Ike Texas Members Update

[Gary C.]

There are over 100 Texas Chapter Members who live in and around the area Ike hit. Most are without power and mosquito's are very active. One Member is known to have lost his house on the bay, but Corvettes were moved inland and are okay. Long time NCRS Member on Galveston Island is okay and no structural damage to home or Corvettes. There are some Members we've not been able to establish contact with. Houston Chronicle is good source for area status. http://www.chron.com/ Gary....

[Terry M.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

The electrical contract crews we had in Mississippi for Gustov have moved to Texas. Our regular utility crews have gone from Louisiana to Texas. I am reading that other utilities are sending crews to help you too.

We had a lot of flooding in the Chicago area, but nothing like you guys had. I hope you can contact everyone, and that they are all OK.

[Pat M.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

My thoughts and prayers are with my Texas neighbors.
In southwest Louisiana we had a flooding surge nearly identical to Hurricane Rita, both of which were pretty darn bad. But this time we were spared the most fierce winds, and I was very fortunate to have no damage at all.
The images I'm seeing out of the Galveston area are just staggering. I wish you all a speedy recovery.

[Ian G.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

I sold a repop FI air filter to some folks out in Houston and UPS said they cannot ship out there right now. I called them though, and they are fine.

My best wishes for folks living out there.

~ian

[Stuart F.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

We have some friends in staying with us from Houston. They had planned a vacation at Dizzy World anyway, so they just left a day early to evac b4 the storm hit. Their communications back home indicate the power is up already, phone service (cell and land lines), and the clean up there is going very well. Probably depended on which side of that big town one lived on.

Terry, your boys are doing a great job. We're all thankful for their efforts on behalf of the folks around the gulf states. God bless them.

Stu fox

[Terry M.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

There must be more issues -- two of my crews are leaving this afternoon for Kentucky. I'm sure more are going; just those were the only ones I talked directly to. I forgot to tell them to visit the Museum.

From my perspective that means less work for me, but the next phone call said we are working 5 days a week, 12 hours a day back here to make up for the lack of people. Sheesh

Here are some pictures to look at:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Most-Emailed-Photos-electrical-power-Linemen-Sam-Houston-Race-Park-Houston/ss/1756/im:/080915/480/5a62194ff1b548d9b614e1f61e41385b/

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Hurricane-Ike-AP-Photo2FThe-Dallas-Morning-News-plastic-cup/ss/events/us/091208hurricaneike/s:/ap/20080916/ap_on_re_us/ike/im:/080916/480/43079ab31b9b49adac50e79005f0713e/;_ylt=ArH2.xF5vRXAxN0Cv0WfSUJH2ocA#photoViewer=/080916/480/addadff1c0894390bd5c5d7bbfa472ef

[Steven B.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

I had to go to Dallas Sunday and saw over 100 bucket trucks, tree trimmers, etc. heading toward Dallas on I-30. As of a few hours ago an electronic sign on I-30 still advised traffic not to go to Houston and the area. A number of churches and civic centers from the Houston area to near Oklahoma still have thousands of evacuees. We are about 7 miles south of I-30 in East Texas and the storm was not too bad here, rain, high winds, some trees down, roof damage, nothing serious. It lasted from Saturday morning to Sunday morning here.

A number of gas stations in this area are out of gas. Those who do have gas are $3.699 to $4.099

I sure feel for all those on the Gulf. We are awaiting word from friends in Houston.

Terry, who do you work for? Electric company?

Steve

[Henry S.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by Ike. We were in Paducah over the week-end for their Corvettes on the River car show. Leaving Paducah Sunday morning was an adventure. The wind and rain hit when we were heading to our cars and the wind practically carried us over the lot. Even from being around tornado alley here in Illinois I'd never seen anything like it. We stayed at the Drury Inn and there was glass and debris flying around. Luckily none in our group got hurt. It's hard to imagine what those of you in the Gulf are going through.

Shooter

P.S. We passed several bucket trucks also on I-57 and my son in Edwardsville said some of his buddiesthat work for an electric company from the St. Louis area had already headed out and could be gone for close to 2 months. That's another group that sometimes gets overlooked when devestation strikes. Many forget it takes someone to turn that power back on safely when it goes out. At times like this they are in the same group as our firemen and policemen. Be safe!!

[Gary C.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Shooter, 23 take for granted the utility companies such as power, phone, etc. Utility companies all back each other up with disaster recovery. Utility Companies pride themselves in disaster service restoration and are unsung heroes. FYI - according to Houston area sources there have been a few snafu's. FEMA brought the supplies to Houston, but didn't tell the Mayor the City/County was responsible for distribution which resulted in a 4 hr delay in getting drinking water out. Also, it seems FEMA has taken over a lot of the cell phone trunks making it hard for local callers to get cell calls. Texas Chapter Member update - we've heard from most Chapter Members and all are okay. Most are without power and some have some damage. One Member on the bay lost his home and sailboat, but Corvettes were moved inland and are ok. Gary....

[Terry M.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Shooter, We take for granted the utility companies such as power, phone, etc. Utility companies all back each other up with disaster recovery. Utility Companies pride themselves in disaster service restoration and are unsung heroes. Gary....

You are right about pride in our work, Gary. The utility I work for won an award for our storm restoration work a couple of years ago, and in a storm the beginning of August we beat that time by a wide margin. We hope we will be recognized for the more recent accomplishment too.

We know what it is like to be without power, and we do our best to restore as many people as we can safely. And we help the other utilities because we know that there will come a time when we will need help. It kind of works like NCRS.

I hope all your members are OK, and the folks in Louisiana, Florida Mississippi and all the gulf states too. I'm looking forward to Waco.

[Loren S.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Just got power back, after 4 days. Happy surfing days are here again!

[Steven B.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Loren, if it happens again, and I hope it doesn't, come on up north a couple of hours and bring cars, family, pets, etc. We will find room for all.

Steve

[Tom R.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

We watch closely from along the Atlantic coast, especially after having Hanna scoot by us and send crews and personnel. In the past our community has adopted communities that got devasted from Katrina as they recovered. I expect the same this time around.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Loren;

Isn't that a great feeling when the power comes back on, specially if it has been off for a few days. We went through that 3 times in 2004 and I learned to appreciate the things we take so much for granted; like a hot shower (electric hot water heater), A/C when it's 90+ outside, use of your cell phone to call your Insurance Agent (our land line was out 2 weeks), cooking on the stove, and last but not least, power to open the garage door and take the Vette out again (I know, there isa manual release, but it's not the same).

Stu Fox

[John H.]

Re: Ike Texas Members Update

Loren;

Isn't that a great feeling when the power comes back on, specially if it has been off for a few days. We went through that 3 times in 2004 and I learned to appreciate the things we take so much for granted; like a hot shower (electric hot water heater), A/C when it's 90+ outside, use of your cell phone to call your Insurance Agent (our land line was out 2 weeks), cooking on the stove, and last but not least, power to open the garage door and take the Vette out again (I know, there isa manual release, but it's not the same).

Stu Fox

Stu -

We don't have hurricanes up here, but we have a mickey-mouse electric utility (Detroit Edison), and never know when the power will fail, storm or no storm. Cured that problem permanently with an 18-KW Generac fully-automatic natural gas-powered standby generator and transfer switch. Timing is everything - installed it in June, 2003, six weeks before the famous 3-day northeastern power grid failure; all we had to do was to reset the digital clocks.

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=359956