The first presidential race I recall was between Eisenhower and Stevenson. For a long time I had a button that said, "I like Ike!" But after the ordeal of the last week and the clean up that is still ahead because of the recent hurricane through here, I can unequivocally say, "I don't like Ike."
My home is about seven miles from Galveston Bay, but in an area that was not requested told to evacuate, in fact we were advised to shelter in place. So we rode out the storm in our home. The first half of the night was not terrible, winds were sustained near 100, but did not do much damage. When we were in the eye, around 3 am, my wife woke up and we went out on our front porch to assess things. There was only one limb down in the front yard, which faces north. The winds had been blowing from the northeast. We were only in the eye for around 20 minutes, then the winds started from the southwest. My wife had gone back to bed (my grandsons slept from about 11:30 till nearly 9 the next morning, we were without power from 12:40 Friday night till about 7:15 tonight).
Between 4:30 and 5:30, things got a lot stronger, sustained winds about 115, but the difference was significant. The wind whistled down the chimney and every few minutes I could hear another branch snapping in our front yard. When daylight came, the winds were down considerably, but it was not safe to go out till about noon. We had 16 limbs down from the big tree near our front door, but not one on the house. We lost our fence in the back, but we had water through the whole ordeal.
Our community is coming back to life, many of the residents are returning now. School may be able to resume Tuesday. Most of our neighbors had similar damage to ours, but in the congregation, two families had considerable water in their homes and have lost every thing, material. The ones of us that were in town have been cleaning up debris for the members who could not do for themselves, widows and elderly. It has been tough in some ways, but great blessings of brotherhood and belonging have been experienced by all of us.
If the storm had not made a little jog to the east within the last 30 miles before landfall, the storm surge would have inundated some very populated areas and much of the crucial refinery and chemical output that is so much a part of our local and national economy. Some say we were lucky. I attribute that to Something much greater!
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5 comments:
Wow, FF&F. I know that some fared far worse, but that's still a lot of clean-up!
It was a full day's work for 4 adults, 2 teens and 2 little guys. Then we went out to help others for most of the week!
What a mess! I'm from tornado alley, originally, and know a little about wind, but a hurricane is a force I'd just as soon not reckon with.
Sure looks different than the last time I saw your yard... and that was less than month ago!
pinhole, at least a hurricane gives advanced warning. Tornadoes are unwelcome intruders! Smaller but very intense! This storm had an eye larger than most tornadoes, nearly 80 miles across, and the storm winds extended over 600 miles!
Hifidel, the yard is cleaned up again, though the fence needs some major repair.
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