Hurricane Ike

Being from a landlocked state, I haven’t experienced too many hurricanes in my life. So when reports began tracking a hurricane headed towards Houston, I had no idea what to expect. Houston area weather reporters are notorious for using “scare tactics” when reporting weather- that is exaggerating the situation in order to induce panic causing viewer ratings to increase and allowing the “Hurricane industry” such as grocery and supply stores to profit. On Thursday, I my agency closed early to allow employees to evacuate. This got me a little worried, but I was assured by neighbors that Hurricane Ike was a category 2 and nothing to worry about. So my housemates and I gathered all the survival essentials- water, candles, and Strawberry Pop-Tarts- and prepared to “shelter in place.”

Friday began as a fun day off from work until our landlord came by and boarded up our windows. That kind of made things seem a little more serious. Watching the news coverage of Ike we became a little more nervous as we saw Galveston drowned in waves. Still, everyone assured us a category 2 was nothing to fear and that Houston would be spared.

Around midnight Saturday morning Ike hit Houston and he hit hard. My housemates and I sat up huddled together in a back bedroom praying our roof wouldn’t fly off. The strong winds and rain lasted until 9am in the morning. Our house was relatively undamaged- only a few shutters fell off, plants were destroyed, a fan on our room blew off, and power and telephone lines were down in our backyard. Some of our neighbors fared far worse. Trees had smashed houses and cars, streets were filled with debris, a new apartment complex under construction turned into a pile of toothpicks, and 2 million people had no electricity.

The first few days of no power were fun. We got to use our camping skills to build a fire out of wood chips and used a bottle of Everclear as lighter fluid. We had dance parties at night in the candlelight and spent all day sitting on our front porch reading and talking to neighbors. As the das went on and we still had no power, things were a little less enjoyable. The tap water was contaminated and we had run out of drinking water. We had no hot water and no way to cook food. We had just made a big shopping trip to Costco and everything in our freezer and refrigerator had to be thrown away (this was very painful since as JVs we’re on a very tight food budget). Cell phone service was shaky and we had no radio or TV to listen to what was going on outside of our block.

So far it’s been a week without power. Some of my housemates have returned to work (my agency flooded and still has no power so I’m out of work for a while). We have been relying on the generosity of neighbors and agency supervisors to stay fed. We’ve been visiting the FEMA POD (point of distribution) sites to pick up drinking water and ice. Yesterday, though, our tap water was pronounced safe to drink, but still no power.

Compared to the images we have seen on TV, we are extremely lucky. The storm only inconvenienced us, but some people have lost everything. Many families (including one of my roommate’s) who relocated to Houston after Katrina hit New Orleans are again being uprooted and forced to settle down elsewhere. The other day officials allowed people from Galveston back on the island for a “Look and Leave,” which is basically a chance to survey property damage and then leave. There was a 15 mile long line of cars waiting to get on the island and they were all turned away yesterday since some people were looking and then staying. People are afraid that if they don’t try to salvage what’s left of their homes now, then things will only get worse and their home will be condemned, leaving them no place to live.

Though Ike was only a category 2 hurricane, the destruction it caused and lives it affected cannot be measured on a scale. As scary as the storm was, I am glad my housemates and I stuck it out in order to share the experience with our community. Nothing brings people together like a natural disaster. Please keep the people affected by Ike, especially those in Galveston, in your prayers. Like any city affected by a natural disaster, it will take a long time to rebuild homes and lives.

Paz,
Stephanie