Texans Don't Like Ike (Hurricane Ike)

[AlexGT]

I think you need to add the following members to the list

Benthead
BuddTX
**Marine???
Lighthound
Lumatic
Txwest
Zapper
Houtex
Chief_Wiggum
Kew

Maybe there are more out there.

AlexGT

 

[matt0]

Here's a list. I think it is right. I didn't include MattO. I think Ft. Worth had not much of a problem. I'm thinking we won't hear from varuscelli for a while. He posted that he did go ahead and get out with the rest of his family. Let me know if the list is not accurate.

varuscelli - Galveston -
AlexGT - Houston? - Checked in.
bobisculous - Huntsville - Checked in.
tradderran - E. Texas -
ltiu - W. Houston -
Zenster - Houston -
PlayboyJoeShmoe - Sherman - Checked in.
mr.squatch - Katy - Checked in.
FredM - S. Texas - Checked in.

Ft. Worth didn't get hit at all really. It was sprinkling all day and there were a few times when the rain and wind picked up pretty hard but there's zero damage anywhere right around here. Dallas and other cities further off to the east got a lot more rain.

 

[varuscelli]

Hey, guys. A brief check-in from the San Antonio/Boerne area, where we stayed for a few days. Got out a few hours before the hurricane hit (out of League City, just between Houston and Galveston). We left late enough that we just breezed though to San Antonio...hardly any traffic at all, even getting away from the Houston area. Most of the traffic jams had cleared by then, at least in the direction we left (out I-10). I'm checking in from a friend's PC.

We're good (me, my wife, my daughter, and our dog). We'll be heading back in the morning (Monday) and hopefully be home by early afternoon. I don't know about the power in our area, but it's time to check things out and see what needs to be done.

Talk to you all soon, as long as I have a way to do so when we get home.

Al Ruscelli

 

[Icebreak]

Thanks for checking. Let us know what you find out. If you need anything don't hesitate to say so.


varuscelli - League City - Checked in.
AlexGT - Houston? - Checked in.
bobisculous - Huntsville - Checked in.
tradderran - E. Texas -
ltiu - W. Houston - Checked in.
Zenster - Houston -
PlayboyJoeShmoe - Sherman - Checked in.
mr.squatch - Katy - Checked in.
FredM - S. Texas - Checked in.
[Edit to add]
Matt0 - Ft. Worth - Checked in.
Benthead
BuddTX
X Marine - Checked in.
Lighthound - Checked in via mr.squatch
Lumatic
Txwest
Zapper
houtex - Checked in.
Chief_Wiggum
Kew

 

[DieselDave]

My Sister lives in San Antonio. Two days before the storm she freaked out and bought a gen., 4 gas cans, extension cords and surge suppressors. When she saw they were not needed she put the whole package on craigslist for about $80 profit. I told her she was nuts. She had 18 e-mails in 4 hours when she checked her in box and pulled down the ad. She sold it to the first person she called. At first I was a little miffed at her until I thought about how she ran all over town trying to get all those items the days before the storm. She was calling me the whole day so I know it took her a long time. The gen. was still sealed in the box and the gas cans were full. She gave all the receipts to the buyer so he has the warranty on the gen and surge suppressors. In hind sight I guess she did a good thing and a $80 profit on $800 spent is pretty fair.
She came to my house and helped clean up after our storm. She stayed 5 days sleeping in the heat because the gen. noise kept her up in the designated AC room which explains the freaked out persona.
An FYI for everyone: I was going to ship her one of my Honda EU2000's when she started talking about buying a gen. I could have sent it FedX ground for $35. It said 2 business day delivery which is exactly what I needed. I actually went home and drained the oil and purged the tank in preparation when she called me and said, "what if it doesn't make it, I have to have a gen, I'm going to buy one". Two day air was over $100

 

[mr.squatch]

Just heard from Lighthound, the store and all the gang is aok, they're left without power so til then biz may be slow. They do have email so they'll get back if you need to order anything. I told em I'd post up they're all ok.

