Hurricane Ike

Well, we have weathered our first hurricane in Mont Belvieu, TX!!!! How ironic that we move here the year before a major hurricane hits directly on Mont Belvieu! It all started Sunday, September 7th. Cliff teaches our young adult sunday school class and he asked for prayer requests. One of our friends mentioned that we should pray for Ike to turn in a different direction. He said that the morning news showed the computer models hitting us around September 13th or so. I was not too worried b/c that was a full week away! They never hit where the computer models show when it's still a week out from landfall. So, by Tuesday afternoon our prayer was answered!!! The computer models all showed Ike hitting the far south Texas coastline or Mexico. Well, God definitely has a sense of humor b/c by Wednesday afternoon the computer models showed it moving back in our direction some. The school called Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. and called off school for Thursday and Friday due to the impending weather situation. Cliff spent all day Thursday boarding up our house and helping some others from our church board up their houses.

While Cliff and our friend Mark boarded up our house, the boys were playing on their swingset oblivious to most of the commotion around them.

By Thursday afternoon, the computer models showed Ike hitting land directly on us!!! I didn't really get worried until our County Judge called for a mandatory evacuation of Chambers County. That made me a little worried. I'm still not exactly sure why we didn't evacuate. It's really hard to explain unless you've been in the situation before. It's not like we could drive 60 miles or so and get out of Ike's path. Ike was monstrous...we would have had to drive a LONG way to escape his wrath. Plus, most of our neighbors were staying put. That made me feel a little more confident about staying. Our good friends Mark and Jennifer let us know that our church was going to be used as a storm shelter for the night of the hurricane. So, we decided that we would go there. That way we could be with our friends and still be close to home. That was important to me so that we could check on our house shortly after the storm passed. We decided to go up to the church around 3:00 p.m. or so. Ike was supposed to hit around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., but winds and rain were expected to start in the late afternoon sometime. Here is a picture of the sky on Friday morning...it doesn't really look like a hurricane is merely 12 hours away:

Here are the boys as we leave for the church:

In the church, our "spot" was literally at the foot of the cross. It's pretty cool to sleep at the foot of the cross during a hurricane.

At our church, the boys played with other kids and we all ate dinner that the Red Cross provided. We had electricity all night because there was a huge generator outside. Cliff and our Pastor entertained us with some music...Cliff on guitar and our Pastor on harmonica.

The sky started to look ominous around 7:00 p.m. or so.

There were two main rooms at the church that we used....one for sleeping and one for eating/talking/watching the news stations. At 9:00 p.m., we put the boys down for bed. They didn't wake up until 7:00 a.m. the next morning. The worst of the hurricane was basically over by that point!!! I, however, stayed in the eating/talking room most of the night. My friend Jennifer and I couldn't sleep much. We would sleep for an hour or maybe two and then get up and talk or watch the news. For the most part, the hurricane did not sound that loud in the "sleeping" room. However, it was very loud in the other room. You could feel the building shaking in the "awake" room. I was not nearly as scared as I thought I was going to be. I will say that if a Category 4 or 5 hurricane is ever headed in my direction, I will evacuate for sure! A category 2 or 3 was big enough for me! Once it was daylight, I started taking some pictures outside. This picture was taken while hurricane force winds were still blowing.

Most of the storm had passed by about 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. However, we were told that nobody was allowed out to drive on the streets until the emergency personnel had covered most of the streets and assessed the dangers. Our pastor has some "special" badge (I'm still not sure exactly what it was) that allowed him to roam the streets. So, he was nice enough to take us to see our house a little after lunch. I was so worried about what I would find at our house, but we were thankful to see very little damage as compared to others in Mont Belvieu. Our fence was blown down, a few shingles came off the roof, and only a tiny bit of water was blown in under the front door.This is a picture of our backyard. (I'm standing in my neighbor's yard to take the picture.)

The swingset made it!!!! Cliff must have done an AWESOME job building it!!! It's amazing to think that some houses had roofs torn off and siding torn off, but our fort/swingset stood strong!! (Notice pieces of our fence laying on the ground around the fort.)

Shingles missing from our roof:

The only water that entered our house:

We are very thankful for our minor damage. Our neighbor had a 4 ft. x 8ft. hole in their house! The siding was torn off. You could see straight into their attic. Here are some other pictures from around Mont Belvieu:

(Yes, the brick was literally blown off of this building.)

(This is a cinderblock garage that belongs to the car wash business in town. They put their vehicles in it thinking they would be safe there during the storm!! Oooppss! You can't tell in this picture, but one of the vehicles that got smashed was an antique car.)

(This is a church on Eagle Drive.)

(Many power lines were down in our area.)

(This house is just around the corner from our house. It sustained significant water damage inside, as you can imagine. However, this is a model home for the builder in our neighborhood. So, Brighton is taking the hit on this one.)

(There is a subdivision called The Plantation in Mont Belvieu. Every yard had trees uprooted like this. Many trees fell on the houses.)

(Many vehicles were smashed by trees.)

Some good things actually did come out of this storm. First of all, we met and got to know many of our neighbors. When you spend all day everyday outside in front of your house grilling or attending to your generator, you get to know everyone on the street pretty well. Cameron and Kaden met the girls across the street from us. They played together for 3 straight days going back and forth from our house to their house. They had lots of fun!!


Another positive note is that Cameron and Kaden have acquired some new vocabulary. They have learned first-hand what these terms mean: hurricane, "boarding up", evacuate, electricity, power, generator. (I know, I know...I'm such a speech therapist.) In the picture below, Kaden is very prepared for the darkness in our house by wearing his miner's hat.

I am VERY thankful to report that we were only without power for one week. We survived!! We played outside ALOT, we played board games, we talked, we grilled outside with friends, etc. It makes you realize how much time you "waste" with things that use electricity. However, I am glad to be able to use my washer and dryer again. I am also glad that I can walk into my closet or walk through the house at night without taking a flashlight with me. Maybe we'll start having an "Ike Night" once a week...no electricity allowed.

(Coming Soon: Top 5 Lists inspired by Ike)