We spent last night in comfort at our friends, Morven and Andy's place. They even have internet access! Still no power down where we live, I went back today to grab some more clothes and open some windows. No-one in our area seems to have power yet. 7 miles away my office got power back last night and my team and I got all services back up for folks to come to work tomorrow. If they can make it. Nikki, the now thoroughly spoiled Alasdair, and I, will spend tonight here and then, not wishing to wear out our welcome, find a hotel to check into if we still have no power tomorrow.
There are long queues at all open gas stations, but navigating around the city was pretty easy and we still have enough petrol for another day or two. We also have my rental car back in the garage at home with a full tank, though with the Mazda out for repair I have a slightly smaller car that the baby seat won't fit in very well. The supermarkets nearby don't have a lot of food in them, but I did see an open McDonald's on my way back out here. Even though I haven't had a Big Mac in years, I was very, very, tempted to stop and get 5. Andy is grilling a delicious chicken concoction instead though, so I'm glad I resisted.
Thank you all for your kind comments and thoughts below. I suspected the news was showing footage of Galveston and claiming it was Houston so I'm glad we managed to keep you updated. Technology, eh? Funnily enough, all the old low tech stuff fared pretty well. The cell phone service was poor, texts were about all that worked for a couple of days, but our house phone never went out. Might have to start giving out the number and get a laptop with a modem.
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5 comments:
Do you need a food parcel?
Nah, we'll be fine. There's places open around the Galleria, so we can get food. Plus the stores will have more tomorrow. Although...all Dairy Milk will be gratefully received.
Any destruction in Houston / flooding? You said your district was pretty OK... Do you know of some friends who are not as lucky? All we hear about are the guys trying to ride the hurricane in Galveston, and some isolated stories of people who lost everything, and the dead fish on the streets of Orange county... but what about the big picture? You think there will be long term impacts on Houston?
I definitley saw flooding on the motorways in Houston on the BBC news. So did Alasdair cope alright with the 'worst storm to hit Houston for 50 years?'*
*according to BBC again. They were bigging it up!
Bruno: We haven't heard from everyone, but as far as we know everyone in the Houston area was okay. I don't know about long term impacts, I think the Houston area will be fine. I hope they restrict the amount of redevelopment on Galveston's West End to a sensible limit and pass laws here that limit the height of billboards and other signage, but this is Texas and the dollar rules.
Vikki: Yes, some motorways and other roads were flooded. We had a hard time getting out to Andy and Morven's on Sunday since the main route to get here is through the Addicks Reservoir / Barker Dam area. The whole area is supposed to flood to save the city. The city will always flood, but unlike New Orleans we're not a bowl. When the storm surge recedes the water goes down. I'm not sure how Ike rates, but it could have done more damage than the the other two hurricanes to hit Houston in the last 50 years, so technically they're correct. Ethically, maybe not so much.
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