I haven't been back at home more than 3 hours in the last month, now I'm being shipped off again to somewhere BP in the gulf for a hurricane rapid response team. Dunno where I'm goin or when I'll be back, takin my trusty flashlights with. Haha. See you guys, hold down the fort.

g

 

[FredM]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on a mag lite LED dropin?

I have rechargeable C batteries that are working fine and I recharge at work but the stock maglites are just not enough light to read or do stuff at home even with 3 per room or so.

I need one quickly so if anyone has a source please let me know. It could be weeks I am hearing we will be without power.

Thanks!

 

[X_Marine]

TG I'm a flashahollic.. lol
Well and fine here, no flooding just powerless.
I'll post a little video when I have some time.

Hope all are ok, yell if I can help anyone..

X/BillyD..

 

[AlexGT]

They just restored electricity to my neighborhood! This is starting to feel like regular life once again! Hope you all get electricity back soon, Feels good to be back home!

AlexGT

 

[varuscelli]

We're home in League City, and we've got power. Fortunately (I think), most of our lines are underground, so when they get power restored in our area after outages, almost everyone in our neighborhood gets it back all at once. When we arrived back home yesterday (Monday) power was on. We're very lucky in that respect. My parents (in Nassau Bay in the Clear Lake area) are not so lucky and they won't be back in their home for another two to four weeks...no just a power issue but a power and health issue with a sewage treatment plant that was flooded over. They'll be living with us for anywhere from a week to a month.

The bad stuff in our area seems to be mostly along the coast, where in some places is looks like a tsunami hit. Bolivar Peninsula was devastated. Gilchrist has only something like 8 of 250 homes left (most slabs wiped clean of their homes). Crystal Beach lost something like 60 percent of the beach homes. They predicted that Galveston would get that, but it was actually Bolivar that took a harder storm surge hit, I think. The seawall helped Galveston, but Bolivar had no such protection.

Check the photos out here for a partial view of what hit Bolivar:

http://jakeabby.com/cb/

Also, check out the devastation in this photo (make sure you enlarge it):

http://jakeabby.com/cb/gregoryparkall.jpg

Most of what you see there are slabs where houses used to be.

Check out this for satellite views of Bolivar/Crystal Beach, etc.

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/IKE0000.HTM

Click on the little squares for views of the latest satellite images taken after the hurricane.

 

[houtex]

George(houtex) here checking in.
My wife,my 4 dogs and i are fine.We left town for Bay City sunday night.The heat and the mosquitos were unbearable. We lost our entire fence to our back yard,my neighbors carport flew into and damaged our roof,water damage and no power still as of today. The nightclub I work at has a little damage but the owner is not sure if we will be re-opening.Still ,I'm glad to be alive and I LOVE my wife.
Down but not out. God bless you all. Kiss my *** Ike.

 

[mr.squatch]

Got another email from the Lighthound gang. They say they're up and running today on generator power and they're catching up on backlog. John says anything ordered tomorrow by 1pm will go out tomorrow, so I guess they didn't even miss a beat. Nobody hurt and no store damage. Great news, one of the best retailers in the industry imo. I'm out on the way to the gulf, hope all the chaos with gas lines and grocery stores is sorted out by the time I get back. You guys work on that will ya? lol. lata

g

 

[varuscelli]

Got another email from the Lighthound gang. They say they're up and running today on generator power and they're catching up on backlog. John says anything ordered tomorrow by 1pm will go out tomorrow, so I guess they didn't even miss a beat. Nobody hurt and no store damage. Great news, one of the best retailers in the industry imo.

Until this thread, I didn't even know that Lighthound was in my area. Pearland is just a few miles from me (depending on where they are in Pearland related to where I am in League City).

Now, I'm going to have to pay them an in-person visit. :naughty:

And, I can at least say that SOME good came from Ike.

 

[mr.squatch]

Until this thread, I didn't even know that Lighthound was in my area. Pearland is just a few miles from me (depending on where they are in Pearland related to where I am in League City).

