Well we survivied Ike in a much better fashion that most.
We lost a few trees but none hit the house or even crashed through a fence. We had one really tall spindly pine bow over in the wind and stay that way, weird. It was hanging over the house so today the tree people cut it down. We also had a few leaners in the back yard so they came out too.
We lost power at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning and 30 seconds later our 25,000 watt natural gas fired generator started up so we effectively never lost power. We had refrigeration, freezers, microwave, fresh brewed coffee each morning, dishwasher, you name it. We were the only house in the subdivision with lights on. Cable TV was off so i caught up on watching a pile of model and real train DVDs.
Gradually others bought small gasoline-powered generators to run a few fans or a regrierator and some lights. Last night the neighbor across the street got his generator at 6:00 p.m. and at 11:00 p.m. our generator shut down, telling us we were back on the grid. Generators are not returnable. So he paid $800 for 5 hours of power?
We were the cell phone charging center, the fresh coffee center, the ice making center, etc. for many of our neighbors. We never lost water service.
Thankfully the weather down here has been a delight the past few days, lows in the low 60s, highs in the low 80s and no humidity. This is Houston in September?
Unfortunately for many people south of us the story is quite different, no power, no food in stores, ice in limited supply, limited water, etc.
I will make a nice docnation to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, both groups have been providing much needed aid to people who have little remedy to their situation right now.