Hurricane Ike - Pictures Added

[MarkBarbieri]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?

[tripodjw]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?


Well obviously you should head straight down to the coast to capture the worst of it. ;)

Somewhere with lots of overhead cable but obvioulsy far enough away thatthe cables won't hit you. Always think the broken cables look interesting.

In all seriousness, good luck Mark. Hope it doesn't hit you and your community too badly. And i thought we had it bad here in the uk having had like 3 weeks of solid rain - at least its just wet.

[InsertWittyNameHere]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?


Where ever you decide to photograph from....be careful.

I bet you will get some incredible photos :thumbsup2

[Steve's Girl]

Well, you could drive on down to the coast - shouldn't be too much traffic heading that way, and your kids could hold the umbrella while your wife holds the flash off-camera. ;)

[wen-tom]

Only Mark could be thinking of how to photograph Ike rather than get away from it :rotfl:

I hope it doesn't effect you too badly Mark. :)

[zipuzee]

When Gustav came thru our area last week, I was trying to get pictures of the trees, but they didn't turn out that good (it wasn't as windy as we expected). So if there is an area with lots of trees, that would be my suggestion.

[11290]

How about down by the cable-stayed bridge across the Houston Ship channel. Don't remember exactly where it is as I haven't been back down there since it was under construction back in '87. At that time it was just the pylons but those are good looking bridges and would be a good foreground for big cloud formations.

Along with that, the "flares" from the petro plants in that area might look good against the dark clouds.

[YesDear]

Please be careful Mark. When Fran came to NC in 1996 Raleigh, where I live, got 90 mph winds. We are 150 miles inland. No picture is worth you blowing away!

[RBennett]

Please be careful Mark. When Fran came to NC in 1996 Raleigh, where I live, got 90 mph winds. We are 150 miles inland. No picture is worth you blowing away!

But IF you get blown away, that would be some GREAT shots!!! Make sure and have a fast shutter speed!! :lmao:

P.S. - and yes, I'm kidding (partially). Be careful!

[handicap18]

I don't know if shooting from your van with the door open is a good idea in high winds. If the winds are hurricane force then there is a better chance of the van tipping over and even if they aren't hurricane force you'll get more rocking and rolling of the van with the doors open so it would be harder to get steady shots.

When I experienced Hurricane Bob back in Aug of 1992 I was right on the water. Over the course of the morning and afternoon I took pictures every hour to show the buildup of wind and water. The boat I worked on (a 65' sightseeing boat with a 4' draft) was almost pushed on top of the town pier. If it had been a high tide there is not doubt it would have made it.

As I look back over the pic's I'm glad I took the pics every hour. Over the course of about 5 hours its still amazing to look back and see how powerful it was (and it was only a Cat 1 hurricane, we had steady winds about 80MPH and gusts about 100MPH) and how high the water came up. On a normal moon high tide the water would at most come about 6 feet from reaching the pier. During this storm (no high tide) the water covered the pier in about 2 1/2 feet of water). We were also lucky because there was almost no rain during the storm. The winds were out of control. It snapped all the lines off the boat that tied it to the pier. The only thing that kept the boat on the pier was the chain we had also tied tied up.

There were a few boats still moored in the harbor. One boat didn't have a very good mooring and it snapped off and hit another boat and we watched that boat pushed against the pier and bounce off the pier as it made its way about 60' across and towards the beach.

I also remember the sky afterward was awesome. Great colors. I walked around town and got some pics of the boats that washed up on the beaches and different trees that fell.

Another thing I remember, is that once we decided to leave the boat we didn't walk long distances. Maybe 20-30 feet at a time, then rest behind a car or something. I remember being very cautious of flying branches and road signs and other things that people may not have tied down or taken in their house. Power was out all over and the only business open in town was the local pizza shop. They had gas ovens and the made a KILLING!!! One of my aunts at the time owned a beauty shop in town with a big window and beacuse someone didn't tie something down, it smashed into the window. Plus she had a pretty good view of the pier so the winds were pushing right at that building.

