[vikulenka]

Originally Posted by mehrens2112

hey everyone,

Still without power here in Houston but felt compelled to post quickly. I am leaving to go out of town and will post more about the storm tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for thinking of us. I had wondered about you for the past couple of days and hope you are ok.

[rolly]

Here are some pictures,18MB worth of them.
Pictures people have sent me

[viracocha]

Originally Posted by rolly

Here are some pictures,18MB worth of them.
Pictures people have sent me

The forces of nature are almost unbelievable

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by mehrens2112

hey everyone,

Still without power here in Houston but felt compelled to post quickly. I am leaving to go out of town and will post more about the storm tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks Mark,

You and your neighbors were in my thoughts.I hope you're doing well and
those affected by this terrible hurricane are helped to put their lives
back together.Thanks for keeping us updated and at the same time educated.

All the best to you,

[mehrens2112]

Ok, update. Take what the media gives you with a grain of salt. They tend to only give the doom and gloom side of things, and they usually try to find the most ignorant person to interview and/or they wait until they find someone who says what they want to hear and then air that.

Took nearly 2 weeks to get power back. Still about 700k people without power and that does not include the hardest hit areas on the coast. Surprisingly most people are being very polite and calm about it. My wife called our insurance company (a big one) and was told by the person that she was speaking with on the phone that everyone is being so nice and polite and thankful for anything being done to help. She said if this had happened to her that she would not be so sure if she would be polite and she would probably grow frustrated and angry with the government. We in South Texas on the other hand took matters into our own hands. Our local city governments stepped in (we have a phenomenal mayor) and they basically kicked FEMA out and did everything themselves and through volunteers (of which myself and my best friend volunteered to hand out water and ice locally). Gee, does all this compare to Katrina from 2005?? HELL NO!! We had a lot more destruction, but do you really hear anyone complaining? Nope. Where is Anderson Cooper? (sorry, I hate that jackass).

My father went down to the far south side of town to tour his properties and there is a lot of destruction. Roofs completely ripped off, store front windows shattered, 100+ year old trees ripped from the ground. Galveston as we know it is gone. High Island and the Bolivar Peninsula are majorly damaged.

We decided to stay with friends who had power for a couple of days after, then moved to my father's house when he got power. Hard to stay at friends houses when we have 2 dogs, and my father does not mind, at least not until my Lab decided to lick him right in the ear when he was sleeping. We left the house and were gone for about 5 days and DOH!! we forgot to take the meat out of the outside deep freeze. HOLY CRAP!!! Did that smell! We had little damage, but we were fortunate.

Feel free to ask me anything!!

[Nightfly]

Mark,

Wow! Amazing story.I really like the part where you kicked out FEMA and the people took care of each other..That's the way it should be,people looking out for other people.The world as a whole would be a far better place.We shouldn't depend on the Gov. so much, because most of the time you will be let down.Community and family is what it's all about.

Thanks so much for sharing,

[mehrens2112]

Originally Posted by Nightfly

Mark,

Wow! Amazing story.I really like the part where you kicked out FEMA and the people took care of each other..That's the way it should be,people looking out for other people.The world as a whole would be a far better place.We shouldn't depend on the Gov. so much, because most of the time you will be let down.Community and family is what it's all about.

Thanks so much for sharing,

FEMA is worthless for the most part. They took a long time to respond to this and our mayor and city council men and women were PISSED. They took over with FEMA assistance in some areas such as getting the cell companies to work together to get tower signals working so power crews could communicate easier. Everything was done by volunteer for the most part.

We had a few instances of price gouging and some jackass's looting (they all should be castrated and tortured). Greedy bastards!!

[Ashleyj]

Originally Posted by mehrens2112

FEMA is worthless for the most part. They took a long time to respond to this and our mayor and city council men and women were PISSED. They took over with FEMA assistance in some areas such as getting the cell companies to work together to get tower signals working so power crews could communicate easier. Everything was done by volunteer for the most part.

We had a few instances of price gouging and some jackass's looting (they all should be castrated and tortured). Greedy bastards!!

Glad to hear that you and your family came through it all safely - property can be replaced, people can't!

[Melecahead]

Howdy Y'all,

Today is my first peak at the forum since evacuating. My wife and I live on the West End of Galveston island, and had evacuated with our cat and turtle to Dallas. We got really lucky. Only minor damage both interior and exterior. We HAD about a 10-15 foot natural dune behind our house and all along my neighborhood. And none of us had major damage. Two neighbors left cars in the garages, and the water never even got high enough to get inside them. But the dune is GONE. No trace left. So it did it's job and died in the process. For sure we need to replace it ASAP. We're still without power, water, or sewer. But were safe and full of junk food!

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by Melecahead

Howdy Y'all,

Today is my first peak at the forum since evacuating. My wife and I live on the West End of Galveston island, and had evacuated with our cat and turtle to Dallas. We got really lucky. Only minor damage both interior and exterior. We HAD about a 10-15 foot natural dune behind our house and all along my neighborhood. And none of us had major damage. Two neighbors left cars in the garages, and the water never even got high enough to get inside them. But the dune is GONE. No trace left. So it did it's job and died in the process. For sure we need to replace it ASAP. We're still without power, water, or sewer. But were safe and full of junk food!

Melecahead,

Thanks for sharing your story as well,glad basically things turned out alright
for you and your family.As Ashley said above,property can be replaced and fixed but you can't replace your life.
Hope your utilities come back soon and you start getting your life back to
normal.

Take care,

Jeff