I'm not sure which side would be the lee side of the house? I guess y'all are right and I had better get to work! The garage is so tiny that I can barely fit my car in it, but maybe I can get some things in there. The shed is on blocks, so I'm not sure how stable it is, but that's where most of the little things are going to go. I just cleaned out the gutters and I think something unmentionable was living under the gutter guards -- Yikes -- I guess that just shows you how long it's been since we've had rain!
Best of luck to everyone.
Hurricane Ike Watch
Elphaba, here is the weather service's warning about hurricane and tropical force winds:
PERSONS SHOULD PREPARE THEIR PROPERTIES FOR THE POTENTIAL OF DAMAGING WINDS. SECURE OR REMOVE ANY LOOSE ITEMS SURROUNDING YOUR PROPERTY WHICH COULD BE BLOWN AROUND BY TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE FORCE WINDS. TRIM TREES NEAR YOUR PROPERTY.
DAMAGING WINDS ARE EXPECTED.
MOST MOBILE HOMES WILL EXPERIENCE MODERATE TO SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. SOME OF POOR CONSTRUCTION WILL BE UNINHABITABLE UNTIL REPAIRED. HOUSES OF POOR TO AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION WILL HAVE DAMAGE TO SHINGLES... SIDING... AND GUTTERS. SOME WINDOWS WILL BE BLOWN OUT. UNFASTENED HOME ITEMS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE WEIGHT WILL BECOME AIRBORNE... CAUSING ADDITIONAL DAMAGE AND POSSIBLE INJURY. DOZENS OF WIRES WILL BE BLOWN DOWN. LOCAL POWER OUTAGES WILL AFFECT ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS.
MANY LARGE BRANCHES OF HEALTHY TREES WILL BE SNAPPED... AND ROTTING SMALL TO MEDIUM SIZED TREES WILL BE UPROOTED.
Thanks..guess I'll put a few more things away then.
Just returned from regular shopping at HEB...busy but not jammed as I expected. No apparent panic. A really nice day here - hard to imagine how much change we might experience so quickly. Medically fragile folks began arriving last evening - it's regrettable that they have to be inconvenienced but at least they should be safe. If anyone is wavering about whether to evacuate, just remember that the check-in lines become progressively longer, even with extra volunteers helping out. Hope everyone comes through this with a minimum of stress. Yuska
"MANY LARGE BRANCHES OF HEALTHY TREES WILL BE SNAPPED" -- Now I'm sure this branch is going to kill me. Nothing to be done now. Stay strong tree!
Yeah, we have 2 pecans and 2 magnolia with overreaching branches, too. We sympathize entirely!
I read on my company's website this morning that our store in Beaumont and Webster were closing until at least Monday because of mandatory evacuations. Many of the employees and their families from the Beaumont store will be traveling up here to stay with a friend of the manager. That's going to be one long drive for them!
I am not going anywhere but right here at my house.. I will be on the bad side of the storm but I am ready as I can be..will post when I can..
It's starting to get dark and cloudy downtown Houston
The rain bands are starting to arrive: http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?product=N0Z&rid=lch&loop=yes
My thoughts and good wishes are with all of you in the path of Ike. Please stay safe and remember that we are a huge community of gardeners that can help you replace anything that you may lose. Most important is that you, family and pets are and stay safe.
We dodged Ike, and it's never a good feeling when another state gets hit.
Dark and cloudy in Houston?? It is sun shining here at my house...mmmm..better go soak up some of them rays..won't see them for awhile..got my rubber boots ready...lol..
It's already rained sideways. It's calmed down again
So far so good in the NW here.
Computer model is now saying DFW will probably just be side-swiped while the worst hits East Texas.
we have all of tonight and tomorrow for the changes to continue as they have.
hope so
it's cleared up blue again
Just took a walk in the garden. Another of the brugs you brought up here is blooming tonight. have 6 out 10 brugs now blooming. whooohooo.
I saw a report before I went back outside for another round putting things up, and now they are showing the winds at around 80mph around downtown and the heights which is a lot lower than they were predicting earlier today. That's a good sign. Well, I guess I've cooled off enough. I still have tons to do.
80 in the Heights!?...arggh..that's where I live...imagine a car flying down the street at 80...that's too high for me.
