This is probably the most damaging storm in the history for the Greater Houston area.
September 10 - To the fear of Texas and Louisiana coastal residents, a huge storm name Ike has finally entered Gulf of mexico. Just two days ago, Ike was projected to hit Corpus Christi - a southern Texas city which was affected by another storm (Hurricane Dolly) just a month ago - and only bring bad weather to Houston. But that quickly change as the projected path shifted to the East.
September 11 - When many still in mourning on the 7th anniversary of 9/11 incident. Hurricane Ike gained strength as it entered the warm gulf. It grew into Cat 3 pretty quick after leaving Cuba. Now it is almost certain it will hit Galveston, a coastal city just 40 minutes drive away from Houston. The Mayor in Galveston requested Galveston residents to seek higher ground inland and imposed mandatory evacuation. Unfortunately, not many residents living near the coast take the word seriously, especially when the Hurricane Edouard that just hit the island few weeks ago only brought minimal damages (it was only a Cat 1 storm). Besides, the change of Ike's path came too sudden and abrupt that many people still believed the path would shift further East and decided to stay put.
September 12 - It looks like Houston get a direct hit this time and the eye of the path appears to get right on the West of Harris county which is where I live in Katy.... bummer! The projected path hitting Galveston directly has not changed. The news came a litle too late for me and by now all the plywood for window protection are gone. However, we managed to stock up the food and water, then hoping for the best! by now the storm has grown into a monster of 450 miles across. The storm was predicted to remain at Cat 3 due to the cooler weather near the coast and the news did not help people from evacuating from their own house. The hurricane's eye was supposed to hit us at midnight but by 7 PM - right after our dinner - the wind packed up to 30-50 mph and we have already lost the power. The storm was predicted to hit the coast at 110 mph, a Cat 3 sotrm. Surging waves has also been spotted across the beach at Galveston by that time. Trying to ignore the storm (Almost an impossible thing to do) we played card games until about 10 PM and my son went to bed. The storm has started to pummel Houston left and right by then, and from the radio we could hear the eye of Ike has made landfall in Galveston. The entire city has been getting hit badly with wave surge up to 15 ft washing away homes, houses submerged completely under water, and house blown off leaving only columns. We could only hope the wind force reduces as it reached inland.
September 13- By midnight, the storm has reached its peak. We must have experienced wind force of close to 100 mph as I could hear my roof shingles falling and window vibrating. I was wondering how long could the glass stand, and worst, how much longer can the roof remain intact! It was so difficult to sleep when worrying the house may collapse! The deafening thunder, howling winds, and eye-blinding lightning basically kept me awake the entire night. My wife managed to get few hours of sleep but we keep each other aware of the situation in the dark. due to the massive Ike rings the wind remain strong for the entire night, peaking at midninght and continues till 6 in the morning. To my surprise, we get our electricity back at 6 in the morning when the wind was still pounding at us! I ran to the front of the house and managed to take a pic of outside from inside the house but it was difficult to capture the windy condition (see 1st pic above). I ran upstair and was relieved to see the ceilling remain dry, that's the sign that roof is still intact! The wind finally losing its punch after 7 AM with dwindling rain. I went outside with my camera planning to take photos of any damages on the house. There were shingles everywhere (see pics below) in the front and backyard. Almost 40% of the wooden fences collapsed. One part of the fences fell directly on my favorite peach and "Kum Kuat" trees bummer! but that was not the worst. Too my horror, I could see some part of my roof were completely lack of shingle which mean rain water must have penetrated the roof. I rushed back home and went stright to the second floor. I could see water dripping through ceiling and air-condition vents in my theater room, Kenny's room, and office room. My wife and I immediately move any electrical appliances away from the wet area. We also promptly removed the 110" movie screen frame, amplifier, surrounding audio systems, DVD, etc. Water continued to drip and we were starting to run out of buckets, and have to use any bowls we could find in the kitchen. By noon, we spotted more leaks in bug room, kitchen, masterbed room, and living room. I have no choice now but to climb up the attics and looked for the main leaking point (why didn't I thought of that earlier!!). Then i used whatever bucket i could find to hold water dripping through the roof on attics. The rain continue on and off for the rest of the day from the outer band of Ike but fortunately we did not see any further damaging wind.
September 10 - To the fear of Texas and Louisiana coastal residents, a huge storm name Ike has finally entered Gulf of mexico. Just two days ago, Ike was projected to hit Corpus Christi - a southern Texas city which was affected by another storm (Hurricane Dolly) just a month ago - and only bring bad weather to Houston. But that quickly change as the projected path shifted to the East.
September 11 - When many still in mourning on the 7th anniversary of 9/11 incident. Hurricane Ike gained strength as it entered the warm gulf. It grew into Cat 3 pretty quick after leaving Cuba. Now it is almost certain it will hit Galveston, a coastal city just 40 minutes drive away from Houston. The Mayor in Galveston requested Galveston residents to seek higher ground inland and imposed mandatory evacuation. Unfortunately, not many residents living near the coast take the word seriously, especially when the Hurricane Edouard that just hit the island few weeks ago only brought minimal damages (it was only a Cat 1 storm). Besides, the change of Ike's path came too sudden and abrupt that many people still believed the path would shift further East and decided to stay put.
