View Full Version : Hurricane Ike
Steve L
09-11-2008, 01:23 PM
Please say prayers for Bananaman88 (Brent) and all of the other members in the Houston area and those of us in Louisiana on the right side of the eyewall. We are going to be in for a very bumpy ride. Our storm surge estimates are around 15 feet where I live. They are even higher where Brent lives. After dodging Gustav 2 weeks ago, we are now faced with a truly dangerous storm.
Steve
Chironex
09-11-2008, 01:46 PM
Hang in there, we are all praying for y'all.
Lagniappe
09-11-2008, 01:50 PM
My family has certainly been praying for you guys and will continue to do so.
We have people in the Houston area that'll be headed this way tonight. If you guys need anything, including a place to stay,there's plenty of room here.
Steve L
09-11-2008, 01:51 PM
Thanks
Randy4ut
09-11-2008, 01:53 PM
Steve, Brent and all the others in Ike's path...
Our prayers are with you and will be watching this thing closely. Please stay safe and like Pete said, there is plenty of room up my way, if you need a place to stay safe and dry... My casa, your casa....
Dean W.
09-11-2008, 04:20 PM
I know their predicting tropical force winds in Central Texas, but that's nothing compared to what you guys on the coast will face. Stay safe everyone.
heavenlybananas
09-11-2008, 04:32 PM
Please say prayers for Bananaman88 (Brent) and all of the other members in the Houston area and those of us in Louisiana on the right side of the eyewall. We are going to be in for a very bumpy ride. Our storm surge estimates are around 15 feet where I live. They are even higher where Brent lives. After dodging Gustav 2 weeks ago, we are now faced with a truly dangerous storm.
Steve
Hello, I am new to this site, but I am very honored to belong to such a group as this. My family and I will certainly be praying for any and all who are in Ikes path. The love and compassion I've seen here is overwhelming. A big thank you to all and may God richly bless you all. Happy growing, heavenlybananas :woohoonaner:
saltydad
09-11-2008, 06:02 PM
Stay safe, all.
harveyc
09-11-2008, 07:51 PM
Steve, Brent, and others please stay safe and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.
If necessary, please feel free to California where I'll make room for you and your Ae Ae! :)
Bananaman88
09-11-2008, 08:10 PM
Hey everyone. This is the first time I've had a chance to check in today as I've been busy boarding up the house. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and offers to let us stay with them. Randy, my wife saw your message this afternoon and told me about it. I apologize for not getting back to you personally...just been too busy with preparations.
My wife and I (and the cat) are leaving for Corpus Christi later tonight (thanks for the advice, Steve). Please continue to keep everyone here in your prayers. You guys and gals are the best! I'll check in when we get back.
harveyc
09-11-2008, 10:47 PM
What's the best site to monitor the status of Ike? I just looked at Tropical Storm: Tracking Map : Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809.html#a_topad) which shows Ike making landfall as a category 2. That's not as severe as earlier warnings, but is it an accurate prediction? Some of these sites will report conditions for me that are way off. But this excerpt from the National Hurricane Center at Hurricane IKE Forecast Discussion (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/120300.shtml?) sounds promising (as of 11pm EDT)
THE SLOWLY-CHANGING STRUCTURE ARGUES AGAINST SIGNIFICANT STRENGTHENING...AND NONE OF THE OBJECTIVE GUIDANCE EXPLICITLY FORECASTS IKE TO REACH MAJOR HURRICANE STATUS PRIOR TO LANDFALL.
Keep praying, I think it's working! :D
Magilla Gorilla
09-12-2008, 12:16 AM
My family and I will keep you all in our prayers. Be safe. Plants can be replaced lives are precious.
Andrew
Good luck to everyone in Texas.
For monitoring the tropical weather, I tend towards this website the most:
Tropical Weather Information (http://crownweather.com/tropical.html)
Generally it's a compilation of several websites all neatly done into one. You get the NHC site information and several models. The one I like the most is the "wind swath" forecast.
