We hear so much about the devastation of Galveston and Houston. And believe me, they are significant, but let me show you what you aren't seeing on the news.
These photos were sent by a co-worker/friend of the Bridge City area just south of Orange from where we draw a significant number of our faculty and students. Out of 3,500 homes in this town, only 14 homes, (yes! I said 14) did not have any storm surge flooding in them. Sadly my department head is one of the unlucky ones... doubly so. Not only did she lose her entire home, but her building at school was flooded - she lost her office contents and her classroom contents too. It takes a special kind of strength to keep going after that.
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4e4463774d54557a4d4877354d6a457a4f544d320d0a&sb=1
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Recovery
As promised, here is a link to some photos showing a little of the damage to our school. There are captions under the pictures, so if you are on a laptop, you may need to scroll down to see them.
Sorry for the delay, I was trying a couple of ways to include these with some dialog. Maybe next time.
Please remember that all this cleanup work is being done pretty much in the darkness of the buildings and no air conditioning. It is dirty, hot and extremely smelly work... as in *GAG*. (The dead fish from the river had been taken away already thankfully when these shots were taken.) I could only include pics of those buildings we could get into. The speed at which the remediation teams and our staff are working is phenomenal. As you can see alot of the walls were cut down just a few days post Ike to prevent molding.
The school is like a ghost town otherwise, no cars, no people except the few you see in the pics.
The admin is estimating that we will be back open for classes by Monday, October 6. (Probably sans walls etc.) They are also hinting that we will not have a Christmas break and will forgo our usual "mini" sessions and run right through til Christmas Eve and then up to Winter session. Should make for a very interesting school year.
While you are watching, try and imagine if this were your office or home.....
"LSCO & Ike" Slideshow
Sorry for the delay, I was trying a couple of ways to include these with some dialog. Maybe next time.
Please remember that all this cleanup work is being done pretty much in the darkness of the buildings and no air conditioning. It is dirty, hot and extremely smelly work... as in *GAG*. (The dead fish from the river had been taken away already thankfully when these shots were taken.) I could only include pics of those buildings we could get into. The speed at which the remediation teams and our staff are working is phenomenal. As you can see alot of the walls were cut down just a few days post Ike to prevent molding.
The school is like a ghost town otherwise, no cars, no people except the few you see in the pics.
The admin is estimating that we will be back open for classes by Monday, October 6. (Probably sans walls etc.) They are also hinting that we will not have a Christmas break and will forgo our usual "mini" sessions and run right through til Christmas Eve and then up to Winter session. Should make for a very interesting school year.
While you are watching, try and imagine if this were your office or home.....
"LSCO & Ike" Slideshow
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Unbelievable
Today I drove into Orange to see my school and give moral support to a friend. I wasn't quite prepared for what I saw. Took lots of pictures and will get them posted tomorrow, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, thanks to Sula for sending a link to some excellent photos of the area including Galveston. Pictures Number 20 and 24 were taken right by my school. I pass this cemetery every day on my way to work. So sad.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
Til tomorrow....
Meanwhile, thanks to Sula for sending a link to some excellent photos of the area including Galveston. Pictures Number 20 and 24 were taken right by my school. I pass this cemetery every day on my way to work. So sad.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
Til tomorrow....
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Another day in Paradise
Actually it was a bit like Paradise today. That high pressure from the north that pushed Ike to the west of us has brought us 2 days of glorious, dry and cool weather. I actually had all the windows open all day today and the breezes gently blew through the house. So nice....
Got a message that any faculty or staff at our school who had offices on the first floor of any building except mine will be allowed to "look & leave" their offices tomorrow between 9am and 1pm to remove any personal items. I may run over to see if I can help some of those who need it carry stuff and to see the damage for myself.
I was in the checkout line at SAM's today and thought I recognized the lady ahead of me. She turned and it was obvious she knew me. "Aren't you Mrs. P?" That clinched it. She had to be one of my students - we've only met in class about 3 times so far so I still don't know them all. She ran up and hugged me. "So you're shopping all the way over here too?" she asked. When I told her no, I live here, she was surprised and seemed delighted for me(?!). She was with her mother and her young daughter and they had driven in from Vidor, TX just to get provisions. Said they weathered the storm alright, but her mother had to leave her damaged home to live with them and they still had no power. You just have to feel bad for folks. And she was so concerned about what would happen to the semester. Don't you love a student like that?
