School was cancelled and Carl didn’t have to go in to work on Friday, Sept. 12th. Consequently Thursday evening and all day Friday was spent preparing for Hurricane Ike that was supposed to come.
It was hard to believe it was really going to come our way because it seemed like Déjà vu of three years ago with Hurricane Rita. We prepared but my heart wasn’t in to it. I really didn’t think it would happen, and so although I prepared, I wasn’t worried. The lines at the grocery story were incredible!!! Most people were buying bottled water, prepared food, and junk food. I bought a few more gallons of milk (which I am very grateful I had because of the shortage of milk and bread after the storm) and bought bottled water just because the employees were putting it in all the carts as though everyone needed them (I figured it would help rotate my supply). I really didn’t need to go to the grocery store in the first place, but I went just because I was waiting for a prescription so I had to do something!
We pulled out our new generator (still in it’s box) out of the garage that we had been storing for three years since Hurricane Rita. Carl attempted to put it together and start it. It wouldn’t work. We spent hours on the phone trying to get customer assistance. A ward member came over and looked at it. He couldn’t help and said something must be wrong with the choke.
With the light winds that began to come in, Jason made his own kind of fun. He tied a shopping bag to a small toy truck and let the wind carry it down the street. It was fun to watch how fast it would move!
After the preparation, showers, and a video, the kids hunkered down in our master bedroom. At about 11:30, the wind was blowing, but not drastically. I was surprised to see how light it was outside. With the clouds being so low, it reflected the lights of the city and although it was late, it appeared to be dusk. After setting my alarm for 2:00 (I didn’t want to miss the worst part of the storm!) I went to bed. However, at 1:40 I woke up from the howling of winds outside and the power was already out. For the next four hours Carl and I watched the trees and rain outside. For a brief moment, Mitch and I went outside onto the back patio just to feel the wind and rain. It didn’t take more than a minute before we were completely wet. We occasionally heard loud smacks on our home. The next morning we found out the loud noises were just shingles hitting the home.
Carl kept checking the attics and windowsills for leaks. He found a few dribbles which made us nervous, but luckily it never got worse. The most fascinating thing we saw was the constant flashing green lights in the sky. I thought it was pretty spectacular until I heard on the radio that the green lights we were seeing were transformers being blown out. It was a drastic change, watching the night look like dust then little by little going completely black to the point that we couldn’t see our neighbors house across the street. I finally fell into a light sleep at 3:30 but Carl stayed awake the entire night long.
At first light, we walked around our neighborhood to survey the damage. Most every home lost shingles--some more than others.
Our neighborhood only has small trees, so we didn’t have much tree damage. One neighbor’s tree was uprooted.
Another neighbor didn’t take down their trampoline and it had blown over the fence and lodged itself in between two homes. Luckily, it didn’t cause damage to either of the homes.
Another neighbor had lots of roof damage and was collecting water by the buckets in their home.
It’s sad to think that it took a hurricane for our neighborhood to come together. But that’s just one of the many blessings that came from this storm. Because our generator never worked, our neighbor down the street offered to let us keep a few things in his fridge (he had a large generator). We kept the rest of our fridge items in six coolers (We used ice from the FEMA handouts to keep the coolers cold). A neighbors older son came and looked at our generator; his conclusion was that there was oil in the air filter. We talked to many neighbors, offering and asking for help and loaning and borrowing tools or needed household items. Eventually the homes across the street received their electricity two days before us. I was able to do some of my laundry with the neighbors help.
Later that day, we wanted to escape the heat and humidity in our stuffy home, so we took a family drive around the city. Jason’s comment was that it looked like a “Texas snowstorm”. The roads were covered in leaves with small tire tracks down the middle of the road.
Luckily the big trees had been moved off the roads, but the work that needed to be done was overwhelming. The missionaries from the Galveston area had been moved to Sugar Land (where the mission president resides). Consequently, it was easy to see the hoards of missionaries out offering help to ward members and Sugar Land residents.
