September 14, 2008
Hurricane Ike - One Day After
Today started with powerful thunderstorms that brought more rain, another 2" here in Katy and more elsewhere in Houston. Went out around 9:00 a.m. to pick up fresh milk and something to cook for dinner. At our local Randalls the scene was busy but not crazed. Of note: the line at the Starbucks kiosk was about 20 deep, which was amusing.
The rest of the day has been spent alternately checking for news on the local media web sites, trying to reach team members from work, and watching the aerial coverage on TV as the news copters get back in the air. Amazing pics and heartbreaking scenes..
Also interesting to observe the human interest stories, including huge numbers of people who seem to have done nothing to prepare for the storm and are now mad that life is hard. Harsh, but true.
Then there are the politicians jockeying for position in front of the cameras. Don't even get me started on that. Actually, the local officials are handling things with skill. I sure wouldn't want their jobs right now. The federal types seem pretty useless.
UPDATE 5:30 - We took a walk around the neighborhood to see how folks were handling clean-up. Here's a Flickr slideshow of some of the damage. Far from catastrophic but a huge hassle for the residents, especially the ones with trees on their roofs.
A CenterPoint Energy helicopter on inspection duty flew over while we were out. It was flying north-to-south, follwing the easement where the large transmission lines run.
