Hi, everyone,
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and PD. The pictures and reports out of Galveston and Houston are astounding, but it could have been so much worse. Our families are safe, as are their homes (relatively). Where my parents and in-laws live, amazingly, it sounds like they only saw trees and power lines down, lots of vegetative debris, etc. According to their one neighbor that stayed, my parents lost their fence, some limbs are down on trees, etc. My in-laws lost a large pine tree, but thankfully it fell away from their home (on some power lines). Their area is without power, and estimates are that it could be 2 weeks before it is back. Apparently the creeks got really high, but are receding. My in-laws said the wind sounded like a freight train all night long - much worse than Hurricane Alicia 25 years ago which we all rode out.
Jonathan's brothers and families are okay, too. Just lots of wind and rain; one of them lost their fence, and has a minor leak in their roof. The other's street was flooded, but they didn't suffer any damage to their home. Everyone was w/o power, but Jonathan's brother that lives furthest inland got their power back around 8 p.m. tonight.
Again, thank you so much for all of your prayers. I know the coverage of this has been pretty exhaustive on the national cable channels, but if you have DirecTV and just can't get enough, you can watch one of the local Houston channels (CBS) on channel 361. They're doing 24/7 live coverage - it's helpful when you know what you're looking at, and looking for reports on certain areas.
I really hope that Karen and her family are okay. I was thinking of her and her family last night - I hope it's just that they're w/o power, but are okay. Many prayers, Karen!!
Here in Dallas, we just had rain, and a bit of wind - it was a bit of a Catch-22 - the closest it got to a direct hit on Houston/Galveston, the further east it was going to trend away from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We should have pretty nice weather early next week across the state (highs only in the very low 80's, and nightly lows in the high 50's and low 60's), which will be a welcome relief for all of those w/o power. My parents bought a generator yesterday, and are planning on buying a window a/c unit to take home with them, but the question is if there will be enough gas in the area to be able to keep the generator running for extended periods of time. I just can't imagine being w/o electricity for several weeks, but I know they're eager to get home to assess and clean up the damage.
Again, thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers - I know the power of the DDA certainly helped!
Kristine - I hope you're doing okay - your street certainly looked like it belonged in SE Texas today! Please let us know if you're okay - and it's so sweet of you to take care of your neighbor. That is the reassuring thing when things like this happen - to see that people can still care for and help one another.
Many blessings and thanks to each of you tonight - I will check in again soon.
on getting the last 3 nights!