Randy4ut
09-12-2008, 07:53 AM
What's the best site to monitor the status of Ike? I just looked at Tropical Storm: Tracking Map : Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809.html#a_topad) which shows Ike making landfall as a category 2. That's not as severe as earlier warnings, but is it an accurate prediction? Some of these sites will report conditions for me that are way off. But this excerpt from the National Hurricane Center at Hurricane IKE Forecast Discussion (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/120300.shtml?) sounds promising (as of 11pm EDT)
Keep praying, I think it's working! :D
harvey,
I don't think the category 2 status includes such variables as the height of the waves and all the water damage that is included with Ike. The winds may be around 100 mph which is a Cat 2, but the surf and the waves are what is projected to be the most damaging effect from this. I do hope it will weaken, but I hope people in the area do not get a false sense of security. STILL PRAYING, THOUGH!!!
Randy4ut
09-12-2008, 09:54 AM
Looks like Galveston is already in trouble from tidal surge!!! Hang on guys!!!
Hardy Palm and Subtropical Board: Galveston is Already Flooding (http://members3.boardhost.com/HardyPalm/msg/1221227718.html)
island cassie
09-12-2008, 10:20 AM
Good luck Brent, Steve and everyone else unfortunate enough to be affected - stay safe!
Cassie
harveyc
09-12-2008, 10:44 AM
Thanks for pointing that out, Randy. I heard on the radio this morning that the huge size of this storm is resulting in very large tidal waves. Some government official (forget who) was quoted saying that "anyone not leaving Galveston would face certain death." That was a sombering moment. :(
Kylie2x
09-12-2008, 10:49 AM
My thoughts and Prayers are with you all... PLEASE stay safe!!
When Gustav came in "The Weather Channel" provides local forcasts one channel up and one channel down from there regular channel so locals who were evac. could watch.. I have DTV and it was 361~362(reg)~363..
God Bless!!!
Kylie
ladybug825
09-12-2008, 11:22 AM
Praying for everyone in Ike's path. Please stay safe.
dablo93
09-12-2008, 11:52 AM
good luck for everybody! I hope it doesnt get much stronger.
CookieCows
09-12-2008, 01:44 PM
Steve, Brent and everyone else... prayers are with you and your families. A bumpy ride looks like an understatement. We've been watching the news and keeping updated.
Looking forward to hearing from ya'll when you get back and it's over.
Take Care,
Deb
Steve L
09-12-2008, 02:01 PM
I evacuated to the east and will be safe and sound. I'm not too worried about the wind (assuming I don't take a tree through my house); it's the prediction of a 20' storm surge into Lake Charles that has me worried. Most of the time, these storm surge predictions are a little high, but the water is already rising and the storm is over 100 miles from the coast. The surge usually happens as the eye passes the coast. Ike is a monster.
momoese
09-12-2008, 02:31 PM
They are talking about 20 inches of rain in Galveston on top of the flooding from the surge. Good thing it's only cat. 2!
dablo93
09-12-2008, 03:42 PM
almost cat 3!
storm surge is 8 metres, unbelievable!
Dean W.
09-12-2008, 03:45 PM
I evacuated to the east and will be safe and sound. I'm not too worried about the wind (assuming I don't take a tree through my house); it's the prediction of a 20' storm surge into Lake Charles that has me worried. Most of the time, these storm surge predictions are a little high, but the water is already rising and the storm is over 100 miles from the coast. The surge usually happens as the eye passes the coast. Ike is a monster.
Steve, come to Austin. I'll put you up!
Steve L
09-12-2008, 04:06 PM
I appreciate the offer Dean. I'm with family and safely tucked in.
Dean W.
09-12-2008, 04:17 PM
Okay.
Bananaman88
09-12-2008, 06:02 PM
Hi everyone...thanks for your continued prayers. My wife and I made it safely to Corpus Christi about 4 a.m. this morning. No issues with traffic whatsoever. We made it in a little over 3 and 1/2 hours. We slept for around 5 hours then got up and went to have something to eat.
Afterwards, we drove along Ocean Dr. and stopped along some of the piers to check out the wave action. It is relatively calm here right now with smallish waves and winds around 20-25 mph. Skies have been fairly cloudy most of the day. Been trying to watch as much coverage as possible to see what's going on back home. We should be safe here through the weekend.
Steve L
09-12-2008, 07:06 PM
Hey Brent, good move going to Corpus. Hope everything is ok when you return home.
austinl01
09-12-2008, 08:28 PM
Please be very careful, guys. This hurricane is a dangerous one and about to make landfall soon. Let's hope the damage is minimal for all. Stay safe, and we all hope to see you back on the org soon.
tophersmith
09-12-2008, 10:25 PM
Steve, Brent and everyone else... prayers are with you and your families. A bumpy ride looks like an understatement. We've been watching the news and keeping updated.
