As Woody Allen said, the heart wants what it wants. So, why are you here?

Hurricane Ike Aftermath

I'm fifty miles north of where the storm hit the coast, but the aftermath has been pretty lasting in our region. A week in, the majority of the town still lacks power, and FEMA is still trying to find ways to supply people with water. Living on the third floor of a fairly modern apartment building, I was mostly unaffected by the storm other than several days of having no power, just enough time to get really tired of canned beans. Seriously, I'm done.

These are some pictures I took as the storm was sweeping away. As you can see, my immediate area was fairly lightly hit, but traveling around this week, I'm realizing how incredibly lucky I am. Some friends of mine had their house destroyed by a falling tree, they'll be tearing it down to the framing over the coming months and starting over. I took some pictures today that I might post later from a much poorer community nearby. The floodwaters rose dramatically, filling most of the houses without about two feet of standing water. Driving through, the residents have dragged every bit of carpet and furniture out and left them at the curb, then gone back in and started taking sledgehammers to the walls. They're starting over with almost literally nothing, just four brick walls - sometimes less.

Here's a quick pictorial guide to my immediate area:

The approaching hurricane gave us a spectacular sunset.


Power on this side of the highway is still out.


This is the first moment I realized the storm might have hit harder than I thought.


This was not fragile-looking metalwork.


Nobody liked this restaurant, anyway.


I'll miss the Sonic, though.


If I can come up with more, I'll let you know or point you in the right direction.

Labels: aftermath, hurricane, ike, recovery, the woodlands

posted by Ben Wyman @ 9:50 PM