You all stay safe up there. I just unboarded all my windows and put the baords up in the attic. It's a hot one down here in the valley today...and not a drop of rain... My prayers are with you guys.
Wayne Dolcefino is a freaking moron. I can't believe this guy. He should be doing the "Big Story" at sleazy Channel 2.
Man, I sure had a CRAZY week. If you guys don't know, I was vacationing in Galveston but on Monday we went ahead and came home early. BTW, home is just a few miles south of VICTORIA! So, I got to experience some of the stronger parts of Claudette. I'll just make a timeline thing to help give you guys how this experience was for me. Monday night: Just stayed in my room watching the weather channel. Didn't really expect much from the storm. Maybe heavy rain and a little rain. I stayed up till 8:30 AM Tuesday then went to sleep. Tuesday: While trying to sleep, I kept noticing the power going off and on and a little bit of noise outside. I was tired so I didn't care. Then...BANG! A tree fell over and nearly went threw my window by my bed, tearing the window screen. I got out of bed quicker than anything and rushed out of the room. I think it was about 1 PM or around there. I looked outside and saw trees bending big time in the wind and limbs flying. My dad noticed that the tree that fell over may have fell on some power lines so he and my mom went to go check it out, during the hurricane. They checked it out and came back in, but just after that a tree fell down just where they were standing. Seems like a higher power was definitly looking out for us. Which was apparent after the storm ended. Despite the heavy winds, we had very little damage and no one got hurt. One scary thing was that a tree had fallen across the street and had broken a gas line. You could hear the gas spewing into the air from a good distance. We called the gas people and said it was an emergency but they said they had plenty of those, however, they did come by and fix it after a while. That night, sleeping really sucked. Especially since I had to keep my window open and let all the mosquitoes in. (no screen) During the night, my friend, who had been with us, and I kept scratching all over and we could hear each other. Wednesday: Well, the worse was over, right? Sort of. Problem was we didn't have any power or water, so we didn't have much to do. Everybody was hot, stinky and itchy but we were still thankful. We heard on the radio that most people would get power by the end of the day. Since we had nothing better to do, my friend and I went walking around Placedo, where I live. There were uprooted trees everywhere as well as broken satellites and fences. Some power lines were down. The nearby grainery(SP?) had major damage with two silos crushed and a couple others on the ground. Here and elsewhere there were damaged roofs, or is it rooves? Later, we went with my mom to check out Victoria, Bloomington, and Port Lavaca. For the most part, they looked about the same as Placedo. Only a few stores and traffic lights worked and most of the lights where bent out of the way so the driver couldn't see them if they did work. We got some things at HEB and went back home. My friend and I went with another friend in Placedo and walked around again. We played a little bit of basketball and then we went back home. By this time, the power should have been on. But it wasn't. I entered my house and my dad said that we probably wouldn't have power until Sunday or Monday. I thought he was joking so I asked if he was. He wasn't. I started going crazy and thinking cold happy thoughts. My aunt called from Houston and said we could come over, but despite my pleas to go, my parents said it was too late to make the trip. I'd have to spend another night with the bugs. But this time I slept on the living room couch, away from most of the bugs. Thursday: I wake up, kind of miserable. My mom says she was going to go to the store and I beg to go since it will be colder in the car and store, but she won't let me. Later, we have to bag everything in the freezer and refrigerator since they would go bad. We went to Victoria to dump them off and on the way we see a funnel cloud. Oh great...now something else? But it was gone in no time. We finally start to pack and head towards to Houston to live with my aunt. I was happy. While we were there, we got caught up in all the news. I got to watch the Astros and Conan O' Brien and sleep in a room cooler than 95 degrees. Friday: Wake up happy and...uh...really happy. My aunt and uncle were leaving for Alaska, how ironic, this day so we said goodbye to them. My friend and I just slothed around all day and I went to sleep..again, happy. Saturday: I wake up at about 3 pm and see my mom. She went to call our house for the 340th time while we were there to see if the power was on. (answering machine was on.) She gives it to me, and I here my mom's sweet voice saying to please leave a message after the beep. We again pack, for like the 4th time in a week, and head back. We enter the house and it smells nasty but at least the power is on. I turn on the AC's full blast. We still didn't have water, but it turned on shortly. Everything began to go back to normal. Well, I had a very interesting week. I am thankful that nothing went too wrong, and I learned not to forgot how good electricity really is. Hope everybody else made it ok.
glad you guys made it thru ok... When I saw where it was going in, I was concerned for ya. only damage happening out here was at our Galveston property.. The deck was uprooted and moved north about 30 feet...and 75 feet north..and the protective dune was destroyed..we are now about 40 feet closer to the surfline. If we get another storm like that one, our property will be on the waterfront
