The "I survived hurricane Ike" thread
 

Just got back online today, cable was down longer that power. Speaking of which, power is still going in and out at times and I have to admit, it was pretty 3rd world for a while around here, but we actually had some fun despite that. I took some pics around the neighborhood and in my yard. I also have a tractor battery hooked to my old APC 500VA UPS so I can still browse the web via wireless/laptop if/when the power blinks or goes down for a while. I was in the eye of Ike at 4AM, so I got to really see the front and back of the storm. I've seen many hurricanes, but I couldn't believe the chaos of this one. I watched the top of one of my trees take flight and land right in front of my window, which was...exciting. LOL. Wife and dogs stayed in the downstairs bathroom most of the night, while I stayed awake listening for signs of a tornado so we could huddle and try to stay safe.

Anyways, pics :)

Upstairs deck. The yard looks about this good, too.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike1.jpg

Just above that, here is a limb that nearly put a hole in my roof.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike8.jpg

The road to the river and boat ramp had about 6 trees in the way.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike2.jpg

The roads looked like this everywhere. Oaks were the main tree to fall.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike3.jpg

Usually this ditch is a small stream.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike4.jpg

Usually this ditch barely has any water in it.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike5.jpg

At last but not least, this was par for the course. Some houses were literally split in half by trees. Notice that's an oak.
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules...2/Ike/ike7.jpg

I'm only just now seeing the pics of galveston, and holy shitballs it was seriously destroyed. My old fishing spot at bolivar was wiped off the map. I've been media-dark since the storm, so bear with me if I'm behind haha. We all are, down here.

hurricanes are a bummer.

ive "survived" many....and its always such a pain in the ass to go without power.

i was pretty much without power the whole summer of 2004.

nice pic though, thats for sure.

Glad to hear that you came through it alright, thanks for sharing the pics.

Well, I'm FINALLY back. Ike took out the hard drive on my laptop, and I lost 6 years worth of EVERYTHING. I had power back originally after a couple of days, but then lost it again. My building was the ONLY building in the entire complex to lost power the second time, and it was off for five days or so because the damage was on the premises and they didn't have the equipment to replace it with. Now begins the long, tedious process of replacing all of my porn and music :(

It only takes once to learn the importance of backing things up.

LOL, Ike actually took out my Iomega external backup drive as well. And my cable box. And my AT&T gateway. Go figure.

There was nothing there that was really that important that I can't live without, just very, very inconvenient. The heads on the drive are shot, but the platters aren't damaged. Odds are I can send it away and have most of my files retrieved, just don't have the time or money for that right now.

Holy crap man. My bad, I was thinking a mere power outage. If Ike hit you hard enough to blow all that, then my best wishes go out to you.

I've used these guys for drive data recovery, with good results and pretty good price: Data Recovery | File Recovery | Deleted Hard Disk Recovery
Prices in my cases were between 350 and 750.

As for the frying, that's why I flipped the main breaker once power went out. Keeps things off the grid while power is fluctuating and unstable. No spikes. I rely on my neighbors to tell me when it's back on haha, which they did at 11PM a few nights ago.

If you are geeky and good with wiring, I recommend this for anything you want to run a little bit after the power goes out (and it keeps the equipment safe) http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...equipment.html

How beautiful pictures.where they are from.

Here in my neighborhood. Kingwood, TX, which is NE houston. It is a very beautiful area, which is why I scouted it for a house when we were ready to move to houston. I lived here when I was a kid and always loved the trails and parks it has to offer.