Now, I'm going to have to pay them an in-person visit. :naughty:

And, I can at least say that SOME good came from Ike.

They don't have an open storefront, mostly only mail order. If you give em a call they're happy to schedule a visit. Swear to god, better than disneyland. Haha. They have a light room with white walls and a couple racks full of every kind of flashlight. It's like the vip room at the noodie bar. lol. If anyone is in the area, u gotta stop in. Great bunch of people, very helpful. We're a pain in their ***, they are happy to take out several of the same light to let you try em and compare whites. Awesome customer service.

g

 

[ltiu]

Now that's a hurricane!

Just got power back at 8:45pm today. Lost it at 2:45am Saturday.

I'm OK. Apartment and all belongings are ok. My neighbors are all ok. My area did not really get much damage from the storm. The power outage was the worst damage. Just a lot of broken small tree limbs all around. Gas lines in the gas stations near where I live.

A few good things happened to me from this storm:

1) I finally got to the clean the fridge.
2) I got to use all my lights and finally start reducing my enormous stockpile of batteries.
3) I got to use stuff I bought that I never used - battery powered electric fan, radio and speakers.
4) Best of all - don't have to report for work for 1 full week!

 

[X_Marine]

Very lucky, no flooding and I still have a roof.
Got power back mon night and been busy till now, just can't go any more. Need some sleep.

John's crew is very helpful and usually have something interesting that is coming or going. ')
Be sure to plan on stopping by before 3pm as the crew gets outta there before traffic.

I think this is the best list I have seen for the Houston area, maybe someone can complete it as needed and we could talk John into a small M&G one of these cool evenings we are looking forward to. He has a nice alley like area right next to his building that would be great for hunting, and prolly no one there after dark.
Don't shoot me John if this is a bad idea.. lol

btw from 288 he is in the back of a complex which is about 1/2 mile in 518 and on the left from 288. Closer to 288 than 35 or 45, right next to the big new plot with Wally, Home Depot, etc.. on the Pearland side. pm if u need addy.

I'm near 610 & LongDrive just down from 45, and play pool in League City, Legends and Big Daddy's, Alvin. When I play in Alvin I just take 610 to 288 cruise right by 518 all the way to Hw6 and then hookem east to 35. I think it's a little longer but takes the same 30mins as Telephone/35 or 45S/GulfFrw and I like the ride better. ')

Ok, I'm delirious, I'll hush.. lol
But lets do have a get together some time..:twothumbs
Hope all are ok,
X/BillyD..

 

[bitslammer]

You can add Ohioan to the list of those who won't forget Ike. I'm just now back with power. Been down since Sunday 9/14 at around 2PM.

Lots of wind damage but not a drop of water thankfully. Load of trees down on power lines, through roofs, blocking roads etc. At one point there were ~ 2 million without power.

For me all I lost was some frozen/refrigerated food and I have some big time debris cleanup. I will say that we and the neighbors at like kings the last few nights gilling out all that was thawing.

As bad as it seemed here it was a mild slap compared to those who caught the full force and had to deal with water.

 

[AlexGT]

Are you all having a hard time finding fresh eggs and dairy products like butter, cheese etc? how about meat? Still some paranoia about the fuel, I seen prices going up, just paid $3.79/gal and last time it was $3.44 I only put $25 to top off the tank.

AlexGT

 

[ltiu]

Restaurants around where I live have opened. I go out to eat 3 meals a day.

Kroger near Eldridge and Briar Forest is open and they have meat and dairy.

I bike to go places. Parked my car with a full tank. Not using it until things calm down.

 

[AlexGT]

I found a little meat market that has fresh eggs, meat, poultry and butter in good condition, It's called "Las Tarascas" and is located in Richmond Ave. between Janetta and Westerland right across the street from Popeye's in the galleria area.

Tarascas Grocery
9226 Richmond Ave
Houston, TX 77063
713-266-7808

HTH
AlexGT