On Friday, Sept. 12th, Hurricane Ike struck with a fury and this is what happened in Houston to our family there.
This is the Chase building where Wes's sister Rita works. On the 14th, Rita went up to San Antonio to stay with Wes's sister Ilene for a while. This was a very scary time with lots of prayer!
We are so grateful that Rita and her kids are OK.
The flooding in Galveston was devastating and there were so many who lost everything. We should count our blessings!
This is an excerpt from the email Rita sent about the hurricane. She and her daughter rode out the storm under their stairs all night.
"My building was hit the hardest. I work in the JP Morgan Chase tower. It looks like about every window is blown out and that computers and files are in the street. I suspect that they will relocate us temporarily to another side of town for awhile. I don't know how long I will be at Ilene's but Kelsey has to go back to school on Thursday and I don't want her to be at the house by herself so even if we don't have electric I will be back then. Gosh I don't want to go through this again. I cannot believe how bad the winds were and the howling -- transformers blowing up and large trees falling for several hours. Very, very scary. I had to throw out about $400 worth of food in my freezer and fridge. And we were on the CLEAN side of the storm! I could not get gas until I was about 100 miles from San Antonio and this concerns me going back into town. On the way here there were many army and other government vehicles headed to Houston/Galveston. I am very concerned about my secretary -- she lives in Pearland and they say that Pearland is gone. I cannot get in touch with her. Anyway -- I'll update y'all with more details as they happen. I am just so glad that a member of the ward gave me a piece of plywood and hurricane clips for the front window and then the Ballew's helped me get it up. All of the neighbors have really been coming together. The people on the corner that had the large pine tree uproot and almost block the street had it removed yesterday. The guys who came to remove it had not eaten and the neighbors made them a hot meal. I hope people get on their knees and thank the Lord for good people instead of complaining so much. Love - Rita"
News Article by CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and PAULINE ARRILLAGA, Associated Press Writers
HOUSTON - Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks set out across the flood-stricken Texas coast Saturday in a monumental effort to reach tens of thousands of people who stubbornly ignored warnings of "certain death" and tried to ride out Hurricane Ike.
The storm roared ashore hours before daybreak with 110 mph winds and towering waves, smashing houses, flooding thousands of homes, blowing out windows in Houston's skyscrapers, and cutting off power to more than 3 million people, perhaps for weeks.
By evening, it appeared that Ike was not the single calamitous stroke that forecasters had feared. But the full extent of the damage — or even a rough sense of how many people may have perished — was still unclear, in part because many roads were impassable.
Some authorities feared that this could instead become a slow-motion disaster, with thousands of victims trapped in their homes, waiting for days to be rescued.
By some estimates, more than 140,000 of the 1 million or so people who had been ordered to evacuate the coast as Ike drew near may have tried to tough it out. Many of them evidently realized the mistake too late, and pleaded with authorities in vain to save them overnight.
Because Ike was so huge — some 500 miles across, making it nearly as big as Texas itself — hurricane winds pounded the coast for hours before and after the storm's center came ashore. Ike soon weakened to a tropical storm as it made its way inland, but continued to pound the state with 60 mph winds and rain.
Officials were encouraged to learn that the storm surge topped out at only 15 feet — far lower than the catastrophic 20-to-25 foot wall of water forecasters had feared.
President Bush declared a major disaster in his home state of Texas and ordered immediate federal aid.
In downtown Houston, shattered glass rained down on the streets below the JPMorgan Chase Tower, the state's tallest building at 75 stories. Trees were uprooted in the streets, road signs mangled by wind.
"I think we're like at ground zero," said Mauricio Diaz, 36, as he walked along Texas Avenue across the street from the Chase building. Metal blinds from the tower dotted the street, along with red seat cushions, pieces of a wood desk and office documents marked "highly confidential."
He kept his cheese grin through it all!
October 2nd
He kept his cheese grin through it all!
October 2nd
