Saw quite a few military trucks driving through town earlier, presumably carrying relief supplies with them. Caught quite a bit of attention from passing drivers.

Clouds are hauling ass through the sky right now and its much darker than usual. They were talking about 120 mph gusts reaching downtown and out this way. OUght to be a hell of a storm to watch. Hope it doesn't rip these crappy windows out the side of my building.

Didn't cover your windows?

Hope not either. Best of luck dude, be safe. keep us posted when you can.

Can't cover our windows. Third floor of an apartment complex that's a brick building. Pretty much just have to rely on renters insurance if any damage happens. If things get hairy or there's any damage, I'll run across the street to the firehouse and take cover.

Sounds like a reasonable plan.

...Swim across the street :p

It's getting pretty windy here, but fortunately the wind above matches the wind below, so hopefully no tornadoes tonight. I've slept through one tornado already that was about a 30 foot miss, don't think I'll be so lucky next time!

Keep safe, guys.

They're expecting Tornado formation to be at the northeast corner if anywhere. Winds have picked up pretty good here too. I'm lucky in that my windows are kind of in a niche between a balcony and the tower for the staircase, and the wind is coming in from the backside of the building, not head on. All of the light up Exit signs have already been ripped down by the wind, and the metal roofs are already lifting up off the car ports.

No sweat :)

I have a 2 story and we sleep on the bottom floor. Flooding is very unlikely, so biggest threat is a tree falling or a tornado. I doubt the hurricane is strong enough to rip the roof off, but I only say that because the trees are so thick in this area that you can hardly see the roofs from google satellite images.

I did have to tie up one tree, a massive sweet gum that's about 8 inches from the roof edge of the garage. I tied it to 3 other tree bases, pulled the rope as tight as possible, then pulled the already tight ropes together and lashed them together mid-air so the tree is pulled from one direction by 3 separate ropes at the base of 3 separate trees. I estimate the ropes have a combined tensile strength of 1200lb, hopefully that is enough to keep it from hitting the roof/soffit :oogle:

As for survival:
Have food
Have beer
Have water
Have dirty thoughts

We're good :)

.. don't forget, so far you have internet. Good sign.

Seriously though, my thoughts are with you all. I have never been anywhere near a hurricane to know what it is like. Stay safe dammit!

They told the great population of Houston to stay put at home unless you were in one of mandatory evacuation zip codes or a low lying area. We have stayed, prepared and are ready for this. Hopefully they will cancel classes on Monday, that would be amazing!

Stay safe Texas TFP

Report in please, Texans.

hope your Texan peeps are ok too.

i cant fathom what must be running through your heads.

Chins up!

Why Do Some People Ignore Evacuation Warnings? Psychology -The Holdouts| Newsweek National News | Newsweek.com

I know I would have taken a trip someplace outside of Houston/Galveston the past few days.

I hope they took some good pictures or videos of flooding/wind/rain if they are still there.

I've never heard of a "certain death" warning like they issued for Galveston Island last night. Scary.

We used to own a house for six years that was directly in the path of the eye. Makes me feel a little better about being so upside down on the loan for our new house 1300 miles to the west. At least we still have a dry house to live in. We got out of there for precisely this reason, right before Rita. When it comes to climate, Houston is hell-on-earth. Wild horses couldn't drag me back there.

That being said, I hope my old neighbors & coworkers stayed safe. Well, most of them, anyway.

My thoughts are with those in any danger.

My sister lives on high ground outside Houston. Too stubborn to evac, she merely bought extra groceries and road it out. Today, she sits in the dark and waits for the power to return. But she and her husband are safe.

My thoughts are with the ones who left and have to return to damaged or flooded houses. For anyone who is in danger that stayed behind, it's Darwinism in action. They were given plenty of warning and plenty of options, I don't feel too bad if they didn't heed the warnings days ahead of time to save themselves.

Sorry it's harsh, but it's not like it was a surprise accident or illness. They made a choice to stay, they get to live or die with the decisions they made.

Howdy from Houston.

We now have our power back on, & we made it through pretty much unscathed. I feel guilty writing this because I know that others were much less fortunate. Our worst damage is some downed sections of fence, & we're going to have some food spoilage from the relatively short (thankfully!) power outage.

Good vibes & positive thoughts to everyone touched by Hurricane Ike.

Glad to hear you made it with limited damage. Hopefully things will be back to normal for you and everyone else in the area.

Thanks for getting an update to us.

I hope to hear many updates just like this one. Glad to hear you came out of this safely.

Thank you for touching base.

Glad to hear you made it through okay. My thoughts have been with you and your "neighbors".

Thanks, folks! Our appreciation for your thoughts far exceeds my vocabulary.

Are any TFPers on the coast near Galveston or Bolivar Pennisula? That area is now pretty much a wasteland.