I got my power back in SE Houston on Wednesday. I found out

[babylonsister]

today there are people living 4 blocks away who still don't have any. And north, around Kingwood?
Nada.
I feel really blessed I have it, and just feel really bad for those who don't.

[maddezmom]

1. same here

My kids school has said no homework for the week because not all kids have power.

[babylonsister]

3. The kids with power love that! My DH works with a lot

of people from Woodlands, Kingwood, up that a way. No power anywhere yet. :(

[derby378]

2. Hey there!

Glad to hear from you again. I hope the recovery continues to help everyone down there. :hi:

[babylonsister]

4. Thanks, derby; we are fine, it's everyone else I'm

worrying about. Such a long recovery; I know, not as bad as Katrina, but I'm a lucky one; I'm typing to you.

[lastliberalintexas]

15. Please stop saying that

No offense, but for many in Bridge City and other parts of Orange County, High Island, Bolivar and Galveston, this IS just as bad as Katrina. No, the water didn't stand for days, but it didn't need to. Their homes are destroyed just the same, many unfortunately didn't have flood insurance, and, if possible, the feds are being even bigger assholes with this storm than they were with Katrina. And for many of them, this was the 2nd direct hit within 3 years. Sabine Pass in particular had still not recovered from Rita, now the FEMA trailers people were living in have been destroyed too.

I really don't intend to take my frustration out on you, but the few times I've heard anything about Ike on the national media, their downplaying of the storm has grated like nails on a chalkboard. It's much worse than people realize, and that is a large part of what that media blackout has been about.


I'm very glad you have power. :)

[sonias]

5. Great news, babylonsister

It's been a long time. I do hope that the power comes back on for everyone very soon. Three weeks without power in Texas is a living hell.

:hug:


Sonia

[Lisa0825]

6. Still no power down here... enjoy yours!!!! :-)

I am the only house on my street without it, but I know I'll have mine any day now!

[babylonsister]

7. Lisa!

Nice to hear from you. I did read you didn't have much damage-miraculous! Houston is just a mess, but you know that since you drove home by now.
I'm glad you left, and happy you got through this relatively unscathed. Now, watch that ceiling fan, point, and say "go"!

[sonias]

8. Lisa I am so sorry to hear that

I'm really hoping you get power on soon.

:hug:

Sonia

[kentauros]

9. I live in semi-SW Houston (S Post Oak / 610)

and we've had power since the 14th. However, the rest of Willowbend still doesn't and, other than those with generators (like the exceptionally noisy one on the bedroom-side of my apartment) I don't know how they're coping. I remember Alicia and being without power for a week. It was humidity-hell! These apartments, though, were built in the 1950s and must have been designed like bomb-shelters :) Only one big gust that hit in the early morning hours did anything to make me wonder about the sturcture (I felt the solid mass of the building move enough to move me sideways on the couch!)

Also, I haven't been able to get on here until today thanks to no power at the office until this past weekend and no phone service at home since two days before the hurricane. AT&T never would confirm my suspicions that someone had decided to dig without calling first and severed the cable that way. What they did do was to miss three deadlines for fixing it and then finally tell me that Ike took out a major line to over a 1000 customers and that the latest it would be fixed by would be October 1st.

So, it's emailing and contacting folks from work for awhile as my landline is my only connection to the rest of the world. I have a cell, but it's old and not really Internet-capable. I also may be helping out another Internet-friend this weekend in Seabrook.

Oh, I saw an accident last night of someone ignoring the 4-way-stop for non-working traffic lights. Anyone seeing this happen much?

[lavenderdiva]

10. Hey, kentauros

I live in Maplewood and our street still doesn't have power yet. We're being told that we won't get it until after Oct. 2nd. We have water and due to our gas water heater, also have hot water. Mr. ld's parents live 2 doors down from us, and they got a generator yesterday, and generously allowed us to run a VERY long extension cord from their house to ours. So, we now have a lamp, 2 fans, a TV, and internet! That's huge considering the alternative!