On an entirely different, non-storm related note, those of you who have been following the continuing saga of our front door, you'll be happy to know that we took delivery of the latest replacement long before the hurricane hit! But it has been sitting in our garage in it's crate ever since...yes, the cars had to sit out in the driveway during the storm. A bit worrisome. But installation day is scheduled for next Monday!! Yay! At that time we will be getting brand new columns and have the porch overhang re-attached to the house. It had been twisted and loosened in an earlier storm and this one just clinched it. The installer is finally available. Whoo hoo!
On that happy note, I will go into that good night and dream sweet dreams!
Got a message that any faculty or staff at our school who had offices on the first floor of any building except mine will be allowed to "look & leave" their offices tomorrow between 9am and 1pm to remove any personal items. I may run over to see if I can help some of those who need it carry stuff and to see the damage for myself.
I was in the checkout line at SAM's today and thought I recognized the lady ahead of me. She turned and it was obvious she knew me. "Aren't you Mrs. P?" That clinched it. She had to be one of my students - we've only met in class about 3 times so far so I still don't know them all. She ran up and hugged me. "So you're shopping all the way over here too?" she asked. When I told her no, I live here, she was surprised and seemed delighted for me(?!). She was with her mother and her young daughter and they had driven in from Vidor, TX just to get provisions. Said they weathered the storm alright, but her mother had to leave her damaged home to live with them and they still had no power. You just have to feel bad for folks. And she was so concerned about what would happen to the semester. Don't you love a student like that?
On an entirely different, non-storm related note, those of you who have been following the continuing saga of our front door, you'll be happy to know that we took delivery of the latest replacement long before the hurricane hit! But it has been sitting in our garage in it's crate ever since...yes, the cars had to sit out in the driveway during the storm. A bit worrisome. But installation day is scheduled for next Monday!! Yay! At that time we will be getting brand new columns and have the porch overhang re-attached to the house. It had been twisted and loosened in an earlier storm and this one just clinched it. The installer is finally available. Whoo hoo!
On that happy note, I will go into that good night and dream sweet dreams!
Monday, September 15, 2008
The difference a day makes
What a gorgeous day! 72 degrees, dry and brilliant! We haven't seen that since last March! Here's hoping it stays this way for a little longer.
Got the electronic call from my school last night. It seems EVERY building on campus except one - mine (!)- received some degree of flooding. Good grief. We don't have a huge campus, but still....
The message also said that we would not be re-opening for "at least 2 weeks"! However, our school website says 1 to 2 weeks. So who knows? This is not good on so many levels. We are just a small school with just under 2,000 students. When Hurricane Rita came through a few years ago we lost around 15% of our student body who just didn't return. It had taken us this long just to try and rebuild to original numbers. We will be trying to salvage the rest of the semester so my guess is we will run deeper into December than planned - possibly right up to the 24th. But we roll with the punches, eh?
A friend who evacuated to Jackson, Miss and has returned safely says there were folks from Orange,TX at their hotel too. (How we scatter!) She reports that the local Lake Charles Albertsons had milk yesterday. But it was cordoned off and not for sale. The thought is that it may be spoilage that hasn't been removed yet. So no milk for sale there, but plenty of the important stuff was available - beer and wine! Happily, the store appeared to be in the process of re-stocking items so they must have gotten a truck through.
An ex-grad student of Frank's stopped by last night to check on us. He's with DEQ now and is working emergency operations during this storm episode. He said he was happy to see we had power, but not to count on it. We aren't out of the woods yet. With all the work on the grid they are doing, there could be interruptions. He reports that Baton Rouge is still suffering in a big way without power from Gustav. Bucket trucks from all over are traversing between the Baton Rouge and Houston area. He doesn't carry a gun and won't go into certain areas between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He says locals will sometimes fire on anyone - even police - who come near. *Sheesh* Only in Louisiana.
Another friend who evacuated to Dallas tried to drive to Beaumont yesterday to check on his home. Couldn't get in. Too many roads flooded. Decided to turn back and make the long (~5 hours) drive back. He reports that many gas stations between the 2 cities are without power to pump gas and those that have power are running low on gas.
Ah, the ripple effect. Like I said in an earlier post, the actual storm is only the tip of the iceberg. It's the aftermath that seems to go on forever.
I am hearing from so many friends and family from distant places via emails! This is great. I never thought something like this would take off like it has. I highly recommend it. (Just a reminder that it is ok for any of you to post a comment here. Have at it if the spirit moves you.)
Ok, I'm off to do some school work and try and get ahead of the curve. Making lemonade down here.
Got the electronic call from my school last night. It seems EVERY building on campus except one - mine (!)- received some degree of flooding. Good grief. We don't have a huge campus, but still....
