This is Eric checking in from Houston. I rode out the storm downtown at the George R. Brown (where I work). We didn't lose power, which puts me ahead of about 5 million others. Basically, the only places which didn't lose power were downtown, the Medical Center, and the Intercontinental Airport.
I did lose power at the house (and have already thrown out everything in the refrigerator) and one dog was badly traumatized, although as best I can tell he was not injured—he just sits in the driveway and shivers; won't touch his food. I have a bunch of small tree limbs down that will need to be cleared up but no major damage to the house, not even a broken window. Family members in Pearland and north Houston also seem to be OK as best I can tell, so we're doing better than a lot of others.
Will be fairly busy here for a while; the convention center is turning into a zoo (Hotel Katrina, Part III). Will try to keep in touch when I can. Otherwise, see you later.
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
Glad to hear you and yours are ok. Stay safe, well and keeep in touch
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Thanks for the update, Eric. We finally were able to get through to one friend in Houston on a landline. Cell service remains out. We have also been keeping up with the situation at IAH via employee bulletins from Continental. There was considerable damage including power outages, broken windows, flooding, damage to jetways, inter-terminal trains damaged and inop. The runways and taxiways are OK and the hope is that limited service will begin tomorrow (Monday). One access road is closed but JFK Blvd. is open. We're hoping that Norm's truck is not bobbing around in what was the employee parking lot and may now be "Bayou Continental".
Frank in sunny SBA -- the temporary terminus of the Coast Starlight.
Posted by wayne72145 (Member # 4503) on :
Good to hear you're OK Eric----I trust things will be back together soon. Im going through Houton twice next month.
Posted by TruckTrains (Member # 6938) on :
Yea I've heard some horror storied thus far. They still aren't letting the evacuating people in yet.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Stay safe, Eric! hope things get back to normal soon.
Posted by gp35 (Member # 3971) on :
We lost power for exactly a week, almost to the hour. Ike was mean. For 13 straight hours. But I made it....
Posted by ehbowen (Member # 4317) on :
I did finally get power back on...last Thursday. Thirteen nights in the dark. At least I cleaned out the refrigerator early and didn't have to deal with spoiled/rotten/bloody food.