Batten down the hatches, mateys! He's going to blow. But he hasn't gotten as strong as was feared, so maybe you'll luck out...some.
DH says weather channel says it is a cat 2 and could make 3 by land fall but I am sure hoping not by the time it gets to Tyler it is suppose to be cat 1 or tropical storm
Just dropped in from the Hurricane Ike Thread over on the Weather Forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/901717/#post_5539767
Those of you planning on riding this out.... be sure to have Phone Contacts OUT of the area in place.
After Hurricanes K & R phone service was about nil.
Cell Phones don't work w/o towers... land lines and cell lines, if available, will be swamped...
Even if you're not in an affected area of TX the phones are going to be spotty from over stressed lines.
Set up a contact who can do your calling of Family and Friends for you.
It's a simple thing to do... but can save your Loved ones a lot of Grief and Worry.
Be Safe!
Take Care!
and 'Hang on Sloopy!'
Ric
Good advice..
circuits to this area of Texas are already busy
It works well RJH and is simple to set up.
I'm already holding about a dozen contacts here in OH.
Hopefully I'll hear from them all by Thread, email or Dmail but......
After K & R it took the efforts of dozens of people months to find everyone here at Dave's.
Most were OK just out of the computer loop.
Many though needed help which was generously given by everyone here.
But first and foremost your Family and Friends need to be informed.
You know the old "It's 10 o'clock do you know where your kids are?" thing....lol!
Ric
But if your contact can't reach you either (or vice versa), what could that person tell them?
Nothing actually.
But if you do manage to get thru they can call a select list of people you have set up.
Three days after Katrina I got a call... from a National Guard Sat. Phone.....
then I called 6 people in their Family who spread the word.
It was 4 more days after before they could make another call.
It's not perfect for sure.... but short of having a Satellite phone.....
Be Safe....
Ric
I sent out contact sheet...bothways..in case my friends need to call my family, and in case my family needs to get a hold of me via my friends..which is where I'll be during the worst of it.
My nephew came over tonight to help move hibs and brugs up against the house and buckets into the garage, as well as take down hanging baskets. I think I'm as good to go as it's going to get. We rode out Alicia here in a much smaller mobile home than is here now. I'm debating driving up to Copperas Cove to stay with dbf or staying here and riding it out with my furbabies.
Anne
alright folks...seeya on the sunny side!
Rj
I hear you Anne...my parents are trying to convince me to come up to their place outside of marlin for the weekend, but I've got lab work going on and the last time we were in this situation was with Rita. And all we got then was a poof of wind and that was it. I want to stay put and make sure things are ok here, then if the power goes out I'll head up north. I just came home and traffic was crazy on 6.
Kim
Can't sleep worrying about all of you.
Will be continuously praying for your safety.
Christi
Just join the thread and finally caught up with the posts.
I sure hope some of you will reconsider evacuating. I know evac. is an inconvience but you can't replace a life of a loved one. You that have big trees know they can be so dangerous in a storm. I understand the "cry wolf" feeling having lived in south LA and in Houston earlier in my life. You can see, this one is big...very big. Take care my friends....may God guide you.
I will be keeping all of you in harms way in my prayers...Blessings...Jo
Just got mandatory evac, and will be leaving in the morning. I agree Sheila... no sense playing around with anything this large... Rita sat here in our area for 3 hours at 120 mph... TG we left on Rita also! My life and my DH and my dogs mean too much for me to stay here and possibly say "what IF"
Becky....If you need a place and are coming this way, please let me know.
Sheila... we will more than likely head to the Dallas area. It all depend where they take Momma... course we will follow, but all the residents were either in Emory,Ennis or Grand Saline... so one of those towns will more than likely be where we are. I'll let you know in the am, when I hear from the NH. Ty for the offer.. that is sooo sweet of you, but we'll be taking the camper.. hopefully we will be able to find a campground nearby
Becky
Goodness, Becky. Emory and Grand Saline are so far away from Ennis and expected to be in the line of Ike if it stays East. Be sure to check the weather forecast for there at the very last minute. CocoLulu lives near Grand Saline and I have been worrying that she might have damage. High winds and lots of rain. Those two towns are almost 100 miles further than Ennis.