The message also said that we would not be re-opening for "at least 2 weeks"! However, our school website says 1 to 2 weeks. So who knows? This is not good on so many levels. We are just a small school with just under 2,000 students. When Hurricane Rita came through a few years ago we lost around 15% of our student body who just didn't return. It had taken us this long just to try and rebuild to original numbers. We will be trying to salvage the rest of the semester so my guess is we will run deeper into December than planned - possibly right up to the 24th. But we roll with the punches, eh?
A friend who evacuated to Jackson, Miss and has returned safely says there were folks from Orange,TX at their hotel too. (How we scatter!) She reports that the local Lake Charles Albertsons had milk yesterday. But it was cordoned off and not for sale. The thought is that it may be spoilage that hasn't been removed yet. So no milk for sale there, but plenty of the important stuff was available - beer and wine! Happily, the store appeared to be in the process of re-stocking items so they must have gotten a truck through.
An ex-grad student of Frank's stopped by last night to check on us. He's with DEQ now and is working emergency operations during this storm episode. He said he was happy to see we had power, but not to count on it. We aren't out of the woods yet. With all the work on the grid they are doing, there could be interruptions. He reports that Baton Rouge is still suffering in a big way without power from Gustav. Bucket trucks from all over are traversing between the Baton Rouge and Houston area. He doesn't carry a gun and won't go into certain areas between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He says locals will sometimes fire on anyone - even police - who come near. *Sheesh* Only in Louisiana.
Another friend who evacuated to Dallas tried to drive to Beaumont yesterday to check on his home. Couldn't get in. Too many roads flooded. Decided to turn back and make the long (~5 hours) drive back. He reports that many gas stations between the 2 cities are without power to pump gas and those that have power are running low on gas.
Ah, the ripple effect. Like I said in an earlier post, the actual storm is only the tip of the iceberg. It's the aftermath that seems to go on forever.
I am hearing from so many friends and family from distant places via emails! This is great. I never thought something like this would take off like it has. I highly recommend it. (Just a reminder that it is ok for any of you to post a comment here. Have at it if the spirit moves you.)
Ok, I'm off to do some school work and try and get ahead of the curve. Making lemonade down here.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Ike Day +1
I can't believe this, but it is raining gently but steadily today. This is more rain than we got with the hurricane. Very strange.
We are still fine and dandy here as long as we don't try to go out and actually do anything. Most stores and services are closed. Not enough people here to work them. And the grocery store shelves were pretty empty before Ike hit anyway as they had only been partially re-stocked after Gustav.
Reports show that the real worry has come to pass...storm surge. While Lake Charles did not get the brunt of the storm, many places here in town are totally underwater. Thankfully most have peaked and are on the down side, but this rain can't help.
Hearing from work friends who evacuated and those that didn't. Orange, TX got hit pretty badly and Bridge City is cut off from the world due to flooding. We draw most of our students and faculty from there (and Beaumont). So I don't know what to think about school re-opening tomorrow or the next day.
Here are pictures from the area around my school and some of the streets leading to the school:
http://kogt.smugmug.com/gallery/5953607_Nn2hu#P-1-16
On page 1, pictures #7 (police car on the feeder road next to I-10), #10 & #11 show roads that I drive on to get to or around the school. Pretty sad....
We are still fine and dandy here as long as we don't try to go out and actually do anything. Most stores and services are closed. Not enough people here to work them. And the grocery store shelves were pretty empty before Ike hit anyway as they had only been partially re-stocked after Gustav.
Reports show that the real worry has come to pass...storm surge. While Lake Charles did not get the brunt of the storm, many places here in town are totally underwater. Thankfully most have peaked and are on the down side, but this rain can't help.
Hearing from work friends who evacuated and those that didn't. Orange, TX got hit pretty badly and Bridge City is cut off from the world due to flooding. We draw most of our students and faculty from there (and Beaumont). So I don't know what to think about school re-opening tomorrow or the next day.
Here are pictures from the area around my school and some of the streets leading to the school:
http://kogt.smugmug.com/gallery/5953607_Nn2hu#P-1-16
On page 1, pictures #7 (police car on the feeder road next to I-10), #10 & #11 show roads that I drive on to get to or around the school. Pretty sad....
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Aftermath
So we are gradually working our way out from under the wind. But now have tornado watches everywhere til 7:30 p.m. I have been receiving tidbits of information from various sources around us. My school is right on the Sabine river. Parts of the school are flooded as the levee broke nearby. Apparently "whitecaps" were seen as far inland as a couple of miles from the break. One report I had is that my building is ok - my office is on the second floor thankfully. But several friends from school have flooded homes and only just recovered and rebuilt this past Spring from Hurricane Rita back in 05. *sigh* What a mess.
