Welcome back. So sorry to hear of the devastation you experienced. So very scary but glad you are OK. Did you have a pond at that time? What happened to it. I remember you but don't remember about your possible pond.
We were still planning the pond and I was coming here to pick your brains at the time. Then hurricane Rita hit us, we lived like Gilligan's Island without electricity for four weeks. My wife washed clothes in a bucket and hung them on lines that we strung in the front yard. There was mold growing in the walls from the rain intrusion. I had to rip out all of the carpet and a lot of drywall. All of the floors, walls, roof and house in general was ruined. Being a doityourselfer, I was almost done when Ike came a calling.
Hurricane Ike was really a huge storm, it lasted for hours, like 12 hours of sustained winds in excess of 70 MPH with gusts going over 100MPH. But I have really been working my tail off. I have two bedrooms completely redone and they look better than ever. Our old deck is now a screened in room with dimmer lights, satelight TV, DVD player, music, mini fridge, mini bar and even a propane fireplace. We love it and spend every evening out there, it is our haven. My old retired fire helmet hangs on one wall with my gloves, they moved me to Sector 2 and I secreted my old helmet home. I sweated in it and fought a lot of fires wearing it for 15 years. Nobody would want it anyway but it means a lot to me, still it was "company equipment" so shame on me, I took it.
The old office is now a spare bedroom and I'm almost done with it. The walls are painted and I'm ready to lay the floor. The small bathroom that is attached is painted and remodeled. All I have left is the living room, dining room and hallway and they just need new paint. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It has been a long road to recovery but we were really blessed when you consider the people on Bolivar Penensula who stayed.
Nobody expected the water to rise as much or as quickly as it did. Going to remove their keepsakes, a lot of people became trapped as the roads flooded. They climbed up on their roofs and watched the houses around them get pounded into splinters and just washed away into the salt marsh until thier house also collapsed and they found themselve's in 20 foot seas with winds in excess of 100 MPH. I can only imagine what they went through. A woman who works at my plant would not leave her dog and he could not make the trip, he was too old and ill. She called a friend about 8:00 that night and told him that the water was coming into her cabin. He told her to go to his cabin which was higher. She obviously went there, there were muddy footprints inside but for some reason she left and the cabin stood. They found her body in a field three miles away. How she got there had to be an epic struggle towing her dog. These cabins were on pilings 10 feet high or higher, what courage and determination she left as her legacy. The waves were huge and debris filled the water, I don't know how she did it.
A lot of people died, I think the toll is around 35 just on Bolivar and some are still missing. Fishermen are still finding skeletons on Goat Island and pastures six miles inland. Two barges floated 7 miles inland and blocked a highway when the water receeded. Hundreds of head of cattle drowned and the roadside is still littered with cars buried up to the windows in sand. Large yachts and sailboats were sitting in the median on the Highway going into Galveston for months. Fish were trapped in cyclone fences like a gill net when the water finally went down.
Our house got pounded but these people went through hell so I count my blessings. We live here and it is hard for anyone else to imagine the force of this storm and the affect that it is still having on a lot of lives. I hope we get a break this year, we have had a hurricane every year for 3 in a row. Maybe someday when it's all said and done, I'll have my pond.
