How are the folks in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana doing?

[Slotts]

Hey folks,

Ike has been a monster storm passing through the lower States. The storm was six hundred miles wide when it made landfall.

Please check in and let us know how you are doing.

Slotts

[hemiken]

  interested to know how is in those areas as well

[bb71challenger]

I think they would have to have a laptop or an internet capable phone to reply since there are massive power outtages in that whole region. I sure hope everyone is ok. I have heard of one death and evidently it involved a couple of guys surfing or something.

[Moparal]

I just made it in about 30 minutes ago  I drove across the whole 600 miles on my 720 mile white knuckle ride. I am absolutely worn out. Still shaking to. I went through the eye when it was on I-20 and also had to stop and go because of 3 tornadoes directly in my path. I was forunate to not see any serious accidents. But a person did almost run me off into the river. The rain was so bad , you could not see 10' past the front of the hood at certain times. The radio kept doing the emergency broadcast tornado sightings butting in the music playing. But each time it was 10 minutes or so after i had to take cover under a bridge twice and the third time, we all stopped and just sat and had to watch as it was funneling down along side of us in the distance. Glad I had good coverage on the rental car. The drivers fender is pulled from the bumper. I tried to get online while driving, but it was just way to hard to post and drive in the weather.

I'll be cold in N. Dakota this thursday tho. In a town called whapaton or something like that. Got my carharts with me now. Im getting tired of working all over the country catching everyones weather. Both good and bad. It rained solid hard on me monday, tues, wednesday and thursday. I was working in a rock quarry and the mud was unreal. I was also 50 ft or more in the air. The crane operator made me get down once because of lightning. I only needed 10 more minutes to finish what I was doing.


But yeah............................Here I am checking in

[73Chally]

I'm up in Dallas and we got a decent wind and rain throughout the afternoon (25-40 mph gusts), but virtually no damage.  Worse was out to the east of us around Tyler, TX, and east to Shreveport, LA.  I talked to my brother this morning in Houston on cell phone, and his place on the west side of the city was fine, just lost a small tree and a couple fence panels.  power went out around 11:30 last night, and will be out for who knows how long.  Just looking at pics and knowing the area, Galveston is probably pretty well wiped out for the short term.  Lost homes will be in the thousands for sure.  No word on loss of life, though.

[LAA66]

 The news said 5 million without power. Man, that's just plain scary to think about what has just happened.

[Moparal]

I'm up in Dallas and we got a decent wind and rain throughout the afternoon (25-40 mph gusts), but virtually no damage.  Worse was out to the east of us around Tyler, TX, and east to Shreveport, LA.  I talked to my brother this morning in Houston on cell phone, and his place on the west side of the city was fine, just lost a small tree and a couple fence panels.  power went out around 11:30 last night, and will be out for who knows how long.  Just looking at pics and knowing the area, Galveston is probably pretty well wiped out for the short term.  Lost homes will be in the thousands for sure.  No word on loss of life, though.

I had to drive through tyler and shreveport. Those 2 and monroe were a real pita to keep driving through. That's the area I hit the funnels

[LoneStar Mopar]

Hi everyone, Sorry to bring up this topic after it has been dormant for almost two weeks, but I just now got back in front of a computer. I live 45 minutes from Galveston where Ike gave a direct hit. My house faired pretty well; just some siding and shingles blown off. I lost one large tree and a storage shed blew away leaving no traces behind. Many houses in my nieghborhood did not fair as well. Some have major damage, and a couple are a total loss. My wife and I drove around town as soon as the winds stoped. That wasnt smart because the roads were covered with trees and downed power lines. Most routes were unpassable. We got pulled over twice in one hours time by police officers. The second one told us to go home and stay off of the roads; so we did. FEMA came in and restricted the phone lines making it very difficult to make calls. I was lucky to only have power out for three days, most people had power out for two weeks and about 500,000 are still in the dark. Unfortunately many people who are unfamiliar with generators caught their housed on fire including a house down the road from me. Most businesses were closed for over a week and it was common to wait 2-3 hours for gas if you could find a station open with power. Ther were dusk to dawn curfews across Houston and a couple areas still have them. Life is now pretty much back to normal, excluding the sides of the roadways bieng clogged with tree limbs for trucks to recycle. As for Galveston, I am saddened to see the devastation but I know the city will recover; It always does. I spent five years of my life in Galveston and if it werent for the threat of hurricanes I would still live there. If you want to see what that city has overcome do a google search of galveston storm of 1900, it will blow you away!! Talk about devastation from a hurricane, but they picked themselves up and rebuilt without one red cent from the government. 

[Chryco Psycho]

Glad you made it through in Reasonable shape at least 

[go-fish]

My hometown, Bay St. Louis, MS

[go-fish]

This is in Pass Christiane, MS down over the bridge 5 miles away.

[Slotts]

My hometown, Bay St. Louis, MS

Without saying the name of the city, who would have guessed that it wasn't an ocean picture.

I hope for all that are rebuilding that 2 x 4 x 8's are not $25 a piece.

Slotts

[go-fish]

This one almost made it onto Highway 90.

[go-fish]

Outer bands in MS. We were along way from the eye. This storm was HUGE.

[Moparal]

Yup, that looks familiar John. I drove straight through it. It was a tuff drive. Both sides of the eye.

John, pm me your phone number again. I will be home tomorrow