Hurricane Ike

I stayed in Winnie Texas the night "IKE" hit the Texas coast. We had wind gusts clocked at 152 mph. At 2:00am we received an automated call from the city telling us Ike had changed direction and the storm surge would be 25ft. We were directed to seek higher ground, the school is 23 ft above sea level. How do you leave in the middle of a storm? I reside in Seabrook, Texas. I know for a fact, the death toll everyone is seeing on TV is completely inaccurate. EMS informed a family member that 600 body bags had been ordered and an additional 600 were re-ordered. They closed the air space over these areas hardest hit due to what reason? We drove Hwy 124 immediately after the storm subsided, dead cattle everywhere and the ones living were wandering aimlessly down the road. My relatives and friends have never seen a storm of this magnitude in our lifetimes. In 1961 "Carla" came close to this type of devastation. Ike was a catagory 2 with a storm surge of a catagory 4. I think we should give people an idea of what a "Storm Surge" is...I compare it to a Tidal Wave. I am going to miss all my favorite spots along the Kemah waterfront - The Boardwalk, T-Bone Tom's,Outriggers, Top Water Grill, Noah's, and The Aurora. Galveston, Kemah, Seabrook, Crystal Beach, Gilchrist, High Island, Bolivar, Smith Point, Oak Island, Anahuac, are basically all history now. Homes that were 3rd and 4th row are now waterfront, if they exist at all. We understand they are trying to keep people from rebuilding in these areas by condemning it all and then claiming it for the state. In closing I would like to address the fact that while assistance is readily available to those who have no coverage, we who own homes that were damaged are being told to file it with our homeowner's and pay the deductable. Everyone is hurting financially these days. Why are responsible people being "spanked" for being responsible? The FEMA should take a long hard look at this and realize, maybe paying the deductable or sharing the deductable would be a worthwhile idea. Handing over multitudes of cash to the irresponsible so that they can continue to be irresponsible is not making any sense and never will.

I live about a mile from downtown Houston.
I knew it was going to hit us directly, but I didn't think it would be like this.
I got lucky, I have only major damage on the third floor of my townhouse. But I still have a roof- I still have a house.
But it's been a week, I live in Montrose near downtown- and I still don't have power.

I've been in Austin since Sunday- after losing power late Saturday night- more than 12 hours after the storm had passed.
But Houston/Galveston was smart- people who needed to, left [well the vast majority]- and that's why the death count is only a fraction of what it was with Katrina.

And it's always amazing to see how Houston comes together after a catastrophe like this- Katrina didn't even hit us and the way Houston came together to help those evacuees, and how they've come together to help their neighbors... is really just amazing.

I've never seen devastation like this in my life- and I think- what if it was more organized- what if it was a Cat 5? When I left town- every building was damaged in some way. Incredible. I'm also surprised when looking for news on my hotel room's basic cable- there's little about Ike- or at least when I was watching.

I'm currently running on a generator. There is no water.
Luckily there is a cold front coming in. But food is running low. And stores are barley opening. Not sure about the gas stations. I've heard of 7 deaths. 2 of which were children. Hopefully powered will be restored.

This hurricane hit us hard. The winds were screaming and frightening. I video taped some of the destruction and posted it on current before driving to Dallas until power is restored. Thank God we survived this craziness.

That's intense. I live in Austin and am actually quite grateful it missed us here.

I wonder how the Pirate house stands....

i think bush actually meant to say what it sounded like he said: "we'll be mock monitoring" the situation. ha ha ha so true.
i hope as few lives will be lost as possible.
the pollution mongers have brought this upon us with their compulsive profiteering. they're gonna lose so much money on this...
i really hope the people are all okay, and they don't bring out the national guard and swat teams with guns instead of the red cross with food this time.
it's definitely going to screw us all on the gas prices.... so much pollution too, from all the spillage there'll probably be from those refineries they had to have all over the coast.

Flooding seems so much nastier, than an earthquake. I suppose its because wr not fish so there is the chance of drowning too.

seriously i live in california and if this happened to any of my beaches i would be very very heartbroken and i think at least a million people would feel the same way.

not to mention seriously trip out a large community.

i hope all these natural disasters don't keep getting worse! traffics bad enough enough around here, I couldn't imagine going through a hurricane.