IF AndrewWG chimes in, he may remember this storm also. We're from the same town.

If I can, I'll try to scan a few pics.

Bottom line Mark. Be careful and be aware of your surroundings. You never know what the wind will blow your way. Flying street signs are NOT fun. Nor is a 3' branch from an oak tree.

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't know if shooting from your van with the door open is a good idea in high winds. If the winds are hurricane force... it would be harder to get steady shots.
I think he'll be ok as long as he has Image Stablization.

J/K ;)

Stay safe, Mark.

[Gdad]

I would be cautious being out and about in that mess Mark. Sixty miles is not as far as you think. In 2004 central Florida was pretty torn up with Charley, Frances, and Jeanne criss-crossing thru. I sincerely hope for all that the severity of Ike will be less than expected.

[dburg30]

Have you looked that the size of this monster? They are calling for these kinds of winds FAR inland..

from http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1081&tstamp=200809


Ike is larger than Katrina was, both in its radius of tropical storm force winds--275 miles--and in it radius of hurricane force winds--115 miles. For comparison, Katrina's tropical storm and hurricane force winds extended out 230 and 105 miles, respectively


So I think there is a good chance you'll have hurricane force winds. So please be VERY careful and remember not to fool with mother nature.. She will win...

But I agree with making sure you have it set on fast burst to catch the action if you get blowed away :)

[AndrewWG]

Ok, I DO remember Hurricane Bob very well. When thinking of it all, my suggestion would be to stay home and get what you can from your yard. The reason I suggest this is that you have a wife and kids. should you leave them at home while you go adventuring around taking photos, you may not see them for awhile. It is amazing how quickly the streets become littered with trees, signs, etc. There is no way to get home. This was the case around here for a couple days.

The current model of the storm shows it staying at category 1 for quite awhile inland. That is the same strength that Bob was here in 92. It really isn't something to play around with.

Should you decide to give it a go, I highly doubt that you could take photos from any outdoors position as you WILL be getting blown around too much so I would find an area that you can take nice photos through a small (don't stand in front of a large) window. Even then, I would guess that the rain on the window will keep a decent photo from happening.

One thought would be to go out during the eye of the storm. It is REAL cool looking and usually calm and possbily sunny with dark clouds all around. Now that would make a cool pic and could probably be done from your home.

Above all, stay safe. If you do get some cool pics, post em!

[AndrewWG]

An afterthought I just had is to NOT drive around during the storm. If your area doesn't have that rule in place, an accident from a person just driving around severely impacts the job that emergency crews are already stressed out trying to accomplish.

[handicap18]

Ok, I scanned a few pics.

Here is one from about 1130am. The storm is about 110 miles away. Winds about 35MPH:
Take note of the boat at the far end of the pier. You can just about make the wheel house and the light blue door open:
http://handicap18.smugmug.com/photos/370623382_w5EQQ-L.jpg

And looking the other way.
The tide has already risen about 10-15 higher than a normal moon high tide. This beach is HUGE:
http://handicap18.smugmug.com/photos/370623706_ZBTQZ-L.jpg

Now this is about 2 1/2 hours later, around 2pm taken from about the same spot. Winds around 80MPH with gusts over 100. Like I said. We were lucky we didn't get any rain. You can now CLEARLY see the boat.
http://handicap18.smugmug.com/photos/370624049_aFSLH-L.jpg

and looking the other way towards the beach:
The boat on the far left is about where about the average tide would normally be:
http://handicap18.smugmug.com/photos/370623951_VGME7-L.jpg

This was actually in Aug of 91. When I took these pic's I was 21 years old. No responsibilities. No wife. No kids. None of that. This was a Cat 1 storm with almost no rain. Its certainly something I wont forget. It was hard walking around. It wasn't easy to keep your head up so you could watch for blowing debris. I did see a few larger branches and some trash cans and other small stuff.

Hurricane's are a fascinating part of mother nature, but they are dangerous. I don't know that I would do this same thing now with a wife and 3 young kids.