In the early evening we took a family bike ride to the park. The sunset was gorgeous!!!
There wasn’t church on Sunday. Once again, it was all neighbors helping neighbors. And we were able to witness many airplanes heading towards Galveston.
We emptied our deep freezer and drove it over to a ward members home that received power just 12 hours after the storm (they lived near a hospital, and the hospitals were the first to get back power). The Hansen’s were glad to have our freezer food. They had a lot of missionaries staying with them, and we told them they were welcome to use our food to help feed them.
On Monday, Mitch, Jason, Ethan (Mitch’s friend), Carl and I went to the Little League baseball fields to help clean up. We raked and moved fallen branches into a pile. We worked for 5 hours. On Tuesday, we did the same thing and worked for 4 hours.
By the time we finished, we could see a drastic improvement. The fences, signs, and tarps still need to be fixed but we are waiting for the “go ahead” to fix them.
On Wednesday, I really needed to do some wash so I went to a friends home that had power a did most of the laundry (and then I finished it at my neighbors home). Carl went back to work. His office building had suffered some damage on the top floors, broken windows, water damage on the top six floors, loss of air conditioning, but it was amazingly restored to a “usable” building within two days.
His employer, Newfield Exploration, was incredible. They ordered in meals with extra food to take home for the families.
That evening we had another friend come look at our generator. His conclusion was that there was something wrong with the spark plug. We tried to buy a new spark plug, but weren’t able to find one the right size.
On Thursday, I tried to find more opportunities for my kids to serve in the community, but I wasn’t successful. Instead we played games as a family and I went to the dentist! Carl’s employer loaned him a generator. We got that hooked up that night and were so happy to have a fridge!!!
Another HUGE blessing that came was the weather. Houston is known for being hot and humid. Amazingly, a dry cool front came through on Sunday night and made the city enjoyable without air conditioning. We kept the doors and windows open both day and night and loved being outdoors. Jason and Tyler slept outside one night but eventhough they slept under a mosquito net, they got eaten alive by some critter.
Sugar Land was very fortunate to have its water supply in safe working order. After just 12 hours after the storm, our water was deemed safe to drink and so we didn’t have to keep boiling it. From then on, we were able to take warm showers. This week was a lot like camping but with a warm shower and clean toilets. We were able to cook on our gas stove (but the kids sure missed cooking Ramen Noodle Soup in the microwave). With the ward being so spread out, we all got power restored on different days. Ward members helped each other with meals (one day we received dinner from two different people!) and anything else that may have been needed.
Because the schools were closed all week, I was glad to not have power (I just wished I had a generator for the fridge). Without the computer or TV, the kids were forced to play outside or do service in the community. I also loved this week because I didn’t have all the extra curricular activities to drive my kids to and from. We had family meals together, played together, and worked together. It was so nice. Just like a real get away. In the evenings our family played “flashlight hide and go seek”, made shadow plays on the wall, and laughed together. We also got to bed at an early time because it was dark without much to do. Other than the power outages, the other main draw back was the lack of communication. Many cell phones didn’t work (mine did with Verizon, but Carl’s didn’t until Tuesday with AT&T ). Most land lines were not working (ours started working on Tuesday). My boys missed an opportunity to serve (and be on Channel 11 news) with the YM/YW of Sugar Land because we didn’t get the message.
The power came back on to our home on Friday and now things feel like normal (except Carl, Mitch and Jason are out serving because we know that there are still so many without power, water, or even a home!). We went almost a week without electricity. Yes, we experienced some inconveniences, but over all, there were too many blessings to count that came from Hurricane Ike. Do I want another hurricane to come our way? Absolutely not!!! But Hurricane Ike provided us the opportunity to get closer to our neighbors, serve others in the ward and community, be together as a family, live a slower paced life, be grateful for the teachings we have learned to “be prepared”, and enjoy the unusual weather that had to come as an answer to many prayers. It was one of the best weeks of my life.
Shanna