Looking forward to hearing from ya'll when you get back and it's over.
Take Care,
Deb
Good luck everyone, hopefully you will all make it through safe :)
harveyc
09-13-2008, 12:22 AM
Some goofball in Galveston wasn't taking Ike very seriously today! I saw this on another forum: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AKwMiExUKXg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AKwMiExUKXg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Randy4ut
09-13-2008, 02:13 AM
harvey,
I guess it just goes to show you that every bear has his day and this one had to be on TV!!!
Bananachris
09-13-2008, 09:25 AM
Buenos Aires is praying for you to avoid more damages in Texas. I hope you not suffer any damage. If there are damages please report. Post a picture and share it with us that live in a zone free of tropical thunderstorm.
Many thanks
austinl01
09-13-2008, 11:51 AM
harvey,
I guess it just goes to show you that every bear has his day and this one had to be on TV!!!
Some people do anything to be on live tv. How entertaining!
:bananarow:
Bananaman88
09-13-2008, 05:01 PM
Made it through the night fine in Corpus. No rain whatsoever here. Just a little wind and some clouds. It was very good advice from Steve to come this direction. Reports from my neighbor who stayed behind says that I only have a few missing shingles and my back fence is blown over. Great news on the whole compared to some damage we've seen on TV. The bad news is that the fence probably smashed my Ae-Ae and other bananas. Not a big deal though, we are safe and are home is largely undamaged, so the bananas will regrow. I do hear that we are without power there and will likely be for sometime to come. I'll be heading back to Pearland in another day or two and will post some pics when we get power back and I have time.
Bananaman88
09-13-2008, 05:03 PM
Made it through the night fine in Corpus. No rain whatsoever here. Just a little wind and some clouds. It was very good advice from Steve to come this direction. Reports from my neighbor who stayed behind says that I only have a few missing shingles and my back fence is blown over. Great news on the whole compared to some damage we've seen on TV. The bad news is that the fence probably smashed my Ae-Ae and other bananas. Not a big deal though, we are safe and our home is largely undamaged, so the bananas will regrow. I do hear that we are without power there and will likely be for sometime to come. I'll be heading back to Pearland in another day or two and will post some pics when we get power back and I have time.
Bananaman88
09-13-2008, 05:05 PM
Sorry for double post. Using the hotel's wireless and it isn't working too smoothly.
Randy4ut
09-13-2008, 07:36 PM
Brent,
glad to hear damage was minimal. take care and let us know if there is anything you need.
Steve L
09-14-2008, 08:36 AM
Made it back home yesterday. Snuck in with my Emergency Responder badge. We are still under a curfew. My house is fine. Lots of yard debris. The fruiting Ae Ae is bent over in half. The other one in the ground is ripped up but upright. A palm and crepe myrtle are on a 45 degree angle from the wind but overall, not nearly as bad as Rita. But, Lake Charles experienced massive flooding from the surge. The downtown area which is build around the lake was 6 feet under water. It's all gone this morning. Those poor people in Galveston, Orange, Beaumont and Port Arthur Texas really took a whipping. Their total infrastructure structure is severely damaged. All, or most of the main transmission lines into the cities are laying on the ground. It could be 4 weeks before they get their electricity back. That's nasty, and I can speak from personal experience.
Randy4ut
09-15-2008, 12:01 AM
Made it back home yesterday. Snuck in with my Emergency Responder badge. We are still under a curfew. My house is fine. Lots of yard debris. The fruiting Ae Ae is bent over in half. The other one in the ground is ripped up but upright. A palm and crepe myrtle are on a 45 degree angle from the wind but overall, not nearly as bad as Rita. But, Lake Charles experienced massive flooding from the surge. The downtown area which is build around the lake was 6 feet under water. It's all gone this morning. Those poor people in Galveston, Orange, Beaumont and Port Arthur Texas really took a whipping. Their total infrastructure structure is severely damaged. All, or most of the main transmission lines into the cities are laying on the ground. It could be 4 weeks before they get their electricity back. That's nasty, and I can speak from personal experience.
Steve,
So glad to hear you faired better than you expected. Sorry to hear about the plants, but I am sure you can baby them and get them back up on their roots in no time... Take care and be safe.
