There's a hole in the roof, dear Liza, dear Liza...

Hello there all, tall and small, wet and dry, fixed and not. I went to check on the water heater in the attic after the storm, and noted a defect in the roof (you can see the moon thru the hatch).





An access hatch had blown off into the yard, revealing a neat place to look through. It also, in this great post storm weather is providing a nice ventilation port. The wind at rooftop height is more active and keeps the house cool. No a/c yet (electrician is working on the breaker boxes which broke and then need to work on replacing a/c units). Read a few articles that stated there are various things including water heaters washing up on shore around here.

Just to get an idea of the destruction that has befallen Port Bolivar, realize this - the debris (the peninsula was raked clean essentially) piles are more debris fields, each something on the order of 7-10 yards tall and the size of half a football field or more. The property and souls lost will not be found for a long time at best. Good luck to all having to deal with any disaster, whether it is massive from nature such as the fires in California, or on a personal scale.

The lights are slowly coming on. This is a shot from rooftop towards UTMB. This is definitely going to be a whole new world for the university no matter how you slice it. Everything points to everything being effected.

Remember that you are not alone. Go find someone who can help you, then go find someone you can help.

Dwellings

Below I am going to put some travels thru the East end that I have done. I will try to go a little farther and wider today. There were some reports of fires but I am not sure where people have gotten news of that.
On a personal note, the new cafeteria is now open in the center parking lot (1 kitchen tent and two A/C's tents I believe) for employees and UTMB related contractors. Today's goals : shaved (already done) shower (after lunch in the new tent), Insurance calls, and getting more multimedia experience of the island. If you are an employee, regular email is back (never realized all of the spam that is filtered out), can be accessed on the web. Go to the home page for official updates.
For Galveston, www.galveston.com is putting out some update links to news stories and also links for FEMA relief and finding lost family and friends.
Thanks for watching this blog.

Some more pix - Don't forget to please comment!!!

So we were able to get some time to noodle around with help from the DMAT teams getting patient care taken care of. So, here goes... Large amounts of water require larger pieces of equiptment. Pumping out the first floor and other below grade volumes. Parking lot drains clogged, making the first floor a pool of water pumped out two days later (just pumped out on tuesday). This is a scene repeated all over - usually it is the poles that hold up the wires. Forceful acts of nature often create seemingly random effects. Here a large potted plant is placed almost perfectly in the middle of the intersection.

3 injured in structural fire overnight

This is why folks need to stay away / evacuate off premises of the island. I am sorry if I offend or are pushing this card too much, but just think Is it worth it? I am now alive, and it is only a stuff issue. Don't turn it into a threat to your health or life. No water, no sewer, no electricity is fun camping in the forest, but not in potentially dangerous houses with nothing much to deal with them. Please think twice before being ill prepared, especially this early in the game.


These pictures are from the time of the storm and as it was leaving / left. You may walk your halls at work on a daily basis, and say you can do it blindfolded, but could you really? How about if the power goes out and the newly waxed floors in the place with no power (no A/C) is constantly with condensation forming?

The water is receding some - was at the top step.

Alas, a bunch of water in the neighborhood still was there even after the winds died away. Just at it came before the wind it took 2 days to (mostly) drain.

A beautiful old live oak pulled the sidewalk up with it.

Note the double water mark denoting the high mark and then a lower persistant level. This is under a porch. My porch.

Tiger threat neutralized; L&L suspended

Hello All Out There!!! Wish it was a regular ol' day I am sure. This is the weather that we all wait for. Cool, low humidity, nice breeze. Great sunsets and moonrises.
Had a report that the Tiger threat on the west end was taken care of, not sure how (trapped or otherwise). As of 5:30 pm Look and Leave was suspended, not sure what it will be in the AM.
Was out today, watching the progress, will put pix and vids up later. Let out a cat. Tried to get two others but someone beat me to it to rescue them. Looked inside a friends house with only 1 foot of water, ate his cookies (Wow, they tasted great after several days of not having that type of stuff).
Went to my house. Sludge in ground floor and garage stuff mostly flipped upside down. Kinda sad, but makes reducing easier. Got new underware and some more shirts.
One of my friends came by and was happy to take care of my (relatively) recently pampered pooch because he and his wife are fond of dogs. Oh yeah, he has power, water and A/C (we had A/C).
Unfortunately no shower yet but will probably get showers here tomorrow (we have about 17 portajons spread around campus). I did the "european" bath and put on some decent smelling mosquito repellent.