Resuming Life

Hurricane Ike has come and left a wide swath of damage in its wake. As the recovery teams are still trying to reach people stranded, working on restoring power, and just cleaning up all of the fallen debris, everyday citizens are being asked to return to life as normal.

For example, Rice resumed class today. There are students and faculty members that still don’t have power, some don’t even have functional homes anymore, and yet, life has to keep going on. I understand that the University doesn’t want to lose any more class days and that campus didn’t sustain any major damage. But it can be hard to care about class and assignments when just getting ready in the morning involves dodging things in the dark, or cooking food involves boiling water just to drink or cook with. Which raises an aside – how do you boil water when there is no power and you only have an electric stove?

I’m one of the lucky ones. I have electricity unlike the majority of my classmates. Of course, I have presentations and the like due this week too. It’s just interesting to watch the city struggling to rebuild and recoup. It is a struggle, but we are throwing ourselves into living life as usual. Houston and the rest of the Texas gulf coast will recover. It may take time, but we will resume our lives.

~The Countess~

Live from Houston, TX

So, it is now daylight. It’s still raining. There are trees down everywhere. The building across from us is missing a chimney. Jenn’s parents lost their fence and a couple af trees. We still don’t have power, but thanks to laptops and internet tethering I can still be online, albeit for briefer periods of time.

I talked to some friends in Houston proper just a little bit ago and they said they still have power. They’re in the Montrose area. Rice University is joining with the Mayor in urging people to stay away. I’m really hoping that I’ll either have power or won’t have to go to school until they get power restored. I am currently resisting the urge to go back to town to see my place. I’ve heard reports that Reliant Stadium has damage to its roof. So, it’s still a good idea to stay away. Especially if you are someplace with power. Stay there and wait for an all clear to come back.

We did successfully ride out the storm. We had a safe and good, if slightly intense and or scary, time, but now comes the hard part. Now we have the clean up and the long, hard hours of dealing with no electricity, contaminated water supplies, and the like. Let’s help each other out. We can start by staying out of the way of professionals. Which is why, as much as I want to go see my apartment, I’m not driving down there.

~The Countess~

Trees, Rain, and Cars

So, all the cars in the parking lot just had their alarms start going off. I’m not sure how many of you know, but I’ve been driving my mom’s car and so I’m constantly worried about it getting screwed up. Ergo, I decided that I should go out, in the hurricane winds and rain and check on my car. Make sure there’s not a tree through the windshield or something. I bundled up in a suede jacket (washable suede) and ran out to see what was going on with the cars. I decided that the wind was blowing too hard on one side and ran around to the otherside instead and ran out into the driving rain. I was jumping over branches on the sidewalks in between the buildings and reached the parking lot. I looked to the left and there was my car, perfectly safe. I looked to the right and there was a tree, split in half, blocking the parking lot.

Let me just say, it is crazy out there. The wind was shoving me over. The rain is stinging and blowing across the parking lot. Part of the covered parking roof is ripping loose. I don’t think it’s going to make it through the night. And our power just flickered again. And again.

Long and short of it: it’s raining. The wind has gotten really strong up here. And my car is currently ok (knock on wood). And dude, they just said that we’re getting pea-sized hail in our area. Great.

Proof of my great adventure:

Me after running through the hurricane to check on my car...

~The Countess~

Check it out

If you are out of Houston or have family down here and are wondering what is going on, check out these forums.

They are organized by areas around Houston. You can check it out and find out what’s going on in your area.

~The Countess~

Self entertainment

It’s amazing when you stay up late and have to find ways to amuse yourself what you’ll end up doing. We’ve been counting things like crazy today. The number of drinks consumed, hands of cards played, number of people without power, that kind of thing. We’ve played Scrabble, Indiana Jones Life, and Gin Rummy.

It kind of seems like fiddling while Rome burns, except that I have no responsibilities in Houston. I am a tad bit worried about my apartment. It’s about to get hit with hurricane force winds and I’m not thrilled to hear that. Sleep probably won’t come tonight. Everything sounds strange. It’s different.

The center of the eye of Ike is five miles from land now. The worst of it is still to come for us up here. Downtown Houston is now taking its worst hit. The rain is coming down horizontally. They do still have power in downtown. Which is crazy. The transformers are blowing and lighting the sky a very odd blue-green.

I see the storm and I am in awe. In awe of the power and majesty. I’ve been in storms before. Hidden in basements from tornadoes, but there is nothing quite like being in the middle of a hurricane. It is amazing. We were ducking out to the balcony to watch the wind and rain earlier but some pretty good gusts have convinced us to stay inside at least for now. And, like they’re telling us on the news, it’s only going to get worse.

At least we still have power, 1.3 million customers (that’s 4.5 million people) are now without power, but ours is still on. We still have air, running water, not to mention the cable and internet. As they’re saying on the news, there is so much going on that it’s hard to keep up with everything. Ike is certainly making a statement.

~The Countess~

We win at Hurricane!

So, Jenn and I have officially won Hurricane Ike. We still have power. Her parents and all our friends are without power. This gloating will probably result in us losing our power, but still, at least we have it.

