Hurricane IKE
 

I hope this post finds all Ye Olde Rocket Forum members down south safe & dry, dwmzmm (Dave), luke strawwalker, Lady Hawk and others.


genimijim

Thanks, genimijim. My family and I decided to hunker down and stay put; we're only expecting the rain and maybe 70 mph winds from where we're at (far west Houston). Jeff
(luke strawalker) and his family had reserved a hotel room somewhere in mid -
Texas and is already out of town. The Hawkins (Hawk Hobbies) - haven't heard anything
from them, but they should be feeling the brunt of the storm since they're in the east Houston area. Mikus Superfly is like me, hunkering down (lives fairly close by). John
Thro, haven't heard, but I suspect his family may be staying put. I think most of my friends
over in the JSC area (NASA/Houston Rocket Club, NAR Section # 365) have evacuated as
they're next to Galveston Bay and Clear Lake. That's all I know for now. If this is anything
like what we had with Rita three years ago, we should be ok (all we got was some winds and
a little sprinkle, that's it!). With Rita, we never lost power nor water. Not sure if it'll be the
same this time around. We'll know between now and tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks again for your concern.

My family and I are staying home, in Northwest Houston (77070, a bit west of 249 and 1960).

We expect rain and high winds of around 75 mph, so we'll see what happens. Shouldn't have any flooding here, so that's a plus.

Good luck to everyone else in the path of hurricane Ike!

Best of luck to you all. Stay in and build a rocket! Sounds like you two should be OK barring tornadoes. We used to live in Clear Lake and would now be in Dallas. Looked bad for Galvez earlier today and it'll probably just get worse.

I have a "special" model I need to get building now, but would like to wait out Ike to make
sure nothing happens to our infrastructure that might affect this activity. Also, I want to keep the parts/body tubes, etc., in the sealed plastic bags so as to not risk anything getting
wet in case we do get structural damage with rain that might otherwise ruin the model.

Hey John, was wondering if you lost any power several years ago during Rita? I know of
one rocketeer near your neighborhood who lost power for something like two days during
Rita and had everything go bad in his refrigerator.

Keep safe up there!

Will be keeping you all in prayer and thoughts.

A friend I just was chatting with , in Sugarland, had lost power, but it was back for now, and no rains yet, just wond.

My gal, in the Woodlands, said the wind was already picking up bad at 7:20 EST when we talked last, praying for her safety, and all my fellow YORF members as well.

~ AL

Thanks a lot!!! I appreciate it!

Things seem to be pretty good at Needville... just got back in town tonight after dark, but my brother tells me most everything is in pretty good shape, considering. Hey, our house is intact (though perhaps a few shingles lighter, but that can be easily fixed) and we actually have electricity, which is pretty hard to live without in TX this time of year, and so we're VERY thankful to God that our family and homes are ok... and we pray fervently for those less fortunate and who are still in difficult positions, in harm's way, or suffering the loss of homes or family in all this...

Boy what a mess! Hopefully things will go a little smoother than they did last time (RITA) and folks will get back on their feet ASAP. Things seemed better on the evacuation/preparation side of the equation this time, though we didn't really get into any mess last time despite evacuating rather late in the game, as I know all the back roads and they were 90% clear, except for 90A to San Antonio (bumper to bumper during RITA, light traffic this time). My sister STILL didn't learn her lesson about staying away from San Antonio and got into heavy traffic there, but we stayed out on the country roads and didn't have any problems, and we left 24 hours later than she did.
Seems like gas deliveries and evacuation routes were better managed this time, though I'd be interested in hearing actually how many people evacuated compared to last time.

Now we'll see if they've learned anything about handling the cleanup/recovery phase of things and helping folks get back on their feet.


God bless and take care everyone! OL JR :)

BTW from what my brother tells me, the farm looks good for a launch in two weeks if anybody's up for it... don't know how many will be, but the offer is there... OL JR :)

Glad to hear people are ok.

My g/f in The Woodlands got hammered, trees down, no power expected for 3-4 weeks, she's worried about having to go to a shelter.

Told her to come up to NY, but not sure there, especially with the airport hammered ( assume that willbe up before somethings ?)

Our prayers are with you all .

( anyone in the area, not adversely affected, who could help a special friend of mine, gimmee a holler ?, lol ;) )

Now back to our rocketry, ( and internet for those with electricity )

~ AL

I don't pretend to have anything like the trouble that our friends in Texas had, but Ike (what was left) went through the Ohio Valley last night. 70mph winds tore up our neighborhood and a lot of others. 500,000 people in Ohio with out power and 480+ schools closed today. Since many of our crews from the power companies had gone to Texas in anticipation of the hurricanes's arrival there we don't have enough to do the job here. Our crews have been recalled from down south (sorry folks) but those without power have been told that it could be 3-4 weeks before everyone has power restored. A main fiber connection is out in our area so I have to resort to using dial up at the church for a while.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those of you who have real problems compared to our minor inconveniences.

Blessings,