Another version of the hurricane story

Well, Ike got us. On Thursday 9-11, we woke up to news that our zip code was a mandatory evac area. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to go. It means that if you stay, and it gets bad, you will be on your own – no guarantee of rescue or services. We had planned to stay. But with that news, we packed up quickly, battened down, and left by 2:00. We go west near San Antonio to Ken’s sister’s house.

We watched the storm approach with two laptops and cable TV tuned to the weather channels and news.

We had neighbors stay so after the storm cleared, we had reports of lost shingles on our roof in about a 10 x 10 area.

We went shopping for supplies and returned home Sunday. Yep, we’d lost some shingles. The yard was littered with all kinds of debris. Reid’s bedroom and the guest bedroom got enough water in through the missing shingles that the ceiling caved in and there was drywall and insulation everywhere. And wet carpet. And, in Reid’s room because he wouldn’t clean up, wet dirty clothes. And it rained so hard, it was like the paint was sandblasted off the house. So we’ve been painting the house.

We got busy cleaning up the drywall, hauling out insulation, and ripping up carpet. As time passes, we realized water got in pretty much everywhere in the attic. Although the ceilings have not crashed, there are water spots in most rooms on the ceiling.

We were able to get first in line and got the roof replaced within a couple of weeks. Fortunately, it did not rain for about a month after the storm. Just this week, the drywaller arrived to repair the ceilings. I hope to have carpet within a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the house is chaos with stuff from the damaged rooms spread over the rest of the house. We also got our power back by Monday. Many, many folks did not get power for weeks. I did have to throw everything out of the freezer and the frig.

Still, we were very fortunate. We think a twister skipped through our neighborhood as the damage appeared to have a random path. Some houses were severely damaged. And then of course, in Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula, places northeast, like Bridge City and Sabine pass, and Orange, there are places just wiped out. Here’s a link to the mission group if you know anyone interested in a mission trip.

Also, it was unbelievable the tree damage throughout the area. Most houses had limbs and branches piled up 5 feet tall in their front. Oh, and fences – hardly anyone had a fence left standing.

http://www.hilltoprescue.org/