September 12 - It looks like Houston get a direct hit this time and the eye of the path appears to get right on the West of Harris county which is where I live in Katy.... bummer! The projected path hitting Galveston directly has not changed. The news came a litle too late for me and by now all the plywood for window protection are gone. However, we managed to stock up the food and water, then hoping for the best! by now the storm has grown into a monster of 450 miles across. The storm was predicted to remain at Cat 3 due to the cooler weather near the coast and the news did not help people from evacuating from their own house. The hurricane's eye was supposed to hit us at midnight but by 7 PM - right after our dinner - the wind packed up to 30-50 mph and we have already lost the power. The storm was predicted to hit the coast at 110 mph, a Cat 3 sotrm. Surging waves has also been spotted across the beach at Galveston by that time. Trying to ignore the storm (Almost an impossible thing to do) we played card games until about 10 PM and my son went to bed. The storm has started to pummel Houston left and right by then, and from the radio we could hear the eye of Ike has made landfall in Galveston. The entire city has been getting hit badly with wave surge up to 15 ft washing away homes, houses submerged completely under water, and house blown off leaving only columns. We could only hope the wind force reduces as it reached inland.
September 13- By midnight, the storm has reached its peak. We must have experienced wind force of close to 100 mph as I could hear my roof shingles falling and window vibrating. I was wondering how long could the glass stand, and worst, how much longer can the roof remain intact! It was so difficult to sleep when worrying the house may collapse! The deafening thunder, howling winds, and eye-blinding lightning basically kept me awake the entire night. My wife managed to get few hours of sleep but we keep each other aware of the situation in the dark. due to the massive Ike rings the wind remain strong for the entire night, peaking at midninght and continues till 6 in the morning. To my surprise, we get our electricity back at 6 in the morning when the wind was still pounding at us! I ran to the front of the house and managed to take a pic of outside from inside the house but it was difficult to capture the windy condition (see 1st pic above). I ran upstair and was relieved to see the ceilling remain dry, that's the sign that roof is still intact! The wind finally losing its punch after 7 AM with dwindling rain. I went outside with my camera planning to take photos of any damages on the house. There were shingles everywhere (see pics below) in the front and backyard. Almost 40% of the wooden fences collapsed. One part of the fences fell directly on my favorite peach and "Kum Kuat" trees bummer! but that was not the worst. Too my horror, I could see some part of my roof were completely lack of shingle which mean rain water must have penetrated the roof. I rushed back home and went stright to the second floor. I could see water dripping through ceiling and air-condition vents in my theater room, Kenny's room, and office room. My wife and I immediately move any electrical appliances away from the wet area. We also promptly removed the 110" movie screen frame, amplifier, surrounding audio systems, DVD, etc. Water continued to drip and we were starting to run out of buckets, and have to use any bowls we could find in the kitchen. By noon, we spotted more leaks in bug room, kitchen, masterbed room, and living room. I have no choice now but to climb up the attics and looked for the main leaking point (why didn't I thought of that earlier!!). Then i used whatever bucket i could find to hold water dripping through the roof on attics. The rain continue on and off for the rest of the day from the outer band of Ike but fortunately we did not see any further damaging wind.
September 14 on after - The full damage assessment did not start until the next day. When i found more leaking spots, although not severed. Fortunately my guest room and game room were undamaged. However, the condition in master bedroom/bath/closet, Kenny's room, office room, theater room, and bug room deteriorate with paints falling from ceiling due to the water damage. I had a chance to talk to my neighbors. It was unfortunate that one of our neighbour had damages so sever he has to move out entirely with his family. According to his wife the entire ceilings on the second floor caved in and it was really unsafe to remain on second floor. The rain continued to pour for the next two days with occasion gusting wind which i am sure further deteriorate the situation on some houses that have roof damages. The entire greater Houston area was in curfew from 9 PM till 6 in the morning for the following week in order to clean up the road and avoid any looting incidents like the one happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The company I work for was kind enough to let us stay home and help each other for the following week. It was definitely the worst storm I have ever been through and I never ever want to experience it again.
There is large field for the elementary school right behind my house. The only thing separating us from the school is the fence which explain why my house was hit pretty bad as there was no building blocking the wind coming from the Northwest direction which is at the back of my house. Most shingles lost were mainly concentrate on the west side of the roof which contributed to the damages on all rooms facing West.
As of today, we are pretty close to have the entire damages on the house fixed. It took longer than expected due to the extend of damage and time consumed dealing with insurance (We been through 3 adjustors to finally settled the claim!). I am thinking, it is probably the best time to stock up some plywoods and a generator now before the next storm hit!
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