Ike

Bev and Wayne survived Hurricane Ike! The eye of the storm went right over their house in Houston and up-rooted the two biggest trees in their yard. One knocked out the brand-new fence in the back. The other is laying on the roof. Fortunately, the entire house is made of brick and Wayne boarded up the windows a long time ago. Structurally, all seems okay. But they still don't have power or phone service and the constant rain has made it impossible to climb up and remove the huge tree. Cell service is spotty, except for a place by the airport - their new hang-out. :)  They are surviving on energy from a generator, Rum and Skittles. The generator has enough power for two refrigerators, an a/c unit and a small TV, but it runs on gasoline. Most of the city is out!  A friend of theirs drove 40 miles to bring them some gas. 

Apparently, much of downtown is destroyed. And Galveston Bay. Poor Galveston. They just re-built the whole dang thing! These pictures are from the Boston Globe website. (boston.com)  I thought they were amazing. They told me everything I needed to know about the level of destruction. It's gonna be a LONG clean-up!  We offered to go down there, but as Wayne put it, "Then there would be FOUR of us in the house, trying to kill each other."  I guess we'll wait 'til Christmas. 

Image of Hurricane Ike on September 10, 2008, taken by the crew of the International Space Station, 220 miles above Earth.

A view of the flooded waterfront in Baracoa, eastern Cuba, where Ike visited prior to Texas. 

A horse grazes beside a house near Winnie, Texas. 

A fire destroys homes along the flooded beach of Galveston Island. 

 
An alligator is seen crossing the road in Sabine Pass.

Flooding over access road 523 to Surfside Beach.

Homes and businesses on the Clear Creek Channel in Seabrook are surrounded by rising water from Galveston Bay.

With Hurricane Ike offshore, Michael Gardner walks in high water in front of a burning warehouse in Galveston. Fire fighters could not reach the structure so they allowed it to burn.

People ride in the back of a pickup truck through floodwaters. (idiots.)

A single home is left standing among debris in Gilchrist, Texas. Floodwaters were reportedly as high as eight feet in some areas causing widespread damage across the coast.

A house sits among debris, piled up by storm surges in Crystal Beach.

A high school football field in the town of Delcambre, Louisiana.  (Texas football fields would never have let this happen. Don't Mess with Texas Football!)

An apartment complex in Galveston. (Also, a really horrible parking situation.)

A woman walks through a flooded neighborhood street in Orange, Texas. Ike's surge overcame the levee along the Sabine River that flows by Orange causing widespread flooding to the city. (All I can think about is that alligator picture. Look out for alligators, lady!)

A man inspects the damage in front of the JP Morgan Chase Tower in Houston.

A cemetery flooded by storm surge in Galveston.  (not cool.)

The Hollywood Community Cemetery in Orange, Texas is seen with several caskets scattered about after surfacing due to flood waters. (creepy and horrifying)

A house burns uncontrolled in a flooded neighborhood in Galveston.