Some sad news is that Brennan’s burned down in Houston tonight. They’re saying that it started around 12:20 am, and it’s completely gone. They’re trying to save surrounding buildings as flames are pouring out of the windows and the roof. They are letting it burn, but they’re concerned about other buildings because of the high winds due to the Hurricane.

The eye has still yet to make landfall. And conditions are deteriorating rapidly everywhere. Stay safe Houston!

~The Countess~

Closing In

Ike is closing in on landfall. As the eye is about to cross Galveston Island the first bands of rain are just reaching us. We’re over 70 miles away. It’s starting to rain here now and the power is again flickering. The winds, which have been gusting for hours are staying louder and stronger. The rain is driving down. The power is actually still holding. Just for a reference, I’m located up north of Beltway 8 off of Highway 290. I’m only a couple of miles from some of the staging areas for recovery folks. The tides are up 12 feet from normal in Galveston. There are over 725,000 folks without power and Center Point Energy is saying two to three weeks to restore all the power. *Why do I have to remember now that while I cleaned out my fridge I forgot the freezer. I hope I don’t come home to melted ice-cream.*

Welcome to Texas, Ike. Just remember – Don’t Mess With Texas. (And that goes for all the damn looters too!)

~The Countess~

Ike Quotes

Two of my favorite media quotes from today:

“Quoting an unnamed deputy, ‘We have to go rescue some stupid person who didn’t leave.’”

~ From a reporter on why the police were taking a boat back into an evacuated zone.

A side note. I feel for all the people stuck down there. But there was a mandatory evacuation for a reason. And I don’t like that now our police and all have to risk their lives for this stupidity. If you are told to get out…then get out.

“We’re up to 350,000 people in our viewing area without power now. Although, if you are one of them, you aren’t listening to us right now anyways.”

~Studio dude

This one was really funny. We still have power. Fingers are crossed.

“I think my microphone is off. I’m going to turn it on now, that or talk really loudly.”

~Studio chick

Hey, we all need to laugh in these tense kind of times.

Other good news:

The folks on the freighter stranded in the Gulf are okay! Praise God!

~The Countess~

Staying up all night long!

Just waiting and watching. The storm is 65 miles off the coast still. And it’s 600 miles across. All the way from here to Panama, Florida. The wind is really gusty and we’re now under a tornado watch until tomorrow morning. We’re also under a  flood warning and a flash flood watch. Although I’m fairly sure that this goes with being under a hurricane advisory.

The power is flickering on and off all around us. We’ve been holding steady. We did move the bed into the living room. There’s no where away from windows, but these windows are more sheltered. It’s also in front of the tv and we plan on staying up to watch the weather all night. It’s been good times,  at least for us.

Hmm, well our power just flickered again. I’m staying safe. If you’re in the storm area then you do the same. If I still have power than I’ll update later on! No promises though!

~The Countess~

Bored and Waiting

I’m still just hanging out. Waiting for the rain. The wind is here. Which is cool. And the water has hit Galveston. It’s under water in a lot of places now. Like, the Seawall. That’s underwater. And the eye is still over 100 miles from Galveston. It maybe closer to 200 miles. And around 40% of Galveston residents are not evacuating. I hope they stay safe.

Anyways, up here, there still isn’t much of anything going on. So, I was chatting with my sister and, while discussing the weather and being bored the following came up:

me: nice

we’re thinking of going swimming…

Sister: O_o

Your logic astounds me

I did remind her that it isn’t raining yet. But still, she thinks swimming during a hurricane is not a good idea. Ah well, we may go here in a little bit anyways. If you’re in the Houston area – stay safe.

~The Countess~

I don’t like Ike

Well, actually I kind of do. But as I sit here watching waves already breaching the seawall in Galveston and reading the forecasts I kind of am not a fan. I called my mom this morning and she is not a happy camper. I know that she is wishing that I had come home, but when I had to make that decision they were still in the path of the storm. By the time it shifted to Houston it was pretty much too late to leave. And as she fusses about me not letting my car get flooded I know that she’s just transferring her fear of what might happen to me to the car. And I don’t like Ike for that.

There is a serious possibility of losing power for quite a while, for loss of life and property. The potential damage is intense. For now though, I am safe, dry, and just hanging out. Time will tell. By this time tomorrow it will have made landfall. And we’ll see how bad Ike is.

My friend Jenn just summed it up by saying that this is kind of exciting and scary at the same time. It is. If you pray, then please do so for all the people in the path of the storm. And yes, right now that includes me. God Bless!

~The Countess~

The Fickleness of the Weather

Hurricane Ike seems to be struggling to decide where to come in. Now, I realize that there is only so much accuracy when a storm is this far out, but really. I’m tired of being told it’s coming your way, oh wait no it’s going to Mexico, wait again, it may hit you after all. Anyways, my plans are shot for the weekend. I was going to go home to my parents, but they are in the middle of all of this mess. And I don’t want to get caught in it. It’s kind of funny. All of our technology and we’re still at the beck and call of nature.

~The Countess~