Wow - Never Never Again - Ike Rideout

[Waynem]

As the subject implies, we will never, never again be within 250-300 miles of a hurricane, irregardless (Yes irregardless is a word) of the category. Might even leave for tropical depressions!!!

Originally I wanted to go to Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio. DW stated that we, and I agreed, should be okay on the North side of Lake Conroe. So off to Willis, TX, 100 miles away from shoreline.

At 0430 hours, IKE came through just to the east of us. We had the prevalent from the North East, circling to the South East winds. I don't know the exact speed that was Coming through, but the MH rocked and rolled with it very well. I guess it's nice having six tires on the ground and four hydraulic stabilizer on the ground.

Earlene's Town Car (She drove it because I did not have time to have a tow package installed on the Saturn) was nosed in the front passenger side of the MH which kept it from the wind. However there was a tree close by that had it fallen in our direction it would have not only hit her car but the MH also. My words were, "I'm glad it's your car, because with my luck, if it were my car, it would have been totaled!"

We also lost electricity at 0430 hours, so I fired up the diesel generator and we lived off of it for the last day and a half. We actually started to get winds around 2100 hours and at 2130 hours I closed the slides. (Rock and roll) Fortunately I filled the fresh water tank before the storm and lived off of the CG water supply until the power went off. They use electricity to pump and one of the generators went out and the other was being used for the sewer treatment system. That was okay with me. The owner was on her way to Waco to buy more generators.

The only thing on ALL channels was the storm. Destruction seems to be all that they want to show, even after it is all over and well gone. I have had limited internet access because of the circuits, but I want so much to tell them to get off of the destruction and start telling the populace where they can go for the necessities of life. Darn!

I was informed that Texas City was an island. The sea wall prevented the surge from entering the town. Texas City is also surrounded by several Archimedes principle pumps. (for the uneducated, those are big cork screws that "pull" the water.) The pumps drain into Moses lake (Good name). There is a flood gate to the bay that is closed at low tide and the lake can be filled using the pumps. Do remember that the lake can only hold so much water, but this time all was well, I understand that there was some water in the city, but no houses were flooded that I know of.

Of course, I was concerned with my house, and especially the 45 year old Live Oak tree that is about 4 feet in DIAMETER and umbrellas the whole back yard. Guess what. It was solid as an oak! No damage to the stick house. The only thing I have to look forward to is the stink that will come from the freezer and refrigerator before we get home, and we will not be home until the electricity is on again.

The Texas City Emergency Management System is a phone system that calls every phone number in Texas City and broadcasts the happenings of the time. They have been very good in informing the populace of what was going on. Tonight I received a call where they were informing people that water will be restored to 100% by tomorrow and people should boil water for drinking. Some food stores and convenience stores are open and Texas New Mexico Power is working to restore all electricity (duh!) and it will be several days to weeks before it is restored.

The power line behind my house is down. (Wonder if my tree did it!)

Other than being on the coast, we do have a nice city, even an "All American City," a few years ago.

Well, life is not quite normal, but IKE is gone!

Thanks all for the kind words and prayers.

[Icehouse]

Good to hear your house (and y'all) survived with flying colors. We have run from our fair share of hurricanes (in Georgia) and I want to be as far away from one as possible.
Tammy

[Driftwoodgal]

Wayne,

I wish you would have headed our way near Austin. We didn't even get a drop of much needed rain. What is so frustrating about a hurricane is that you don't know where it will hit. The one thing that is a given is that the right side of them is always going to be dirty and nasty. Ike is still tearing through the country tonight with some 70 plus winds up north. We left Harlingen thinking Ike would hit between Brownsville and Corpus Christi. The one thing that is certain is that it will hit some where, but the storms have a mind of there own.

We are supposed to have a meeting on Tuesday, here in Austin, to let us know when we can move into the storm area to start working insurance losses. Normally they will let adjusters as soon as property owners are allowed back in the area. If there are restrictions, we have to show ID's as they don't want people looting etc.

We talked to an friend in Woodland, north of Beaumont, that had a rent house split in half by a pecan tree. His house was undamaged, he road out the storm in the house.

Here is hoping that people have the right coverage on their homes to help them rebuild. This may be a Katrina nightmare for people that haven't insured themselves properly.

I hope that old oak tree is alive and well when you get home. We have lost lots to oak wilt here in our area. It just breaks my heart to see an old tree become firewood.

God Bless

Colleen

[Waynem]

Coleen,

Thanks. Last report was the Oak is as "Strong as an Oak."

We are in Brenham tonight and will be at Austin Lone Star RV Park tomorrow for about a week, so we plan. That particular CG went no restrictions PA as of today, so that's a plus. Hope it's nice. They said we could pay for the week or pay every few days. Sounds nice in writing. If you are in the area, drop in and say hi. Don't know the site number yet, but will post when we are settled in.