It took me 1-1/2 hrs to get home from work yesterday; from the Heights to Maplewood. It normally takes around 25 minutes. Traffic everywhere has been absolutely nuts. But I did notice today that there were a lot more traffic police at key intersections directing traffic. That helped tremendously.

We do have power at work, but a lot of the vendors that we work with locally still don't have phone or power. That's been frustrating.

This week feels like a turning point: last week everyone was so nice and neighborly. This week however, it seems that everyone's nerves are on edge, and they are just sick of everything not being back to normal already. I am so thankful that the weather has been so mild and the evenings very pleasant. If we don't have electricity, at least the weather is cooperating and making it much more bearable. :hi:

[kentauros]

13. Hay ld

:hi:

That's great you were able to get some power. By whatever means, eh? ;)
I'm not familiar with where Maplewood is, but you don't have to say; I can always look it up in my Key Map :)

Many of my co-workers are complaining of the traffic headaches, too, but I think because they take the tollways and since the Toll Authority opened them up for anyone, they've become just as congested as the "free"ways. Although I did rub it in with one today that my drive-time hasn't changed in the least ;) We kid each other a lot around here.

I agree with you about people being worn out by this. Folks are likely also traumatized by it and, like happened with those flooded out by Allison, it will be a long time before they mellow to anything more than an unnamed tropical wave.

I hope you get full power soon.

[onetiredmom]

12. Honk, Honk!

I am not a honker, but I have been since Ike. So many near misses at 4 way stops!

[onetiredmom]

11. Got mine last Friday.

That was a happy day. There was much rejoicing at our house last Friday night!

My boss and her husband live in Bellaire and still don't have power. I called Centerpoint for them, and the customer rep said that the repairs are now more going street by street, house by house to find specific problems. Poor folks in Galveston....

[kentauros]

14. That's wonderful news onetiredmom!

:)

And welcome to DU, too :hi:

That's weird about how they're doing the power-restorations now, but I guess that's about the only way until they learn how to bury them all. I do wonder how the loss of income from millions of rate-paying customers (as well as outlay to linemen and equipment) compares to how much it would cost to bury all the electric cables once and for all...

But I also find it weird that my neighborhood (other than a few of us) has no power yet a full power station is literally across the railroad tracks (and Hwy 90 / S Main) from them. I never would have imagined them to lose power for any longer than we did. As far as I know, their main line in feeds from our line. Maybe it's just a matter of manpower, too.

And keep honking! lol I try not to, but even when things work normally, I will let the red-runners know what I think of their attitude. I do sometimes think of putting a train horn on the car just to jar the cell-drivers off the phone

[Citizen_Penn]

16. My co-worker in Kingwood got hers yesterday

It's amazing how scattered the circuits are - hit and miss in the neighborhoods.

Last night, I went out to dinner on 1960 with friends, and in came a crew of power company workers from Wilmington, NC. They were treated like royalty by one and all in the place. Even offered to check into my friends power situation - and try to help her out.

We offered, but they politely declined our offer to buy their dinner.

The little kindnesses I've seen extended to strangers have got me through this. Even though I live way up in Tomball now, Galveston County was my first home - and I've just felt broken hearted, grief stricken at the devastation.

[Catherine Vincent]

17. Same here.

I feel bad that I got my power back the Saturday night after the Hurricane. I feel so bad for the people that have no electricity, especially air conditioning.

[texanwitch]

18. I live near the part of I-10 that flooded and we got our power back on Friday afternoon.

Hope everyone gets their power back soon.

The weather is better then last week.

[sonias]

19. I'm sorry you had to wait so long

I hope everyone gets their power back soon too.

Maybe it's time for these utilities to start investing in burying their power lines. I know they would want to pass that cost along to the consumers, but if they just did it a little at a time, I think most of us would think it was a smart idea.

Sonia