So.
Here it is, just a few days after my brush with hurricanes, and I am still alive. In fact, alive enough to be writing a blog that few (if any) will ever read... Ah, well. It's cathartic, right?
So here's a rough synopsis of what went down:
Thursday was a beautiful day: clear blue sky just a little warmer than usual. School was cancelled and is still on hold indefinitely At around noon my family left for the Woodlands to stay with our good friend Rachel Sorber and Natalie. The Woodlands is further inland, and the storm was supposed to have calmed down by that point. More on that later. I spent all evening boarding up windows. Neighbors came and helped. What a great blessing it is to have concerned and helpful neighbors.
Friday was no work, but I came in anyway. There was nothing else to do. I hung around until about three and then went to Ammaron Stone's place to help him finish boarding up. We watched the news as the hurricane approached (these things move SOOOO slowly). That got boring after a while so we watched Goonies and other things until about 10 PM, then went to bed. He slept on my living room floor, refusing offers to sleep on the couch or one of my kids beds... At around midnight the power went out. It was utterly dark - dark like I have never experienced above ground. Boards on the windows and not a shred of light anywhere. Ammaron came in and we both couldn't sleep. Sounds I had never heard before... like thunder was an actual physical thing and trying to get into my house... or like a water cannon the size of my house being shot at various parts of the world... large winds whipping past that resolved themselves into strange and scary moans and wails... Creaks and cracks from my house...
Water penetrated my house in two or three locations along the roof, and our doors were oscillating such that there was no effective seal. I put towels by the doors to soak up most of the water.
Saturday morning found the worst part of the storm was over. I have some pics and video that I will try to post once I get real internet... Keep in mind that this was taken at the point I was feeling comfortable enough to actually venture close to a glass window or outside. The really bad stuff lasted approximately six hours, with a slight break when the eye moved over us.
Saturday Ammaron and I drove around and took some pics of some of the damage. There were power lines down and power poles snapped literally like match sticks. I have never seen anything like it and cannot imagine the forces that could do such a thing. Trees down, lots of water, and an overall feeling of compression in the air that is very hard to describe but is nonetheless very real.
We went to the City offices to assess the damage and check on our friends, as well as to charge the cell phones. The City's emergency personnel were all housed in the Senior Center (for some mysterious reason, the generator powers that building but not the police or fire station...?!?). There we got word of what was happening and things were surprisingly OK. We weren't (and still aren't) done with this thing yet, but it is getting better every hour.
Ammaron's house had minimal damage as well. A tree blew down over his driveway, and some of the things he had left outside were damaged. But all in all, he weathered the storm very well...
Saturday night we had the last of the hurricane come through. After a relatively calm day, I thought we were pretty well done. I was wrong. We got hit again all night Saturday PM into Sunday AM. Things that were not wet before were certainly wet then... And this time there was a lot of thunder and lightning. Very, very frightening!
Sunday we spent drying out and trying to begin to assess damage. Ammaron cut up his fallen tree and we stacked it up out of the way so he could get to his garage and car. Our emergency personnel have really risen to the challenge of all of this, and I am proud to see it - proud to be a part of a community and organization that can come together like this.
Sunday night was a very steamy night. Muggy and hot. Miserable...
Monday we started seeing the community rally. People from various churches showed up to help and contimue to do so. We saw the first shipments of bottled water, ice, and emergency food (MREs) arrive and volunteers were able to help pass these out. The lines to obtain this assistance reached for miles, but it was all being handled very efficiently. Again, I am proud to be a part of this community. Ammaron helped to pass out the stuff. Monday night we had a City Council meeting - it was already scheduled, so we had to keep it. It was a good meeting, informative and helpful. It was good to see everyone and everything happen so efficiently.
Yesterday (Tuesday) was more clean-up of City Hall. The really exciting thing from yesterday was the power coming back on at my house! YEA!!! I did laundry, washed the dishes, vacuumed the floor, and basically got everything ready for when the family could return today. Hopefully they will be here soon!
More to come later. All is well. All is well.
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