Ike in Galveston

Ok, so as many of you know, Ike hit in early September. The eye of the storm pretty much came straight over Galveston and Houston, Texas. I remember a Friday night shopping in Costco in Austin (we'd headed to Austin to spend time with friends and what better to do on a Friday night then head to Costco!), watching the news coverage of Ike on the big, big screens. We all braced for the worst, but hoped for the best. Luckily the only significant damange my family encountered was in Galveston. It took my parents a good 4 weeks to even be able to get to Galveston to assess the damage. Galveston was on lock-down with no one allowed on the island unless approved. When they did finally make it there, there was no electricity or water, and they were only allowed to stay for the day.

We are finally (here in January of 2009) getting some workers to do some work on the house and the electricity is finally back on. The upstairs (and living area) of the house are in good condition, just a little musty from the lack of circulating air. Slowly but surely we'll get it back up and running. I just feel sorry for my Mom, who is continously going to Galveston to meet with all of the delivery men (for the new fridge, etc) and workers. It seems like she's having to go there almost every other day. As she told my Dad, "if she puts her car on autopilot, it goes to Galveston without her having to steer!"

Below are some of the pictures of the damage.

My Mom pointing out the water line that was over her head.

There was debris everywhere. Some of it belong to them, but most of it didn't.

This was once the garage. Now, it is just a pile of debris.


This was once the downstairs bathroom. Notice that the water pulled the sheetrock off of the walls.