Frank's school is closed at least through Monday. No word on mine, but would be surprised if we open. Have to give time for evacuees to return and the city of Orange, TX is closed right now. No one allowed in or out right now.
On a happier note, 3 of our hummingbirds came back today. Fighting over the new bottles of food. Two out of 13 of our racoon horde showed up last night around 10:00 pm for food. But only one juvenile showed up today during daylight hours for food. Must have been starving to risk it during the day. It even stayed and ate while Frank was chopping up the downed limbs.
My apologies for the hokey music....how many of you recognize the song? Hmmm??? It was the theme song for the old 1972 movie "The Poseidon Adventure"! I feel like we've lived an Irwin Allen adventure. (Later: I have turned off the "autoplay" feature now; it's getting annoying. If you want to hear it, scroll to the very bottom of this page and press the play button.)
Thanks to all of you who have touched bases and touched my heart. The blog comments, emails and calls kept our spirits up - especially last night during the unknown. Humor is a wonderful thing. Stay in touch! Feel free to comment or join as a "Follower". Heh heh Makes me feel somewhat Messianic!!
Frank's school is closed at least through Monday. No word on mine, but would be surprised if we open. Have to give time for evacuees to return and the city of Orange, TX is closed right now. No one allowed in or out right now.
On a happier note, 3 of our hummingbirds came back today. Fighting over the new bottles of food. Two out of 13 of our racoon horde showed up last night around 10:00 pm for food. But only one juvenile showed up today during daylight hours for food. Must have been starving to risk it during the day. It even stayed and ate while Frank was chopping up the downed limbs.
My apologies for the hokey music....how many of you recognize the song? Hmmm??? It was the theme song for the old 1972 movie "The Poseidon Adventure"! I feel like we've lived an Irwin Allen adventure. (Later: I have turned off the "autoplay" feature now; it's getting annoying. If you want to hear it, scroll to the very bottom of this page and press the play button.)
Thanks to all of you who have touched bases and touched my heart. The blog comments, emails and calls kept our spirits up - especially last night during the unknown. Humor is a wonderful thing. Stay in touch! Feel free to comment or join as a "Follower". Heh heh Makes me feel somewhat Messianic!!
We're Alive!
And we have electicity! That's the truly amazing thing.
It is still blowing up a storm out there... (get it?)! Not as bad as last night, but still pretty stiff breeze. -- Whoa, just got hit by a MAJOR gust.
Why do these things always go "bump" in the night? There is something so primeval about huddling in our"cave" in the dark, praying to the gods that this too shall pass and contemplating the mysteries of it all. I understand completely why early mankind thought these events were manifestations of living things.
But I digress ;-) ....
Got very little real sleep last night. I was convinced that the large oak tree in the front yard by the driveway was going to crash on the house. And of course IF it did, it would land on my side of the bed. So did I sleep downstairs? Oh no, Frank was in bed already and I figured if the tree fell then the three of us would go out together. (oh did I mention the cat was in the bed too. Had you worried didn't I?)
Raining horizontally and very dark at this moment. Wait 5 minutes and it will brighten....
Here is the "after" picture of our back yard so you can get a feel. Very little damage, just messy:
It is still blowing up a storm out there... (get it?)! Not as bad as last night, but still pretty stiff breeze. -- Whoa, just got hit by a MAJOR gust.
Why do these things always go "bump" in the night? There is something so primeval about huddling in our"cave" in the dark, praying to the gods that this too shall pass and contemplating the mysteries of it all. I understand completely why early mankind thought these events were manifestations of living things.
But I digress ;-) ....
Got very little real sleep last night. I was convinced that the large oak tree in the front yard by the driveway was going to crash on the house. And of course IF it did, it would land on my side of the bed. So did I sleep downstairs? Oh no, Frank was in bed already and I figured if the tree fell then the three of us would go out together. (oh did I mention the cat was in the bed too. Had you worried didn't I?)
Raining horizontally and very dark at this moment. Wait 5 minutes and it will brighten....
Here is the "after" picture of our back yard so you can get a feel. Very little damage, just messy:
So we are alive and well at the moment. I don't think we are entirely out of the woods yet given the windy conditions and the rising water in the bayous and lakes. But I'm feeling pretty good about it now that the light god has returned! What a ride.
And then...
The lights have flickered several times. Heard some pops and loud bangs from a block or so away. But still have power obviously.
The wind is still loud and scary forceful, and it is HOT and muggy out. But still very little rain. Odd. Can hear a chirruping frog or bird in the bush/dirt outside the window. I'll take that as a positive sign...
Will try and get some sleep.
Good luck with that.
The wind is still loud and scary forceful, and it is HOT and muggy out. But still very little rain. Odd. Can hear a chirruping frog or bird in the bush/dirt outside the window. I'll take that as a positive sign...
