We’re all ok!
Eric Keibler Sep 14, 2008
Ike in the Gulf
As many of you probably know and may have experienced, we were visited by hurricane Ike in the early morning hours on Saturday. We were lucky in that the main force of the storm moved a little east of its original path which put us more on the dry side with slower winds and less rain. Still, we had at least 90 mile an hour winds and at least 10 inches of rain.
On the face of it, our house came through without allot of damage. Ann and I came through the storm fine. Luckily, our house received little damage and all of our trees survived the storm. It was a good thing Ashton and Jeremy helped Ann trim the tree. Some of our neighbors were not so lucky.
We have no power, the water pressure is low and there are leaves and small branches everywhere. The fish are swimming in green water with leaves floating on top and the street looks like a war zone.
The store did not fare as well. The storm lifted the corner of the roof on our building and broke it up allowing the water to enter the store. The sheetrock just outside the store fell down and the sheetrock in the store sagged with the weight of the water. Since friends called us to alert us, I came in and relieved the pressure by punching holes in the ceiling. Of course it was too late to abate some of the damage. The store is a total mess with all of the carpets, electronics and paperwork wet.
Houston too is a mess with blocked streets, trees down and over 90% of the residents without power. Driving is an adventure with lanes and entire streets blocked by 100 year old trees and traffic lights dangling from their wires. At the larger intersections, the fixed traffic poles are twisted with the lights facing in incorrect directions.
Things will be a little disjointed over the next month but we are up and running. I am thankful; no one we know of was hurt and the damage we received was minimal compared to others. Our friends are safe and while we have a lot of work to do, we are keeping a positive outlook, trying to remember that things usually turn out for the best. We have some exciting things happening but we have some challenges to work through as well.
Ike in the Gulf
