[LisaLuka]

I can't think of a better way to keep track of my forum friends who are affected by Ike. If you have power and can post, please let us know that you're okay. You're in our prayers.

Lisa

[angel_bayou]

Lisa, We're in Louisiana and we're getting LOTS of heavy wind and now rain, but nothing like wha Texas is going to be getting! Now we have a ton of places here flooding!!
I hope others will post and let us know they're doing good and safe!! My prayers are with them!

[HopeandaPrayer]

I am in Austin but my Mom, 92 year old grandmother, and my brother and sister-in-law are riding it out in Houston right now. I also have some dear friends I have had since childhood doing the same with their spouses and children. Please pray for them. I am very worried about them right now. I am going to try to call them in a few minutes. Hopefully I can reach them on their cells.

We also have a condo on the west end of Galveston Island and we have no idea how it fared. Seeing the damage and destruction wreaked on the Island has been terrible. The Island holds many happy memories for me and my family. I am praying for everyone affected by this horrible storm.

Terri

[angelstamper]

We moved from greater Houston to "Hurricane, WV" (no kidding, thats the name) at the first of the year.

DH's family is scattered all over Houston. We have heard from a few of them via text and they are okay. SIL in Baytown rode it out and said their home is okay but no electricity. She said is was "VERY SCAREY." Other family in Baytown and Winnie/Beaumont evacuated to Livingston are okay but won't know anything about their homes until later.
Have not heard from MIL in Conroe. She doesn't text.

The one person we are concered about is my other SIL's Dad. He stayed behind in Winnie to help with relief efforts. The house they were staying in had all the windows blown out and the generator stopped working. That was last we heard from him at 3AM.

We went through Rita which was my first hurricane and I was scared to death. I can't imagine this one. Please pray for the Greater Houston Area.

I have emails and texts going out to everybody, so if I get anymore updates about certain areas, I'll let you know.

[angelstamper]

DH heard from his mom in Conroe. Her condo withstood the wind but she is one of the millions without power. It went out around 6AM.

Still no word on SIL's dad.

[HopeandaPrayer]

Spoke to my Mom earlier today. She is right outside Houston on Lake Houston. Their power went out around 1:30 a.m. Many huge trees down in her neighborhood including ones in her front and back yard. They don't expect to have power for at least 2 weeks but could be up to 4 weeks. Still no word on our property in Galveston.

Terri

[ourdreamcametru]

I have 14 family members in Houston, near Houston Hobby and most are from Galveston, about 2 blocks from the beach. All evacuated to Magnolia and are fine other than the electric being out and they were told it would be 3-4 weeks before it was back on. We know my aunt and uncle who live about 30 miles outside of Galveston had a huge tree down on their house and part of the back roof is gone, information via a neigbor. No word on the houses in Galveston.

[angelstamper]

Heard from my SIL and her dad is fine, but her town of Winnie is devestated. (east of Beaumont on I-10) Her dad said "It is going to be a long hard recovery." He said most of the business are damaged or gone, his front porch is scattered amoung a lot of his trees and they cannot get to outerlying homes to check on them. My SIL's house has a huge hole in the roof from a tree.

If you haven't seen the damage, CNN is covering it pretty well. Of course they concentrate on the more populated areas due to the viewership, but what they are showing sounds like what some of the smaller towns like Winnie are facing.

Prayers to everyone connected to Houston and dealing with this devestation.

[mayaprincess]

Our home in Houston, sustained minor damage while our neighbors had major damage. Our street looks like a twister came through taking down fences, uprooting trees, breaking windows and pulling off roofs.

I am blessed to have all my family members accounted for even though one of my aunts lost everything when her roof came off and her one of her walls collapsed.

Thanks to those who prayed for our area.

[angel_bayou]

I have family in Houston as well and heard from him and he's fine. No power and minimal damage!! He has a friend who lost it all in Gavelston!! I know how scary and unreal these scences will be as people face their losses! i witnessed it first hand during Katrina!! It's so devastating and a long hard road for many!!
I'm continuing to pray for all affected by Ike because he has devastaed MANY, MANY areas!! Here in Louisiana they were still doing rescues today! DH job flooded and many famiy and friends who were hit hard with Gustav suffered more damage from Ike!! I can only imagine the feelings of those in Texas!!
I know these next two weeks doing mission work in Guatemala will crawl by because my heat will be here wanting to help my neighbors in need! I have already vowed to do all I can to help everyone affected!!
We sent MANY supplies to families affected by Rita! I took numerous trips to hard hit areas pulling a flat bed trailer behind our truck filled with supplies, clothings, tarps, cleaning supplies, food etc. and I will do it again when I get back!! If any of you plan to help in the relief efforts PLEASE let me know and I will do all I can to help!!
I know how this feels!!

[HopeandaPrayer]

Vanessa thank you so much for your concern. We don't know when we can get onto Galveston Island to check on our property so we are staying put for now.

My Mom and grandmother will probably head here to Austin in a day or so to stay with us. My grandmother just can't handle living without power. Way too hot and uncomfortable. Not sure when we will be able to get into Houston to try and clean up all of the big trees that came down in my Mom's front and back yard. She lives in a heavily treed area and unfortunately they were on the "dirty" side of the storm and her neighborhood sustained a huge amount of damage. Basically the whole city is out of power so no one knows when it will get back to normal. What a terrible mess!

Terri

[alreadylove2005]

Here's our hometown in Indiana.....who would think we would be effected this much?

[dac_cincy]

I am in OH and on Sunday, the remains of Hurrican Ike came through- we had 30-50 mile per hour winds and gusts to catagory 1 strength (70 miles per hour). Trees and power lines are down all over the place. I have posted pictures on my blog. We lost power for 24 hours at my house, but right now we have power again. according to the news sites, still over 1/2 million people in my area are without power- at one point 90% of the customers for the power company were without power.
I know it is nothing compared to the damage that the folks on the coast are experiencing, but it is unprecendented for our area.
I have a feeling,there are good number of the forum friends from my area who are affected at this point.

This was a scary storm.

Love to you,

[LRA]

Unfortunately my mom is one of the 1/2 million. I am posting a new thread to see if anyone is near her.

[szumbiel]

We are in Cincinnati and our kids are out of school and it does not look like they will be back much this week. We thankfully did not lose power, but we know we are one of the few! So, so many are still out. I have never seen anything like this before. Just amazing!

I always told my kids one thing we would never need to worry about living in Cincy are hurricanes...well Sunday we had cat. 1 winds! It was almost eery as the sun was out and there was no rain at all. But the winds were just unbelieveable!

We are now on an advisory to only use water for sanitary reasons as they are worried some water stations will run out of reserves before power is restored to pump more. Gas is also tough to find as many gas stations don't have power and those that do are running out.

I think things will improve in the coming days, but I hate to even complain as it is nothing compared to what those of you on the Gulf Coast are facing.

I will say people seem to be rallying to help one another and that is one great thing to see!