Hurricane Ike Aftermath

My parent's backyard has major damage. A tree in the middle of the street!
I really need to zoom this picture in, but all of the restaurants have LINES of people just waiting to get inside.

Just about every intersection in Houston has downed lights, either off or dangling down.
That is a HUGE tree to be pulled out of the ground like that
An apartment complex caught on fire the day after the Hurricane and burned the whole building down. This is close to Jason's house.

Street signs down...it wasn't just this one, but pretty much ALL of them are Line at HEB grocery store just to get in! It wrapped around the entire store.

Well, we survived Ike, but there is a lot to do to get things back to normal. After the first night of Ike on Saturday, J and I moved our camp over to this house which had power. We were without water for one day but we made it because Jason made a hurricane survival kit months prior. Today is Monday and my apartment is still without power! I can't believe it. Also, there are several sewers in front of my apartment complex that leaked and overflowed so the area smells awful and there is literally waste all over the streets. I think I will stay camped at Jason's for awhile. We are so lucky to have it!

Jason now has power, water, cable and Internet...I do realize how lucky we are. You can't imagine the damage that Ike has caused. Galveston is said to be without power for weeks and is just demolished. Houston was hit hard too. Jason and I have been driving around looking at the damage. There are incredibly long lines for food, gas, ice, and groceries. There are long lines wrapped around the sides of Wal-mart and HEB just to get inside. The gas pumps have miles of cars trying to get gas; most of the gas stations are closed because they ran out. I made fun of Jason for what I thought was being overly prepared, but I am counting my blessings now (and eating my words) because we have been doing so well.

I took pictures and video to show everyone and will be posting these over the next few days. I am off work today because we don't have power and there was a lot of damage to the office. My office is filled with water! I am extremely nervous and anxious to get back to work. Now that I have Internet I feel like I should be working, but this is hard to do when the server is down and you don't know the plans. Jason can't work today either. His server is down and his office is without power too. I have not been able to talk to many people because the phone lines are all tied up...this one of the most frustrating aspects.

Our prayers are with everyone affected by the storms, especially those who have it much worse than we do. I will keep posting pics and updates as I can.


P.S. Tucker is doing great! He was very scared during the wind and rain but is back to normal now.