Will try and get some sleep.
Good luck with that.
I should have gone to bed...
Ok, so I stayed up reading stuff on the internet. Dumb. Now I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep. It's a bit scary sounding out there. And it's pushing on the house which is creaking. Maybe I should go put my red and white striped tights and ruby slippers on....oh wait, that's tornadoes. I wonder what the hurricane equivalent is...
Air pressure is doing funny things. I decided to go outside and see what it's like and couldn't get the front door open without some tugging. Like it was being held closed by someone on the other side. Whooooooooooo.
Dang... unnerving.
Air pressure is doing funny things. I decided to go outside and see what it's like and couldn't get the front door open without some tugging. Like it was being held closed by someone on the other side. Whooooooooooo.
Dang... unnerving.
Friday, September 12, 2008
No Country for old men.... or Women either!
It's blowing pretty well and steady outside and now getting a bit more rain. Even so, I think we may make it out of this without any damage. We still have power. Whoo hooo.... I really wasn't looking forward to 98 degree heat and humidity for days on end. Actually, we do have a generator and a small window unit to sleep by, but still....
Our local weather is saying it should reach peak in our area around 2:00 a.m. but I am not staying up for that.
So hi ho, hi ho... it's off to bed I go. If the storm blows hard and wakes me up I will add something here if we still have power.
Otherwise, a demain Chers!
Our local weather is saying it should reach peak in our area around 2:00 a.m. but I am not staying up for that.
So hi ho, hi ho... it's off to bed I go. If the storm blows hard and wakes me up I will add something here if we still have power.
Otherwise, a demain Chers!
9:00 p.m. Update
Well, we definitely have some wind going on out there now. We are on the wrong side of the storm.... the side that gets the water. And it is "spittin'" too. But I really think we have dodged a bullet here. Lucky, lucky.
The Martins - our neighbors down the street on the bayou - reported around 7 pm that the bayou level had risen and was half way up their back yard. That's how far it made it up when Rita blew through. I think the tides are different for this storm. More storm surge expected.
They just showed a water rescue on TV down around Cameron parish. And Galveston is getting lashed. But thankfully, the storm didn't intensify as much as they expected. *Whew*
The bad news is that it is such a HUGE storm area wise. (Jim Cantore - the Weather Channel James Bond dude - says it is larger than all New England states put together!) So we will be wet for another 24 hours from it.
More later....
The Martins - our neighbors down the street on the bayou - reported around 7 pm that the bayou level had risen and was half way up their back yard. That's how far it made it up when Rita blew through. I think the tides are different for this storm. More storm surge expected.
They just showed a water rescue on TV down around Cameron parish. And Galveston is getting lashed. But thankfully, the storm didn't intensify as much as they expected. *Whew*
The bad news is that it is such a HUGE storm area wise. (Jim Cantore - the Weather Channel James Bond dude - says it is larger than all New England states put together!) So we will be wet for another 24 hours from it.
More later....
Waiting on Ike
Folks have been calling and showing concern for us, so I will try and put updates every hour or so until/if we lose power!
I think we are as ready as we can be. We have loads of batteries, candles, food, & water. We've moved everything that's loose from the backyard and have filled the bathtubs with water to flush toilets should we lose power. We have gas in the cars - though where we would go is beyond me. West will get the major brunt of the storm. East is still without power due to hurricane Gustav. Ike is due to hit Galveston, loop up thru Houston, curve around to Dallas and go north of us, so north is out.
So far, this whole hurricane thing has been very low key; almost a non-event. Yay! After Rita in 'o5, I have no desire to live like that again. Ike is supposed to be affecting us later tonight into morning tomorrow. But nothing much to report so far.
Very breezy, lots of leaf debris in the yard, the odd burst of showers. But so far, so good!
I think we are as ready as we can be. We have loads of batteries, candles, food, & water. We've moved everything that's loose from the backyard and have filled the bathtubs with water to flush toilets should we lose power. We have gas in the cars - though where we would go is beyond me. West will get the major brunt of the storm. East is still without power due to hurricane Gustav. Ike is due to hit Galveston, loop up thru Houston, curve around to Dallas and go north of us, so north is out.
So far, this whole hurricane thing has been very low key; almost a non-event. Yay! After Rita in 'o5, I have no desire to live like that again. Ike is supposed to be affecting us later tonight into morning tomorrow. But nothing much to report so far.
Very breezy, lots of leaf debris in the yard, the odd burst of showers. But so far, so good!
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Decided to set this up to allow friends and family to stay current and to have a place to post things going on in my life.
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