Hurricane Ike Picspam
Sep. 21st, 2008 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellefliesWith my mother visiting me here in Queens, I finally got to see pictures of what Hurricane Ike did to our neighborhood. She'd told me beforehand that I came very close to not having my truck anymore. I brushed if off as a 'she must be exaggerating' type of thing. Then I saw the pictures
HOLY CRAP! That is my truck. And that is the massive tree that came a foot away from crushing my truck! *MASSIVE FLAIL*
A better shot of just how close this tree came to taking out my wheels. What gets me is I don't keep this thing parked on the driveway. It's usually parked on the road in front of the house. My dad moved it into the driveway for better "protection."
My family has four vehicles. This is how close that tree came to taking out three of them. Thank god it missed all of them, but I'm even more grateful it missed my brother's sports car. The Brother is in Iraq using his deployment money to pay that car off. Having his baby destroyed would be kick in the teeth he really does not need right now. He did call to see how everyone came through the Hurricane, but when he means "everyone" he means his car too. My parents tweaked onto that fact pretty quick.
After that close call my dad was advised by our neighbors to go out and buy a lottery ticket.
Our neighbors truck didn't fare as well as mine did sadly. Thank god it was the work truck. It could have been worse for them as well, they usually park their SUV there as opposed to the company truck.
Even the neighborhood kids are getting in on the damage assessment.
Some trees stayed where they fell. Other trees were not content with this and had to indulge their wanderlust.
I find this amusing, as to contemplate the fact that the wind bent that
sign would otherwise be somewhat frightening.
It could have been worse for us though:
This is not my house, in fact, I don't even know the people who live here. But they do live in my neighborhood and for all the damage we have to deal with, they are in a much worse position. Thankfully, no one was hurt when that thing hit.
Ike may have left a swath of destruction in its (his?) wake but on the bright side, he got kids out of the house away from the TV and turned them into kids again.
I actually find the above photo to be extremely nostalgic as I did the same thing these kids are doing in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran after it hit North Carolina. Except we went tromping through swamps and I ended up with a raging case of poison ivy (I don't recommend it). So I'm hoping they aren't following in my footsteps that closely.
Everyone came through the Hurricane just fine, the damage can be replaced and from what I've been told the neighborhood is working together to help each other out.
My parents had stocked up on Emergency Hurricane Supplies after Hurricane Rita so were in a much more advantageous position then quite a bit of our neighbors. The generator is wired into our house so they have electricity. The only thing it won't run are the air conditioners but they have a window unit for the bedroom so there is some reprieve. Hell, they even had MRE's and ammo stocked up (not that they ever thought they'd need them and they still don't but this is Texas! And to not have ammo stocked up is downright unpatriotic *g*)
They even have internet. The only ones in our neighborhood with it - there are benefits to DSL *g*
Sadly though, we live on the outskirts of the city area (it used to be the country but the city swallowed us up) so our neighborhood isn't a big priority in the electric scheme of things so apparently they are predicting early October for when utilities will be restored. Thankfully, the neighborhood has running water although there are sewer problems and they've been told to boil their drinking water.
Have one more picture, just to illustrate why restoring electricity is taking awhile:
HOLY CRAP! That is my truck. And that is the massive tree that came a foot away from crushing my truck! *MASSIVE FLAIL*
A better shot of just how close this tree came to taking out my wheels. What gets me is I don't keep this thing parked on the driveway. It's usually parked on the road in front of the house. My dad moved it into the driveway for better "protection."
My family has four vehicles. This is how close that tree came to taking out three of them. Thank god it missed all of them, but I'm even more grateful it missed my brother's sports car. The Brother is in Iraq using his deployment money to pay that car off. Having his baby destroyed would be kick in the teeth he really does not need right now. He did call to see how everyone came through the Hurricane, but when he means "everyone" he means his car too. My parents tweaked onto that fact pretty quick.
After that close call my dad was advised by our neighbors to go out and buy a lottery ticket.
Our neighbors truck didn't fare as well as mine did sadly. Thank god it was the work truck. It could have been worse for them as well, they usually park their SUV there as opposed to the company truck.
Even the neighborhood kids are getting in on the damage assessment.
Some trees stayed where they fell. Other trees were not content with this and had to indulge their wanderlust.
I find this amusing, as to contemplate the fact that the wind bent that
sign would otherwise be somewhat frightening.
It could have been worse for us though:
This is not my house, in fact, I don't even know the people who live here. But they do live in my neighborhood and for all the damage we have to deal with, they are in a much worse position. Thankfully, no one was hurt when that thing hit.
Ike may have left a swath of destruction in its (his?) wake but on the bright side, he got kids out of the house away from the TV and turned them into kids again.
I actually find the above photo to be extremely nostalgic as I did the same thing these kids are doing in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran after it hit North Carolina. Except we went tromping through swamps and I ended up with a raging case of poison ivy (I don't recommend it). So I'm hoping they aren't following in my footsteps that closely.
Everyone came through the Hurricane just fine, the damage can be replaced and from what I've been told the neighborhood is working together to help each other out.
My parents had stocked up on Emergency Hurricane Supplies after Hurricane Rita so were in a much more advantageous position then quite a bit of our neighbors. The generator is wired into our house so they have electricity. The only thing it won't run are the air conditioners but they have a window unit for the bedroom so there is some reprieve. Hell, they even had MRE's and ammo stocked up (not that they ever thought they'd need them and they still don't but this is Texas! And to not have ammo stocked up is downright unpatriotic *g*)
They even have internet. The only ones in our neighborhood with it - there are benefits to DSL *g*
Sadly though, we live on the outskirts of the city area (it used to be the country but the city swallowed us up) so our neighborhood isn't a big priority in the electric scheme of things so apparently they are predicting early October for when utilities will be restored. Thankfully, the neighborhood has running water although there are sewer problems and they've been told to boil their drinking water.
Have one more picture, just to illustrate why restoring electricity is taking awhile:
