Little rant about my family and Hurricane IKE
 

Hi,

It will help me if I complain on here.
Thank you for letting me do this.

My sister and bil and my parents evacuated for the hurricane as they were ordered to do. My sister and bil went to his family and my parents went to the desert where they own some property to camp out.

My sis started checking the town web site as soon as the storm passed because she wanted to go home.
The city officials begged people to stay away:
the town has bad roads with downed trees and other debris, no electricty, no services, no hospitals, no police, no fire protection, no open gas stations, no open grocery stores,
and only limited sewage.
The town does have phone service and running water.

So my sis and parents decided to go home. DUH. And my parents did this as far as I know with out so much as checking a newspaper.
My dad did not have a cellphone or access to computer or tv so he did not get info about the damage -- he just got on the road and drove six hours home this afternoon.

Coming home before the evacuation order is lifted is just as stupid as never leaving in the first place.

I know that in the Florida hurricanes the aftermath can be a very dangerous time. More people get killed and injured in the aftermath than in the storms themselves because people get stupid and get hurt by the downed power lines once power starts to come back and by stupid things like generators (Carbon monoxide) or power tools or ladders.

I didn't realize how worried I was about them all weekend until I heard that they made it safely back home.

Now I am still worried.


I just sent out an email to the relatives to tell them that my folks are safe.

But I am annoyed. :mad:

Mari,

I would be annoyed also. It is good though they are home safe.

befuddled2

I would be annoyed too, and I'm glad they are safe.

Donna

I feel so bad for you Mari. It is out of your control. Maybe they will come to their senses and leave again once they realize first hand that there is no security in their coming back so soon. They can't be that stubborn can they?
It must be so traumatic to be displaced and I guess the natural instinct is to use denial and try to make things normal again.
The whole thing sounds horrific but your mental health comes first.
Bobby

mari, i am so sorry that that they aren't heeding the warnings. :( i'm glad they made it home.

i have a house full of family and others have been staying at our club since before the storm hit.

only 2 of the guys have gone back, because they were contacted to do so. they have lawn care business and have tree trimming and chipper/shredder equipment.

we loaded them up with water. batteres and other items they will need. lots of food.

they were warned about getting tetnus shots before they came back. sanitation is big problem.

lil'monkey and i have been volunteering at the convention center. i know how people feel about wanting to get home. it won't be as real until they see it for themselves. i will say most are staying. they know that gas stations between here and houston are low if not out of gas. plus who knows if they can even get to their homes.

it's hard mari, but they made the choice themselves. be annoyed, roll your eyes, shake your head and know that the stupid gene did NOT get passed to you. :D

Now I'm in trouble for sending email to my vast number of aunts and uncles last night to tell them that Dad and Mom are safe. (I guess Dad found a way to use dial up with his battery operated lap top to check his email this morning.)
According to sis, Dad thought my email was too folksy / cute.
Well sis narrated the whole thing to me and I typed what she wrote.

Well next time he sends out mass email he can learn how to "blind copy" every one instead of CCing everyone so I had their addresses.
So far I heard from two people thanking me for letting them know what was up
-- they last heard from him on Friday.


The city has announced that people can come back on Wednesday -- but even so, they have to be prepared for no available electricty, food, or gas and problems with the sewage system.

My sis has part of a tree on top of their house.
Bil's main goal today is to use his power tools to cut up the tree. :eek:
Sis has been dealing with the insurance company this morning over the phone.
Yesterday she was mad at me because I was not upset enough about her tree.

I said it was a hurricane. :Doh:
She was not heppy with me. :Oops:

This morning she is better.

I'm going to go to work and think about something else for a while.

mari,

i hope that work today brought distraction.

befuddled2

This sounds very frustrating....
It is a helpless feeling when you want to help them and all you can do is listen and help communicate with the rest of the family.
I can't imagine what they are dealing with....can't imagine a tree on my house...
I am sorry...
bizi

Mari


I am so glad that it was the tree that was hurt and not them.

I can totally relate to your feelings on that one. A couple of weeks
ago. We lost a branch to the tree that is the only hickory oak tree
in the area. I believe is what the science big wigs in our area have
been calling it for years.

Its been one that all the science kids had a chance to get a leaf from
it so they could get extra credit. If they could figure out which tree
the science teacher or the other teacher's knew it was.

The first year we lived here. I had no clue what it meant, I had a
load of high school academic geeks as they called themselves bringing
their younger siblings and friends to the house and asking permission
to get a leaf. I finally asked a teacher that stopped what was so
special about this tree.

He told me the signicicance of the tree, and why it was so important to
the kids. And he would always make sure that the kids that would maybe
flunk the class found our tree. Till the science teacher, figured out how
come all the kids knew how to find the tree.

My kids started taking the nuts in for show and tell later when they came
in and they had no clue what they were. They just wanted all the other
elementary kids to see these neat things in their yard.

It stopped the project dead. But still I have lots stop and want a hickory
every fall, but we think the whole tree will be coming down this next spring
if not sooner. Because its to much of a risk now.

Derrick just cries thinking of it. Its his show and tell for his friends each
year. I think he will have to find a way to make a permanent show and
tell to show why they were special to the family.

But Derrick summed it up best, No one passing in the street, to get killed
when the big branch went down. It didn't fall the other way and hit our
house. Or the swing set that my grandkids love. And we still have vehicles to drive thanks to the fact it wasn't closer to the frong.


Donna

trees
 

Donna,
That is such a beautiful tree story.

After our last hurricane, some property owners cut down their big trees and put in various types of palm trees. Palm trees can bend in the wind. And when they fall down, they don't cause as much damage because they don't grown big.


