I Don't Like Ike, Part II

It’s 7:40 am on Saturday. I’ve been asleep since approximately 4:00 am on Saturday. I’m up because both Brent & I have received frantic calls from parents wondering if we’re safe. They turned on the news this morning and were worried. And with good reason…

Last night was one of the scariest I’ve ever experienced. We lived through a major hurricane slamming it’s way (for 10 hours straight, and still counting) through downtown Houston. It was truly crazy, and I’m having a hard time explaining it properly.

After my last post, we watched a few minutes of TV to get our minds off things and enjoy a few minutes of power. (It’s funny what you become grateful for – I’m so glad we have electricity! I’m so glad we have water! I’m so glad we have a room with no windows!) We finally decided to just go and lie in bed, since there was nothing else to do. We got all our flashlights, laptops, and cell phones in the guest bedroom. As soon as we lay down, the power began to go on and off about 10 times. Worried about fire, Brent got up and unplugged everything in the apartment. Finally, the power went off for good. It was so eerie to hear the dead silent apartment – no AC or appliance sounds. Just the hurricane.

I could not sleep because I was so scared – my heart was beating fast and my stomach was in a knot. The sound outside the window was horrifying – it was so loud that we couldn’t sleep down the hall in our windowless room. It was definitely the fury of nature. The wind and rain was SLAMMING into our apartment and howling with a relentless sound. Now that I’m able to see news, we’re seeing that those wind gusts on our windows were over 110 mph. I was SURE that either our windows were going to break or water was going to come in the apartment. Luckily, the windows did NOT break, but this morning, I did see that water had come in. The water was blowing at 100 mph at 90 degrees, so it just blew right through the window caulking. The floor is wet in our bedroom and living room, but no huge damage is done. We just found out from the building management that one window did break on the 15th floor. It was so scary on the 7th floor, I do not want to imagine what it was like on the 15th.

I’m not going to include any pictures on this post. You need only tune into the news to see for yourself. There’s nothing to see here except a few exhausted, bedraggled people. Out our window, we see gutters wrapped around chimneys, downed trees, scrap metal strewn all over the street, no cars or people, and a wall of wind and water. It is expected to rain like this all day. There is grass and leaves stuck to our windows seven floors up! Any buildings more than 100 feet away are completely invisible.

Right now we have water and power including TV and internet. We are on the same power grid as the Houston Med Center, which is why we now have power. I am completely grateful for that!

We're thinking of all our friends and hoping they are safe. I'm especially worried about my students and hoping they were protected. Hopefully we'll get some updates soon. Right now at school, we’re teaching a unit about how environments affect your life and your identity. I think I’ve got some lesson ideas…..!