Randy
Bananaman88
09-16-2008, 12:32 PM
My wife and I made it back yesterday. Minimal damage to the house, as reported earlier. Some shingles blown off, about 30' of fence blown down and a small section of flashing starting to come loose from my covered patio. No big deall all-in-all considering some of the other damage I've seen. My landscape, however, is completely trashed. All of my bananas look like someone stuck the leaves in the garbage disposal. Probably the only two still outside (most of my potted plants were stored in the garage) that look even decent are my M. laterita and 'Thai
Gold. The laterita, I laid on the ground and the Thai Gold was up against the house and blew over early on so it's pretty much OK. My Ae-Ae is laid over but not broken. I should be able to stake it, along with my Raja Puri and they will be fine. I had some 10' crepe myrtles that were completely smashed by the fence. Anything slightly herbaceous such as canas, gingers, bananas, etc, is just completely trashed. The good news is that plants like these easily recover. They'll look terrible for the rest of this year but I'm not too worried. We and our house made it through OK and that's all that really matters. Still no power at my house but when it comes back on, I'll try to post some of the photos of the mess.
Steve L
09-16-2008, 12:38 PM
Hey Brent, it doesn't actually sound too bad for you. Glad you think everything will recover. Every day gets a little better. If you get tired of the hot house, come on over for the weekend.
Randy4ut
09-16-2008, 01:42 PM
My wife and I made it back yesterday. Minimal damage to the house, as reported earlier. Some shingles blown off, about 30' of fence blown down and a small section of flashing starting to come loose from my covered patio. No big deall all-in-all considering some of the other damage I've seen. My landscape, however, is completely trashed. All of my bananas look like someone stuck the leaves in the garbage disposal. Probably the only two still outside (most of my potted plants were stored in the garage) that look even decent are my M. laterita and 'Thai
Gold. The laterita, I laid on the ground and the Thai Gold was up against the house and blew over early on so it's pretty much OK. My Ae-Ae is laid over but not broken. I should be able to stake it, along with my Raja Puri and they will be fine. I had some 10' crepe myrtles that were completely smashed by the fence. Anything slightly herbaceous such as canas, gingers, bananas, etc, is just completely trashed. The good news is that plants like these easily recover. They'll look terrible for the rest of this year but I'm not too worried. We and our house made it through OK and that's all that really matters. Still no power at my house but when it comes back on, I'll try to post some of the photos of the mess.
So glad to hear everything will be alright. Sorry to hear about all the plants, but like you said, they will be fine and probably won't be able to tell by next spring. Best of luck with the clean up and take care.
Randy
ewitte
09-17-2008, 08:09 PM
This place is still crazy. Luckily I wasn't on the bad side but I see all kinds of things driving around town.
Bananaman88
09-18-2008, 06:57 AM
Things aren't too bad. There's a lot of clean up in the yard to do still. We do have water but still no power. The cooler temps have just been great, though. It was about 67 when I got up this morning around 5 a.m. But they are starting to go back up because that's about 4 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. I know they are forecasting temps around 88 for the high tomorrow but luckily I didn't see any 90's in the forecast for the next several days. It will get pretty unbearable if the humidity goes back up, though. I think we are projected to get power back on sometime after Monday so hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and offers to help.
Brent and Steve, glad both of you and your families made it through safe with minimal damage. I have followed the weather on TV and have kept checking this post...............Since both of you are dealing with so much else already just send your AE Ae's to me and I'll take care of them!
ewitte
09-18-2008, 09:28 AM
We have estimates of 2-4 weeks getting power at the office. Not because the area was bad but because they fixed everyone else in the area and left!
Bananaman88
09-19-2008, 06:54 AM
My Ae-Ae is still laying over. I haven't had time to try to stake it up. I'll probably get to that either this afternoon or tomorrow.
Our power is projected to come back on "sometime beyond Monday". That's awfully vauge, don't you think? I'm not getting my hopes up for anything earlier than mid-week, next week.
Steve L
09-19-2008, 07:22 AM
I feel for you Brent. It's not fun "camping out" anymore, is it? If you need a generator, I've got one I could loan you. Everyone is southwest Louisiana has one now since Rita.
