Hurricane Ike

So I've now officially gone through my 1st hurricane in the US! Luckily for me, we were on the 'clean' side (west) so all we got was rain & wind. Ike was scheduled to hit landfall about 40 miles to the west & then come straight up over my place, but it hit Galveston instead. Officially Ike was a Category 3 for wind speed, but the surge was a category 4, which is why it flooded Galveston Island so badly. I lost power around 2am on Fri pm, when the main wind/rain started. I guess it got really bad after that, but I pulled a 'Gina' and slept right through it! When I woke up at 7, most of the storm had passed - bummer! My house didn't have any damage, so I was really, really lucky. There were a few fences & small trees pushed over in my neighborhood, but nothing major. We were without power until about 2pm Sunday.

I'd gone down to Clifford's to pick up Brinka since he was scheduled to be at the plant for the entire hurricane & everyone else had evacuated to Phoenix/Oklahoma. Brinka & Toby kept me company, so it wasn't too bad. Poor Brinka - she's had to put up with feisty Toby who wont let her alone!

Here are a few pictures of the pre & post-Ike. Most of the downed trees are near John & Andrea's, about 10 miles away.

Lots of boarded up stores & houses

Not sure why they seran-wrapped the gas pumps, maybe so people wouldn't steal the fuel?  All of the fuel except Supreme was out by Thurs pm. There were LONG lines for fuel today at the few gas stations open.

A not-so-great shot of our awesome sunset on Friday before the storm.

Trees down - it just peeled back the ground.

Most of the streets are passable, but they've had bull dozers out clearing the main trees.

PS - they've cancelled school until Wed!!! YEAH - a 5-day weekend. Wish I'd known it would happen & I'd have taken a little trip!