JimF gave me a tip on Greenvillage RV Resort in SA and the following week we might just stay there.s

Don't know if you will get to the Galveston area or just the Houston Area, but once we have Electricity in TC we will head home. Drop by and say hi once we get there. Hey, you could go tomorrow and clean out the refrigerator and freezer!!!!

[stiles watson]

Wayne,

That is a lesson I learned some years ago from storms like Carla, Alicia, Claudette, Allison and others. Weathermen are better about predicting now, but it is not fool proof. Galveston, Texas City and Clear Lake areas really need to leave at first warning and move well inland.

Like I have stated before, I lived along the Gulf Coast from 1942 to 2005. For those who "road it out" in Galveston, Texas City, and like areas, all I have to say is that they need to learn the difference between courage and fool-heartiness. In the Marines, I learned that bravado can get you a bullet while disciplined courage can save your life.

I sure hope your house is ok. I am glad you were not in it. I have learned my Daughter's house in League City is unscathed. But haven't heard from my son yet. They both evacuated, one to Jackson, MS and the other to Austin, TX. There is sooo much work to do now. I am in contact with the Baptist Men of Texas to see how we may help. They have an extensive disaster relief response team that gets little publicity, but do great work.

[ols1932]

One of the great things about RV lifestyle is that we can get up and go any time we want to. We usually get plenty of warning about impending storms so if we want to ride them out or leave, we can do whatever we want to. We did ride out some tornadic activity in Minnesota back in 2003, but that was because we were unable to leave. But, we've decided that we won't do that again as long as we are able to leave.

Orv

[mail2us]

Excellent narrative on your experiences during Hurricane Ike, Wayne. Hope all is well with your home. I agree that the media overdoes "piles of debris" and less on recovery/assistance. I guess they like the "wet reporter" shots better! Oh well, be safe and thankful you are all ok. Dennis

[Rondo]

Orv- The problem with tornadic activity is that you never get enough advance warning on it! They can spring up anytime/ anywhere and head in any direction! There is one advantage to the hurricanes- you know for several days ahead of time approximately where it is heading. It may not be exact but it is in a general 2-300 mile area that the weather service can now predict it's landfall.

Wayne- Glad to hear you've made it through the winds and rain. We had some of the winds up here in Nebraska (gusts up to 50 mph or so) but never got to what you went through. Next time head up here, it's been great and the temps are in the low 70's right now and evenings cool down to the mid 40's to low 50's. We had some rain but not from IKE but from a cold front that came from the NW. Needed the rain but don't like the grass growing again!
Had a sister-in-law that sat out the storm in her mobile home 70 miles north of Houston. They coverd the windows and waited. Got a call last night and everything is fine except for the electricity of course. She has more guts than I'd have had believe me!

Take care all that are down in the Texas area and hope all goes well for you!

[Longwell]

Great report Wayne.
Just to let you know, the remnants of Ike went through western Pennsylvania last night. We had steady 40-50 MPH winds with gusts to 60 MPH from about 4PM to llPM. It did some damage, but nothing major.
My wife's hydrangia bush "disappeared" overnight. No trace of it anywhere!!
I'm glad all is well with you and yours.
Larry

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Wayne,
So glad to hear you weathered the storm. The wind and rain we received was nothing in comparison. More like a good old rain storm without the wind.
Hears hoping & praying that when you do get home you will find everything AOK.
After the Fall Rally has ended we head for Florida BUT if there is any possibility of an approaching hurricane we will wait it out somewhere out of harms way. A couple years ago we wondered around Tennessee and Georgia for nearly 2 weeks waiting for hurricane Wilma to make up her mind as to where she wanted to go. Once she left the area we headed into Florida.

[slewis]

Ike came to Ohio! We had Category 1 winds with gusts of 76 mph. Our garage is now shingleless. (Maybe that's not a word, but you get the picture)and our house has a few missing. Our patio umbrella is totally gone - MIA and our refrigerator had to be emptied cause we didn't have power for over 24 hrs. here. We are in OHio, and should not be concerned about hurricanes. We can get blizzards and tornadoes but hurricanes ? Something is not right with that!

So glad that you guys are safe. Our son and family are OK, too. They are without power but no damage. Just need to find enought gasoline to keep the generator running for them and the neighbors. He says if you have the choice between blizzard or hurricane-choose the blizzard......
Sandy

[kroencke]

Wayne-So glad you 2 are ok. We are the ones you saw in Galveston and gave us info on MOC. Have been thinking about you all along. We are on the west side of Houston and we never lost power. Only our side of the block had power. They said only 150,000 had power out of 2.5 million. Someone was looking out for us. No water for a couple days. Lots of trees and fences down. We do have 2 Honda generators that the neighbors are using. Well glad you are ok and hope all is fine at your home. Jackie