Our Hurricane Ike Story

Our Ike adventure started early on Thursday morning when the alarm went off at 5 am. My husband doesn't use the standard "beep beep" alarm, but rather the radio blaring at the highest volume. Before he had a chance to turn it off, I heard the reports of school closings, so I knew then that the storm had made a turn over night.

By 7 am, we had our orders to evacuate. We were undecided if we would actually leave, but started securing the house and my office. We already had supplies from the previous week because of Gustav. By 2 pm, we were done and I finally made the call to get out of town. The thought of sitting in a house with no power for an unknown number of days made me twitch. Of course, we missed our chance to get out. The freeways were already jammed pack. We continued to watch the TranStar site throughout the afternoon and decided at 5 pm to make a break for it.

With 2 vehicles loaded, 3 kids, 1 dog, a turtle and our supply of food and water, we hit the road for the 7 hour drive to my cousin's family ranch in San Saba, TX (NW of Austin). Her in-laws graciously invited us to ride the storm out with them. I left Houston with a very heavy heart. A couple of hours earlier my daughter, Kierstyn and her dad decided to ride the storm out in their Pearland home, as did my mom and dad (who was also in a mandatory evacuation zone) in Friendswood. Something about not being together with all of my family bothered me.

At 2 am on Friday... after 4 potty stops, 1 sick dog (love finding out the hard way my sweet Ellie gets car sick) and an escort down the LONGEST dirt road I've ever driven...


we arrived.


I sent a text to my mom and friends to let them know we arrived safely and that "we weren't in Kansas anymore" :P

With daylight a few hours later, I quickly realized why my cousin loves to go up there any chance she can. The sights were breath taking and there were times I forgot about what was going on back at home.



We woke up to these outside our cabin every morning.



We all made the best of things. The kids did a little fishing, some water skiing..until they ran out of gas...LOL



The little guys got to ride a couple of these through out the weekend helping with plowing the hay fields and grating the dirt roads.



What boys do best! I swear my kids had a ring of dirt around their mouth for a WEEK. They played so hard.



Matthew kept telling us "this is like a vacation"



We never got rain the entire weekend. It was a little cloudy and breezy...but this next photo shows all we saw of Ike in San Saba on Saturday. I was happy to get messages from family and friends that stayed in Houston they were all fine. No one with major damage. Just suffering through the heat with no power.



Sunday, we all decided to head back to Houston. My husband had left the day before to get back to check on things and start cleaning up. We had the ranch closed up and back on the road by 2pm. Traffic was smooth sailing and we stopped every hour or so to top off our gas tanks. Good thing. By the time we hit Hempstead, the lines for gas were never ending. Very few gas stations had power AND gas.

I hit Baytown around 8 pm and my stomach was turning flips as I exited off I10. The town was dark and very eery.



By the time I pulled in my driveway...it was dark out and probably a good thing. I had seen more than I could stand.



Monday - Daylight was scary. We surveyed the back yard. Couldn't see much with this thing in the way...



I was so amazed and thankful it fell in the direction it did and NOT on our house. We lost a couple of shingles, part of our fence, but nothing major.



Tyson helped take pics for insurance purposes. :P



Then I headed to the office to see it for myself. Brandon had already given me the report...but seeing it first hand was another story.



Aside from the obvious trees and debris in the parking lot...the roof... I quickly noticed the office looked different. Then realized the huge shade tree that was in back of the office on the left was no longer there. It laid down at the roots towards the back of the property. WOW, another lucky break.



But not so much on the inside.





I was just thankful the water was contained only to the front foyer/showroom and a couple of other rooms. All of which I had moved all the contents to the back of the building before we left.

Then I headed to meet Brandon and my brother-in-law to check on their parent's home in Mont Belvieu (15 mins up the road). and the tears started rolling as I pulled up to their house.



What are they looking at you ask?



They were trying to figure out how to find the front door.



They were so very lucky. 6 trees down and 3 that were barely standing. Not one tree on the house.



And daylight between the carport and Grandma's car.



Reports are that 2 twisters went through their neighborhood after the eye passed over. The little town took a bad hit.



Peyton kept insisting "daddy broke our house (no power)...daddy broke the tree" lol AND SEE. See the ring of dirt :P



Driving around town made things seem unreal. You see things like this on TV...but not in your town. Your backyard.



Our local marina. The surge pushed the boats inland - over 500 ft from the pier.



I think this "was" a body shop



An endless sight. Uprooted or broken trees everywhere.



This use to be a 2 story hotel near I10. It was in early construction with only the framing complete, but it's ruble!



All I could think was AMEN!!!



We regained power late Tuesday. I felt horrible calling friends and family telling them we had power before them. One of our seamstresses is still without power almost 2 weeks after the storm hit. Same for my brother-in-law a few miles down the road.

It's hard to drive around town. Everyone is trying to get back to normal. The FEMA pods are gone, but the Red Cross is still here and serves hot meals from 11:00 to 6:30 everyday. Sides of the road are litered with dried out trees and limbs waiting for the city to come through to haul debris away.

Today I made my monthly trip to Office Depot for supplies and had my stomach drop to my knees. "DUE TO HURRICANE IKE, CLOSED TILL FURTHER NOTICE". Roof and water damage. Same for the other stores in that shopping strip. Baytown got hit pretty hard, but I can't imagine what residents in Galveston are feeling. So many places that my family has frequented for years...are just GONE!

Someone sent me this link with satellite photos before and after. Areas just wiped off the map.