Just my take.

[Gdad]

Hey Mark- if you are out shooting and the wind catches your camera be sure to let go of the strap- unlike this guy in Tropical Storm Fay a few weeks ago. :rolleyes1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwISf9tW08&feature=related

(The guy was okay by the way...)

[AndrewWG]

This was actually in Aug of 91.

Was it 91? Wow, seems like esterday. I thought it was 92 also though.

[MarkBarbieri]

Just to be clear...I'm not a total nutter. I'm not going out if we have hurricane force winds in the area.

[jann1033]

never been in a hurricane, closest was camping during an offshore tropical storm that left us with a torn up tent and a good few inches of rain inside it( why we ever go camping I'll never know)...I'd skip the hurricane photos from anywhere but maybe inside a closet:lmao: although the posted ones are pretty amazing

[boBQuincy]

Find somewhere where they eye passes through, you can be in calm weather (for a few minutes anyway) and get some good photos of the maelstrom around you.

[ukcatfan]

I have plenty of experience with them. We were hit by Charley (eye was 7mi. from my house), Frances, Jeanne, Wilma, and now Fay. There are going to be some nice shots before the storm and after the storm, but there is nothing worth photographing while it is overhead. All it will be is shots of heavy rain.

Do not forget that much of the damage from a hurricane is from the mini tornadoes it generates. They are completely unpredictable and extremely deadly. Even 60 miles in, you will not be safe from them. I would not even stay in your house if it stays as strong as it is now. There is no way that a vehicle will keep you safe. Please do not become a statistic.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Well, they are saying it could still be a hurricane by the time it gets all the way up here to us.:scared:
We are on the 3rd floor, so flooding won't be a problem for us but we may blow away! I am sure DH will be out on the balcony taking pics if he can figure out how to keep the camera dry!

Mark, good luck! :wizard:

[JenLovesMickey]

Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?

Yeah, how about you shoot from Oklahoma??? :lmao: My mom had CNN on earlier tonight and they were giving an update on Ike. The weather guy was quoting some official from Texas as saying "if you stay you're going to die." Wow, how encouraging! :rotfl: I know a severe storm like this isn't really a laughing matter, but I just thought it was crazy that some "official" (can't remember if it was a mayor or who it was exactly) put it so point blank like that. Whatever you do Mark, like everyone else said, just stay safe!

[AndrewWG]

Here are a few of my pics from just after the storm, Hurricane Bob in 1991. We walked around the neighborhood to inspect the damage. The pics are junky as they are from my old p&s film camera and scanned.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/catatKarensontreeroots.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/treedownbehindKarenshouseandchicken.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/treesdownbehindKarenshouse2.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/uprootedtree.jpg

The center of town. I suppose that you can imagine that these boats are supposed to be in the water. :scared1:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/AndyG1970/warehamriveracrosstonarrowsbridge_H.jpg

[Frantasmic]

On the bright side, if you do get blown away, you can practice your panning.

Seriously, stay safe. I live in DFW, so I know we won't get near the impact people south and east of us will.

[MarkBarbieri]

Things have gotten worse here. The storm is now headed directly at Galveston. A direct hit there by a large Cat 3 storm will be pretty devestating.

As for the Texas official, they have a special problem they need to deal with. Despite calling for "mandatory" evacuations, they can't actually require people to evacuate. Texas doesn't give officials the authority to require that a person leave. Instead, they resort to ominous sounding terms like "mandatory evacuations" and lots of statements overstating the danger.

It's not as bad as with Rita, but a lot of people are evacuating from safe areas. It is my assessment that my neighbors that are evacuating are putting themselves into much greater danger on the roads than they would face staying at home.

We've stripped the yard of all projectiles (lawn chairs, pool toys, etc). We're still surrounded by tall trees (it is The Woodlands), so there is always the risk of tree fall.

We've already had our first major tragedy. One of our AC units has failed (broken coil). It cools our master bedroom and my home office. My wife and I spent the night camping in our theater room. There was just enough room between the front row of seats and the stage to put down some camping pads. We watched "Goodnight, Mr. Tom".

