It's going to affect our country for a very long time. I read this morning that folks in KY who were hit hard may be without power for two weeks or longer - they've never experienced that (except perhaps during the 1974 tornado super-outbreak, but that was localized damage - this is widespread).

Perhaps it's time to move to Canada or Europe. ;)

Lovella ♥ said...

Oh Jill. . what a mess. I can't imagine how the people there must feel so discouraged and worried, with no power to know what is going on.
Last night on the news, I saw that Ike swept through an Ontario town that my niece lives in. . .trees down and damage there as well. Ike might have fizzled to a storm but he still packed a lot of poof.

Miss Janey said...

Makes you glad you're not there, doesn't it?

Kate said...

Glad to hear your house survived mostly unscathed. Finally heard from Sherman today - office slightly wet but nothing too bad. Claremarie's car is trapped in garage with neighbor's trees in her driveway but otherwise she is fine.

Like you, I'm having survivor's guilt - especially after being in the traffic jam of Rita 3 years ago. So glad am not having to line up for water, food or gas.

Things will get better. Sad that the Balinese Room washed away in Galveston! Didn't we have fun in our HHN tours of Galveston?! Hugs,
K Q:-)

Marg said...

I can't imagine what you've been through. You've put so much effort into finding the right dream home and hopefully it won't take long before things are under control again.