Hurricane Ike - September 2008

Look how it reaches all the way from College Station to Lake Charles

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Hurricane Ike was scheduled to make landfall somewhere on the Texas gulf coast early Saturday morning. I saw the first effects of the storm Wednesday night - gas lines. I was surprised to see people waiting for gas so many days away from the storm - but Jacqui was worried, and talked me into filing up that night. I waited until after putting the kids down, and went to fill up the Expedition around 10:00pm - and the lines were still six cars deep! I got gas away - and I'm glad I did.

We knew this storm was special when we woke up Friday morning, and Galveston was already seeing an 8 foot storm surge - with sixteen hours until landfall. Jacqui and I were somewhat prepared - we had batteries and lanterns, canned food, water, etc. But as we watched the waves smash into and over the Galveston seawall, we wondered if we'd done enough. We filled the tubs with water.

As the storm rolled in, we made a bed for the kids in our closet - the safest room in the house. After they were sleeping, Jacqui and I watched the news, and shared a few drinks on the front porch. We watched as the wind and rain got worse by the minute. Our power went out just before midnight. We were huddled by the front door when our neighbor's tree snapped in half, and crashed through the fence. We could hear other trees, snapping, crashing, and sometimes felt the thump of a huge tree trunk hitting the ground.   ...we decided to head inside.

Of course, my experiences dealing with Ike, and it's destruction pale in comparison to some - as Galveston, Bolivar and many other coastal communities were literally washed off the map. My heart and prayers go out to those folks.

....here's the view from my camera.....

Our 'safe room' for the night.

The next morning, and the roads are filled with trees.

Everywhere you looked, trees were either snapped in half, or completely uprooted.

Laura and Walter's fence, as seen from the school parking lot.

Our back fence, as seen from the day-care.

Close up, from the same view.

Pumping station behind our house.

Home Sweet Home!

Left side of our house.
There are two trees down in this pic.   Jac and I were on the porch when to oak snapped - the big elm branch came later.

The middle of this wax-mertle took a hit.

A view from the back yard.

That limb is not supposed to be there.

Behind our garage, we lost another tree...

...and it was hanging off the electrical lines.

SeeLong was lucky that this tree didn't do more damage.

As we were cleaning up our yards Saturday afternoon, and wondering when we might get our power back - here comes the CenterPoint Energy truck! WooHoo!! Everyone clapped as they rolled up. As they looked at my tree leaning on the lines they said "so you're the one who cut the power to the neighborhood." Haha - I bet they used that line on everyone. I didn't care - I was just happy to see 'em. When we asked, they said "either the power will come back on in 30 minutes, or it might be tomorrow". Wow - either way - that would be great! That was Saturday. Our power did not come on until Thursday night. Don't get me wrong - I think CenterPoint did a great job, and those folks should be applauded for working so hard. ...but it wasn't much fun going without power for a week.

...back to the pics - here we are on Sunday, going to the store to see if we can find any ice.

Some of the worst damage we saw in our neighborhood, was right behind our house.

Monday morning I was surprised when the receptionist at my work answered the phone, and said "yes, the building is open today". I had heard on the radio that downtown was hit hard, and that many buildings had broken glass, and most streets were closed. When I talked to my boss, he told me that it was a bit scary getting to work - but the building had power and suffered no damage. I didn't make it to work Monday, but did go in Tuesday. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me. So the pictures you see below were taken as I walked around on my lunch hour - Wednesday, September 17.

Next door to the Continental Center is the new Chevron headquarters - though it will always be 'The Enron Building' to me.
It only suffered a couple broken windows.
In it's reflection, you can see 'Enron 2'

Enron 2 wasn't as lucky as it's sister building - many windows were smashed.

Parked at the base of Enron 2.

The Spindle Top - a restaurant perched on top of the Hyatt hotel - suffered some damage.

The Wedge Tower had almost 50% of it's windows broken.
Here, only a few have been boarded up....

...and the building was still closed.

Looking down Louisiana Street.

Looking past the Esperson Buildings, my 1st view of the Chase building (Texas Commerce Tower).
I had heard it was the hardest hit.

Walking down Main Street to get a better view of the Chase tower....
...this condo looks like it didn't use thick enough glass.

And now....several pics of the Chase Tower...

The Chase Tower is 75 stories tall.

Look at all those windows that were blown out!

This was as close as I could get without getting into trouble.

...and this is my favorite pic.

Next door to the Chase Tower - it's parking garage was also decimated.

Almost every window on this side was broken.

Outside the Chase Tower, all the restoration crews took a lunch break.

A few more pictures as a walked back to my office...

I've never seen more HPD downtown.

Another line of workers outside the Wells Fargo Plaza.

And a few more shots of Enron 2..

My last picture before going back to work.

That evening, it was another cul-de-sac party, and another night without power.

But we didn't let that dampen our spirits.

Thursday night, as we were grilling yet another pile of mixed meats, and setting up for another cul-de-sac party, I heard a faint scream - then another - "we have power!" I looked across the street, and saw the neighbors lights were on. I rushed into the garage, flipped on the breaker, and rejoiced at the light. Of course, as I said before, I know my Ike experiences pale on comparison to those along the coast. I didn't want to trivialize this storm, by ending on such a happy note - so I've included just a couple pics that show some of the real devastation that Ike brought. The folks who lived along the coast may never recover....

The last house standing along the beach in Gilchrist on Bolivar Island.

And I thought my yard was a mess.

The west end of Galveston.

Crystal Beach.

In closing, here is a link to a great page put together by a Crystal Beach resident documenting the destruction around Galveston, Bolivar, and surrounding areas.