I like big trees, but if I had one in a yard, I would worry about it -- but then I am a worrier.


I listened to my sister for about an hour on the phone tonight and then told her I was tired.


Mari

It has saddened me to see the devastation that's been done by Ike across your country, and even more so to hear about the loss of life that's occurred.

I thank the Lord that your family are safe Mari, and that goes for all members of NT in the storm's path. Structural damage is repairable, people aren't as easy to put back together.

I cannot begin to imagine the horrors that your country has experienced. Thank you for letting us know what's going on. :grouphug:

Ugh. I'm sorry Mari.
My mom is feeling similar to the way you are right now.
Her brother, sister in law, and their children/grandchildren didn't even leave the area! They rode out the storm! My poor mom was worried sick. Her brother told her that he would never stay during another storm. Apparently there was a period that they didn't think they were going to make it.
I'm sorry to hear you are going through it as well. I am glad that your family is ok though.

Thankfully god was watching out for all his angels.

I think its taking a Katrina in Louisiana to get most to learn.

I IKe in Texas the same way.

I personally wouldn't stay if I had the warning tornadoes
are hard to watch come too. And you have no warning to do
more than hide.

Donna

Oh Mari I am sure you must be beside yourself with annoyance and worry, I would not have been too happy about the situation either. I am glad they are all safe though, I know that longing for home when evacuated, but I can't imagine still living in the evacuation zone I grew up in. We had to evacuate one time in the 80's for Hurricane Elena and came home after two days, everything was fine but I was so glad to be home. Elena didn't really hit us too hard, Ike was plenty hard.

So many of the hurricanes that have hit us in the states over the past twenty years have been monsters. It's frustrating to have to deal with the potential for natural disasters like this every year, living on edge wondering if things are going to develop in the carribean.

*sigh* I hope things are better for you and your family now, I am sure your sis is still dealing with the insurance company though, that can take ages to resolve. :p

My sis says that the Post Office is working, some more stores are opening up and a few other people have moved back.
The town is still under a curfew at night.

It sounds like she are her husband are getting a little grouchy. All the "togetherness" of the last week is getting to them.

She is anxious about the electricity coming back on.

I think that everyone needs to go back to work soon.

Mari

All that togetherness does seem like it would be nerve racking. It is good no one was hurt from NT.

befuddled2

Is she using a land line? Does she know when the electricity is coming back on? It just sounds so traumatic.
Bobby

No electricity yet. Everyone back to work on Monday
 

Hi,
Their land lines are working. That is a blessing. When we lost power in Hurricane Wilma, we lost all phone service -- both landlines and cell phones. It was very isolating.

My family has no electricity yet, although large parts of the town are back up and running. The town web site says that many folks will have lights back around Monday / Sept 22.
People who live a little out of town are having a harder time because they do not have city water and need electricity to run their wells. These folks have been using water that they stored ahead of time or that they are getting from various distribution sites.

My sis and the people around her are on edge. Everything takes more time. Everything is wrong / topsy turvy -- like an alternative universe.

Even her dogs are stressed out They alpha dog barks hard at every little noise. The other dog needs a vet visit as she has some kind of break out on her nose and vomited -- I'll get the update tomorrow about the doggie.

A neighbor broke his ankle today while standing on an old rotten wooden trailer while he was trying to cut down tree branches with a power tool. He made a trip to the ER.

My bil and a buddy took it upon themselves to remove a downed electrical wire from the middle of the street. Neighbors came out and yelled at him to stop but he had some tools and told them he was an electrician and knew what he was doing. According to sis, now traffic progresses more smoothly through that street -- before his intervention, the traffic was a problem apparently.

Schools and colleges in the area were last open on Sept. 9 / closed Sept 10.
They reopen Monday Sept 22.
People need to return to routine even if electric power is not up everywhere yet.

Mari

thank you for the update.
It is hard knowing what is going on with recovery and I am glad that things are making progress.What was it like with wilma? where did she hit?
bizi

Hi Bizi,

Hurricane Wilma killed 61 people in Florida in 2005 (35 directly and 26 indirectly).
The storm struck Naples as a category 3 and crossed the state as a category 2 when it when out into the ocean again as a category 2.

Wilma effected us in ways that are very similar to what IKE did to Texas and Louisiana.

Mari

oh I jsut goggled wilma and wikipedia came up with this:

Hurricane Wilma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Jump to: navigation, search
Hurricane Wilma was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm (including the subtropical storm discovered in reanalysis), thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season (the previous record for storms in a single season was held by the 1933 season.)
Wilma made several landfalls, with the most destructive effects felt in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S. state of Florida. At least 63 deaths were reported, and damage is estimated at over $29.1 billion ($20.6 billion in the US; 2005 US dollars),[1] ranking Wilma among the top 5 costliest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic and the third costliest storm in U.S. history.

Not to downplay hurricane's but you know sometimes our icestorms
are just as bad.

And its so interesting that they are never named. I know my oldest
two would have liked to name and mame the one that made them
miss 2 or more weeks of school, in March, no lights, no tv, no nothing,
and then some houses with trees in the windows.

And to top it off instead of going back to school they went on spring
break, so they missed 3 or more weeks that they had to make up in
June and some in July. Ruined their March and summer both.

They just thought it was awful. And I agreed, it was the spring my
dad was dying and we needed to take our thing that gave electricity
to him and my mom. So part of the time we lived with them, and
ate what Red Cross brought to their area.

But for some reason our little area never was considered for this kind
of help even though we had the longest loss of electricity and had
to lose the most food. And eating out was our lives.

Donna