It looks like the storm will pass directly over us in the early morning tomorrow (5:00 or 6:00). They are now predicting that we have a pretty strong chance of getting hurricane force winds (barely) even all the way up here. I can assure you that there is no chance that it will still be a hurricane by the time it reaches Dallas some 250 miles inland. Of course, even there the danger of tornadoes exists.

It's calm and quiet outside now. The kids are home from school today and I'm not going in to the office. I'll give some updates later if I still have power and Internet connectivity.

[Steve's Girl]

Seriously, Mark, please keep you and your family in a safe place. I have no experience with hurricanes, but have been through some tornados, and they can pop up out of nowhere and do some very serious damage. Falling trees are not to be taken lightly!

[DVC Jen]

I have been thinking about you Mark. I really hope you and your family come through it OK.

On a side note - I am kinda bummed that the eye will be passing east of us. A few days ago they thought it would go just west of us and we were going to get some really nasty stuff from Ike. The storm spotter in me was getting all excited. :woohoo:


Take care - let us know how you are doing and I can't wait to see your photos!

[11290]

Went through a couple of "tropical storms" when I lived in Spring, TX in the early 80's and I thought it really strange the amount of deaths that occur from these "events" back then were from people drowning from driving in flooded underpasses. Sometimes just the hard spring rains would result in several deaths. You would think people would learn not to do that, but it seems to continue.

Really liked that area north of Houston and also The Woodlands area. Hope all goes well for you.

[WVDisGeek]

Mark,

Stay safe, take care of your family and if you absolutely MUST try to get photos of the storm, invest in some Pentax gear, at least they are weather sealed for the trip to "OZ"!:lmao:

Seriously, hope all goes well and things get back to normal quickly for you.
I am sure the kids will love the "adventure" aspect of the whole ordeal.

Actually, the eye pictures would be really cool if you could get a 360 pano of the entire eye wall....just a thought!

[bnorm27]

If Mark puts all his photo gear on, like he did in that picture that was posted here recently, there is no storm known to man that could blow him away!

But seriously Mark, be safe, not stupid. If not for yourself, then at least for your family.

[klmall]

Preface: When I was growing up here in the metro Washington, DC area we had some wild hurricanes come through. One, Hurricane Hazel in the ‘54 season blew the roof off our house when I was a kid and several others knocked out power so often we bought a generator. Wish I could find that picture of our 'naked' house!

We still get plenty of hurricane-related rains and flash flooding sometimes enough to close schools for days even up here.


Here are 2 pics from a June 4th microburst that ripped two big trees out of the ground in our front yard. This wind preceded a thunderstorm (without a T-storm watch or warning which is very unusual!!!) and knocked out our power for 5 long days. I will take a hurricane anytime over this scary experience!!!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/mallonek/House%20Pics/IMG_0506pedouttree.jpghttp://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/mallonek/House%20Pics/IMG_0508pedour1.jpg

And the last is the house next door crushed by a 100+ footer that same day and still under repair. And remember we had no warning to take cover! I did move to the basement with my purse, cell phone, and one cat when I saw the deck furniture begin to move. And the Weather Service says we didn't have anything close to a tornado that day.........

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/mallonek/House%20Pics/IMG_0528ped.jpghttp://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/mallonek/House%20Pics/IMG_0525pedfarneigh.jpg

Keep safe Mark but if you get some pics you know we want to see 'em!

[Gdad]

They are streaming the Channel 11 KHOU on DirecTV- I have been working at home with it on all afternoon. Kind of funny they keep saying people should NOT be out in it- but IF YOU ARE out in it please send us some pictures and video and we will put it on the air! (I think of you every time they say that Mark.) ;)

Anyways- it looks pretty nasty. Stay safe. Our prayers are with you and everyone in it's path.

[MarkBarbieri]

It was clear and sunny all morning. We swam at the next door neighbors for a couple of hours.

It's getting dark now. We've got a houseful of neighbors. They're playing the Wii downstairs and watching Happily Never After in the theater upstairs.

We drove around the neighborhood doing a "before" video earlier. We'll drive around in a couple of hours when the early winds start to pick up. Tomorrow morning after the worst of it, we'll drive around one more time for an "after" video. I'll post the results if we see anything interesting.

We should see the worst of it between 2:00 AM and 10:00 AM.

[MarkBarbieri]

Still alive. The storm is about 170 miles away. It's getting windier, but still not too bad. I just got rid of the rest of our guests. We had about 20 people here for a while. Now everyone wants to get together in the cul-de-sac at 7:00 PM for an impromptu block party. It's a strange neighborhood.

[jann1033]

Yeah, how about you shoot from Oklahoma??? :lmao: My mom had CNN on earlier tonight and they were giving an update on Ike. The weather guy was quoting some official from Texas as saying "if you stay you're going to die." Wow, how encouraging! :rotfl: I know a severe storm like this isn't really a laughing matter, but I just thought it was crazy that some "official" (can't remember if it was a mayor or who it was exactly) put it so point blank like that. Whatever you do Mark, like everyone else said, just stay safe!

i think that is so the idiots who don't know they should evacuate can understand it, short simple sentences and all.
:lmao:;)

[bnorm27]

I was watching the news feed on DirecTV. They are asking people that are staying behind to write thier social security numbers on their forearms so they can identify them if something bad happens.

Be safe down there Mark, and anyone else in the line of fire!

[Villainess]

Stay safe Mark! Prayers are with you, your families and friends!

[WeLubDeeDub]

Had to stay late at the office, so I'm sitting here listening to XM's coverage from a Houston radio feed. They just mentioned that some heavy weather (relative, of course) is headed towards The Woodlands. Stay safe Mark (and anyone else in the path)!

[MarkBarbieri]

Our power is out. Not much rain, but lot's of wind. It looks like it's here now. No trees down yet. I'm staying inside.

[MICKEY88]

be safe..

[MarkBarbieri]

Eye is about 15-20 miles away. We are on the dry side.

The house is moaning and groaning with the winds and pressure changes. It's really blowing hard out there. We're still safe and anxious for dawn.

[pixie dust 112]

I just looked up your location on a google map! You are right there. Stay safe!

[MarkBarbieri]

80 foot tall pine tree fell on the house next door. Doesn't look like too much damage. It is nasty here.

[pixie dust 112]

80 foot tall pine tree fell on the house next door. Doesn't look like too much damage. It is nasty here.

:scared1: :scared1: :scared1:

[campinggal]

I'll double the above :scared1: :scared1: :scared1:

Here's hoping that there aren't any 80 foot trees with weak roots (or any trees with weak roots for that matter) in your yard!

May Ike keep on the move and get out of there soon!

Good to know you kept your 'nutter' side in check and viewed Ike from the inside!

[dburg30]

Holy moley... That is RIGHT over him basically right now..


:eek:

Looks like you werent kidding when you said you were right in it...

[pixiedustforever]

Hoping and praying that you're staying safe, Mark!

[MarkBarbieri]

Just did a neighborhood recon drive. About a dozen big trees down. Two roofs damaged. Our house is still whole. The worst of the wind is passed, but it's still blowing very hard. With very wet ground, I wouldn't be suprised to see more trees fall.

[NostalgicDad]

Glad to hear it sounds like you're making it through this in good condtion, Mark. I lived down there and endured hurricane Alicia in '83. I know exactly the emotions you must have been feeling during the night and this morning.

My dad lives just to the east of you in Dayton and my sister is in Baytown. They also stayed. I hope to get calls from them soon. My thoughts are with all of you folks in southeast Texas. :goodvibes

[Karenj2]

Glad to hear you're ok so far... That must be quite an experience!

My sister lives up in Ft. Worth area, and this'll be the first time she's been through a storm there.

All you Texans stay safe!

[BernardandMissBianca]

Mark please stay safe!

[Groucho]

Glad you made it through it all OK!

Times like this, it's nice to live in an area with pretty mild weather. No earthquakes, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no tsunamis, no typhoons, no mudslides, no wildfires... just an ice storm every 20 years or so. Pretty boring, actually. :thumbsup2 Even if we get a nasty snow storm occasionally, it's unlikely to actually kill you like so many other natural disasters!

[pixie dust 112]

Mark,

I'm guessing we haven't heard from since yesterday morning, because your power is out and your laptop battery needs to be recharged. Hope you and yours are still ok! Check in again when you are up and running. I thought about you all day yesterday!

[klmall]

Hope you are okay! The boys are probably still enjoying the novelty of "camping out" in the house. I know you guys were prepared but we all still worry about 'ya!

[Gdad]

We were without power for 14 days in 2004- when it was restored the kids said they missed taking cold showers and using flashlights! Go figure.

Hoping you have a speedy recovery despite what the kids might say.

[Villainess]

We were without power for 14 days in 2004- when it was restored the kids said they missed taking cold showers and using flashlights! Go figure.

Hoping you have a speedy recovery despite what the kids might say.


You can save a lot on your electric bill - hand some flashlights out!




Mark - Please stay safe!

[shancan911]

I'm anxious for an update from Mark, or anyone down there! We are about 45 southwest of Cleveland, Oh. Ike is visiting us now. Nothing even comparable to what TX had, obviously. But we still have alot of downed trees, branches. I even saw a silo on it's side on my way home. My backyard is absolutely littered with tree parts, and I had to chase my runaway grill down! DH is at the Browns/Steelers game tonight. Can't wait to see field goals and passes tonight:lmao:
Seriously, I wish:hug: everyone in Ike's path safety and strength to get them through these rough times.

[MarkBarbieri]

We are OK. We have water and gas, but no power. It may be weeks before we get power. Cell access is spotty, so I won't be online much. The office and schools are all closed. We have some trees that need emergency attention in the next couple of days. After that, we aren't sure if we will stay or go.

[pixiedustforever]

Thanks for the update - keep us posted!
pixiedust:


Marylee
Pixiedustforever

[pixie dust 112]

Glad you are ok Mark! Thanks so much for checking in with us! I hope that the weather in Texas remains calm and clear for all of your clean up efforts!

[Villainess]

Thanks for the update! Keep us posted when you can.

[Uncle Servo]

Thanks for the update! Keep us posted when you can.

I'll second that. Stay safe!

[crazydadguy]

I know how you feel man, we were without power at my house almost three weeks after Katrina. I had a friend that got power back after two weeks, and he loaned us his 5kw generator until our power came back. Now, I keep a small 1kw generator for emergencies. Its not much, but it will run the fridge/freezer and a fan. Hope things go well for you.

[jann1033]

Glad you made it through it all OK!

Times like this, it's nice to live in an area with pretty mild weather. No earthquakes, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no tsunamis, no typhoons, no mudslides, no wildfires... just an ice storm every 20 years or so. Pretty boring, actually. :thumbsup2 Even if we get a nasty snow storm occasionally, it's unlikely to actually kill you like so many other natural disasters!
hehe i would have said the same till yesterday, ike's leftovers hit us lst night with up to 78mph winds so basically cat one with out the rain ;), we lost power at 7:00pm and now we have no power probably till next friday or sat..good thing my mother and daughter still do since well water means no electricity=not potty, shower or H2O of any kiind..we'd be pretty ripe by the weekend .:laughing: :laughing: the elcectic company sent a bunch of their people to help in the south..guess they need to call them back

[jann1033]

I'm anxious for an update from Mark, or anyone down there! We are about 45 southwest of Cleveland, Oh. Ike is visiting us now. Nothing even comparable to what TX had, obviously. But we still have alot of downed trees, branches. I even saw a silo on it's side on my way home. My backyard is absolutely littered with tree parts, and I had to chase my runaway grill down! DH is at the Browns/Steelers game tonight. Can't wait to see field goals and passes tonight:lmao:
Seriously, I wish:hug: everyone in Ike's path safety and strength to get them through these rough times.

I'm about due east, slightly north of cleveland, almost to ashtabula county and it was awful
it must have been really spotty. before the rains came it was 80+ degrees and so windy the gusts were actually blowing my monitor around across the room from an open window:rotfl: on my road big trees like 18-24" in diameter were ripped into 2 and 3 pieces, broken off at the middles and all over the roads but my mother who lives about 15 mins from me never lost power and didn't even have branches down. a few yrs ago we had a f1 tornado come through and 2 or 3 trees were like that but this was more widespread. they said a bunch of schools are closed due to power outages and 300,00-500,00 with out power here....i've really never seen wind like that and it lasted for hrs, like 4pm -10pm then started again a little less strong about 2 am when it started raining. but at least the temp went down once it rained...so i'll be lugging all my freezer's contents over to my moms since we live in the rurals( only 14,000 powerless in my city) and our power will be the last to be restored:laughing:

[dburg30]

Yea, a lot of central ohio has downed trees / power lines etc. They say up to a week for some folks to get power back. Hardly a drop of rain at all though, that was pretty wild, but we were on the 'right' side and with the other front around the winds just fed. I mean they were calling for a wind advisory, but I dont think anyone expected the winds we got. Especially when you figure we were at least a couple hundred miles from what looked like the edge of Ike..

[Groucho]

hehe i would have said the same till yesterday, ike's leftovers hit us lst night with up to 78mph winds so basically cat one with out the rain ;), we lost power at 7:00pm and now we have no power probably till next friday or sat..good thing my mother and daughter still do since well water means no electricity=not potty, shower or H2O of any kiind..we'd be pretty ripe by the weekend .:laughing: :laughing: the elcectic company sent a bunch of their people to help in the south..guess they need to call them back
We got a visit from remnants of Ike a couple nights ago... I couldn't fall asleep until after 2am, the winds were very strong and quite noisy coming around the in-window air conditioner (which doesn't seal very well.) I just couldn't get to sleep! :( Plus it meant that Saturday was cold, Sunday felt extremely hot, then Monday was cold again. Weird.

It was nothing compared to how Ike was down south, but then, I'm always tired after traveling a couple thousand miles, too. :teeth:

Seriously though - hope you get your power back soon, Mark! I'm glad you seem to have come through mostly unscathed. Once you're back in action, we can give you a hard time about not going out in your van during it to take pictures. ;)

[klmall]

WOW everyone! Sounds like Ike whipped you all around....

All this storm talk got me thinking about backups so I spent part of yesterday copying files to my backup drive.

Take care of yourselves everyone and let us know how you are doing when you can :sad2: :)

[Quicklabs]

Just got our power back yesterday from Sunday. Lost the contents of our fridge and freezer. Never thought I'd have to worry about hurricanes in Ohio.
I suspect Suburbanmom is still in the dark ....

[MarkBarbieri]

Still no power. We expect it today or tomorrow. The weather after the storm has been great, so we aren't really having any problems. Everything is a mess with down trees all over the place. The roads are clear. The gas lines have gone down. More and more stores in the area have power and are open. School is closed at least until Monday. Our office is open but we are encouraging people to stay home until Monday.

[NostalgicDad]

Glad things are looking up for you, Mark. My company has an office on Research Forest Dr. in the Woodlands and their power was restored this morning around 9am.

I'm headed down to my dad's either this evening or in the morning to help him out with supplies, etc since they don't expect power for possibly another week based on his power provider's timetable. He's over near Dayton.

[bnorm27]

Glad to hear you are well Mark. Hope you get some power back on soon!

[pixie dust 112]

Still no power. We expect it today or tomorrow. The weather after the storm has been great, so we aren't really having any problems. Everything is a mess with down trees all over the place. The roads are clear. The gas lines have gone down. More and more stores in the area have power and are open. School is closed at least until Monday. Our office is open but we are encouraging people to stay home until Monday.

I just found out my friend's son works in The Woodlands (an engineering firm, I think) and that they had there power a couple of days ago at his office. I think they went back to work yesterday.

Glad all seems to be going well!:thumbsup2

[Quicklabs]

Guess you'll be up in my neck of the woods. I'm in one of the south suburbs of Dayton. About 1/3 of the people in my office still don't have power.

Glad things are looking up for you, Mark. My company has an office on Research Forest Dr. in the Woodlands and their power was restored this morning around 9am.

I'm headed down to my dad's either this evening or in the morning to help him out with supplies, etc since they don't expect power for possibly another week based on his power provider's timetable. He's over near Dayton.

[NostalgicDad]

Guess you'll be up in my neck of the woods. I'm in one of the south suburbs of Dayton. About 1/3 of the people in my office still don't have power.


Well, actually about 1,000 miles to your south. Dayton, Tx to be specific. It's a small town on the east side of Houston. :)

[jann1033]

Just got our power back yesterday from Sunday. Lost the contents of our fridge and freezer. Never thought I'd have to worry about hurricanes in Ohio.
I suspect Suburbanmom is still in the dark ....
yeah "no hurricanes" was always my only "weather" reason to stay here:lmao: we have ours back( thank you CEI workers!!!) but some are still out and they say not till Monday...i lugged all my food over to people who still had power so swhoo for that but our power came on the day after I did so i figure that is what did it, draggin hundreds of pounds of meat all over creation magically restores power :rotfl:

[MarkBarbieri]

Still no power. We were supposed to have it yesterday. Now they are saying it will be at least another week.

It's starting to get hot and we are running out of clean clothes. We're going to get a generator and a window AC.

The kids have missed 6 days of school and it is likely that they'll miss at least 5 more. We've cancelled our January WDW trip as we don't want them missing any more.

Work starts up Monday. I'm looking forward to getting back.

[MarkBarbieri]

Got the generator. It's the loudest thing I've ever heard, but it gets the job done. Still no word on when we'll have power other than "after Thursday."

Here are some pictures from just after the storm.

Our tree against our neighbor's house:
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377302577_VK2Qc-L.jpg

Another view of our downed tree
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377302952_ji5Tg-L.jpg

The house diagonally across from us. He was on the roof during the latter part of the hurricane putting up the tarp. They have major water damage.
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377302736_ismE4-L.jpg

Next door to the house above. I'm not sure what punched that big notch in the roof. Rumor is that they have significant structural damage.
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377303109_ycEm4-L.jpg

A neighbor down the street
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377303275_Qa2v3-L.jpg

A shot looking back down my street
http://barbieri.smugmug.com/photos/377303375_7zDm5-L.jpg

[klmall]

Wowsa! Pretty scary pictures! It will take a while to repair those houses. Those damaged by wind and trees in our neighborhood in early June are still under repair and many are still uninhabitable.

Glad you have a generator. And loved the light stick pictures!

[Gdad]

Unreal Mark- sorry you are having such a bad time of it. Hopefully life will return to normal as soon as possible. Good pictures of a bad situation.

[saturndb]

Nice pics of a bad situation. I hope everything gets bad to normal soon for you.

[MarkBarbieri]

There are some great pictures here (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html).

[zipuzee]

good photos. Glad you are okay. Sorry about the trip being canceled. Would the school add some days to the calender to make up for days missed? Our schools have built in extra days for hurricanes.
And the generator noise, trust me, you'll get used to it. Hope the power comes on sooner than later.

[WVDisGeek]

Glad to see that things are slowly returning to normal. I helped my parents in Virginia clean up after a hurricane a few years back (I think it was actually a tropical storm by time it reached them) and the pictures of the downed trees and tarps looked awfully familiar. My in-laws have a condo in Daytona and have been through this many times. The generator will help and so will getting back into a routine. Sorry about the January trip, but the important thing is everyone was safe.

Great lightstick pictures! Those were really out there.