Bananaman88
09-19-2008, 12:36 PM
Thanks for the offer, Steve. I think we can make it without one. We may have one for next time, though.
harveyc
09-19-2008, 01:37 PM
Brent, I feel your frustration. Last January we were without power for 36 hours which was made worse because our house got pretty chilly (low 50s, probably). They would give us no estimate of power restoration at all, which made it hard to decide what to do. After 12 hours or so we didn't know if it might come back on in 1 hour or 1 week, so what were we to do? We have our own well which means we didn't have running water, but I got water from the swimming pool to flush the toilets, at least. After 18 hours or so I finally hooked up a couple of generators to a heater and a refrigerator. I bought a transfer switch but haven't hooked it up yet....better get that done!
Good luck to you all!
ewitte
09-20-2008, 07:25 AM
I was running everything off 12v battery and inverter (not much) and the power back on the exact second I started charging them back up with the car.
Moodene
09-24-2008, 03:45 PM
Howdy..I am located about 35 miles west of Beaumont, Texas and I took a beating when Hurricane Ike came thru here...I have 5 acres of tree limb debris and couple trees snapped in half..all my big bananas around my house look like they been thru a shredder!!Some are down on the ground,some are bent in half..some got pulled out and blown away..lol..My house only lost few shingles but lost my meterloop off my pole..had that rebuilt..No power for 10 days..my hubby works for a energy company and worked 16 hour days in the warehouse getting supplies out that guys need to get power back on track..I haven't seen him since he left right after the storm slowed down enough for him to drive to Houston..lol..
My hubby and I rode the storm out....it was interesting since we were located on the bad side of Ike!!
Edit to say..I uploaded pics in my Gallery...
Bananaman88
09-25-2008, 12:23 PM
Moodene,
Glad to hear that you made it through OK. You are really lucky since you were on the dirty side, that's for sure. Please pass along my thanks to your husband for the work he and his co-workers are doing. I still don't have power either but I know that there are guys (and girls) out there like him busting their butts to get things back online again. I'm starting to get really annoyed with all the crybabys out there whining about why their power isn't back on yet. Well, the repairmen can't be everywhere at once! I feel that they're doing the best that they can and we'll get power back eventually. They deserve our thanks and appreciation, as do all the folks who are assisting with recovery efforts, not a bunch of complaining.
Moodene
09-28-2008, 06:56 AM
I told my hubby yesterday what you said, Bananaman88.. He told me to tell ya'll --You are very welcome!! I thanked so many people while they were taking care of me while I was out of pocket for a week cuz I was by myself. My hubby has not had a day off yet. He has to stay on the job for another week and maybe by next weekend he can come home! He told me that right after the storm,people were trying to get into the warehouse to demand that they fixed their stuff so they can have power!!. They still have the police stationed at that warehouse..There are areas that still don't have power..I am so thankful that my son finally came home from South Korea (he is in the Army) and being stationed here in Texas. He has been my rock for the past week now helping me getting guys hired to get my place cleaned up..I had too many business cards stuck in my door for tree removal and roof repair..Roof repair I can do and trees stuff is gonna mulched so I can put that stuff all over my yard..instead of getting rid of it..got 19.8 acres to store mulch...lol..:woohoonaner:
Now I have nearly 15 more bananas and other tropicals to fill in empty place in my flowerbeds given to me by my good garden friends whom I have been giving them plants over the years..What goes around, comes around..lol...
Thank you again ..
Nadine Milburn
Bananaman88
09-29-2008, 12:37 PM
Our power came back on Thursday evening. Hopefully your husband will get to come home soon. I'm sure he's about worn out.
Moodene
09-30-2008, 06:13 PM
My hubby was allowed to come home today and he is back on regular hours now..YEAH!!!:woohoonaner:
Bananaman88
10-01-2008, 12:05 PM
Congrats! We all sure appreciate all his hard work.
Moodene
06-28-2009, 02:23 PM
Finally got me a new roof and paint job on my house..and getting more stuff planted in the ground.. :0519:
I posted 3 news pics in my gallery for ya'll to see...
ewitte
06-29-2009, 06:23 AM
Make sure you water lol I was looking at a program on DVR Saturday (I was in Buffalo) and it said it was 103F.
Moodene
06-29-2009, 03:22 PM
I been watering like every 3 days here..I have a 250 gal water well and that helps alot!!
ewitte
06-29-2009, 04:07 PM
Well I came back after 4 days and only had two of my papaya seedlings living. There were 7 that germinated. It was watered once while I was gone. Also moved the peach tree inside because I was giving it water every day outside. The peaches doubled in that time even with low light!
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