Ike's Fury (Long Post)

I finally have Internet access at my parent's townhouse, so I'm able to update you all on the latest news. I'm not sure where to start, so I guess I'll pick up where I left off.

We had a mandatory evacuation from Clear Lake Shores last Thursday, and headed North to mom and dad's in The Woodlands (about 50 miles North of Clear Lake Shores, and about 75 from the coast). Hurricane Ike started to come ashore on the east end of Galveston Island late Friday night. We started feeling the winds in The Woodlands early Saturday morning at about 4 a.m. The really strong winds came at about 6 a.m., and lasted for several hours. We lost power in The Woodlands at about 6:20 Saturday morning. We brought a generator, so we fired that up and were able to watch the news and run the refrigerator and some lights.

Mom and dad had minimal damage. A branch hit the roof and ripped off some flashing which caused a little leak in the roof, but nothing major. The winds were pretty fierce and there was a lot of debris down all over the place.

It was about late Saturday before we started seeing pictures from the Kemah area, and I immediately lost it. The suspense of not knowing what happened to our house was killing me. What we saw on the news was everything under water, so we knew it wasn't good for us.

We got a call on our cell's Sunday from our City Administrator who said residents could enter the City to assess damage, so we immediately headed down. I was prepared for what I was going to see, but at the same time I wasn't. We could barely get down the roads because of trees and boats and crap.

We pulled up to our house and saw a cedar tree down in the back yard across the fence and street. We closed the gates on either end of the driveway before we left, and the amount of crap that was up against those gates was unbelievable. As we walked up to the house, we could barely get through the yard. There were more trees in our yard then we had before!

The house was a mess. I cried the whole way through as I walked around to see the damage. The water had just receded, because the carpet was so soaking wet and muddy. There was still about an inch of mud in the kitchen. We could see the water line, which was about chest high on me, so roughly 4-5 feet. So we figure the tidal surge was about 11 - 12 feet (our house sits at about 8 feet above sea level). Surprisingly, no windows were broke.

Furniture had been tossed around like toys. Shit from the kitchen was in the bedroom and stuff from the guest room in the living room. The trash can in the bathroom ended up in the sink. The TV trays (a set of four plus the stand) from the dining room was in the office. The refrigerator had floated up and landed face first diagonal in the kitchen. Everything in the bottom cupboards was a wet muddy mess. About half of the stuff in the pantry was ruined, including all of my small appliances (Cuisinart food processor, mini processor, hand mixer, sandwich maker, waffle maker, etc.). Nothing in the garage survived, and Jay is sick about that. All of his tools, big machines, etc.

The bedroom was just as bad. We lost every television in the house (not that we're going to complain because we've been wanting a plasma flat screen). We pretty much lost everything that we didn't bring with us. Jay had some clothes up high that weren't touched, so we were able to save those. We tried to save pots and pans and some bowls, but the smell was so strong that it stays with stuff and pretty much ruins it. It's a smell I'll never forget, that's for sure.

We started to pull the carpet out on Sunday in hopes of preventing mold, etc. We got the living room cleared and then had to leave because of curfew. We've been working from dusk to dawn since then, and finally got everything out of the house yesterday.

So, we've now got everything piled up in the front hard, waiting for the insurance adjuster to get here. We filed our claim on Saturday right after we saw the pictures on the news (pretty much before the hurricane was even out of the area). We filed with FEMA yesterday (it took me that long to get through to them). The National Guard is here handing out bottled water, ice and MREs (meals ready to eat). Funny story... the National Guard unit that is here at the Target in Clear Lake Shores is from Lima, Ohio. That's where most of our family lives. Small world.

I feel so helpless. Usually I'm the one out there helping people, and now I'm the one who needs help. It sucks. Don't get me wrong... I'm thankful to be alive. That's what's most important, and I know that. The rest is just stuff, and that's what we have insurance for, but for all that we have been through to buy this house, and to have a major hurricane hit 9 days later is a pretty sick feeling.

I drove around the island for the first time yesterday and everyone else is in just as bad a shape as we are. There are boats from nearby marinas tossed around in lawns like toy boats. A 60 foot yacht ended up in between two houses on the north side of the island. How it didn't hit one of those houses I have no idea. Boats in the marinas are on top of each other, sinking, flipped over... it's really an unbelievable sight. But, we're going to pull through this as a community. We're a small community and pretty tight-knit, and were all in the same boat (no pun intended). We've had great support from our neighbors. They have power and brought us soup yesterday and let us use their powerwasher.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to us. And thanks to those of you that have offered your help, furniture, clothes, food, etc. I can't even begin to tell you what that means to us.

We're going to be staying in my parents townhouse until we can get the house remodeled. They are here as well, as The Woodlands is expected to be without power for about another 2 weeks or so. They have been incredible through this, first letting us evacuate to their place, and then standing side-by-side with us in cleaning out the house. It was a very dirty job - literally - and they didn't blink at all. They rolled up their sleeves and dove right in with us. That's not to say there weren't a few tense moments with emotions running high, but that's to be expected when you lose everything. We're thankful to them as well.

I'm off work until further notice. The College had some damage, and I believe there still is no power. That is fine with me, as I'll have my hands full for the next few weeks anyway. Unfortunately, Jay's business is about to pick up like he's never seen as all of the refineries try to get back online and repair the damage, so he's trying to get as much done at the house now before he can't even see straight from work.

I'll try to get some pictures and videos posted later.