Twelve months since Ike hit TX. 5 years since Jeanne, Francis, Charlie hit us.

[madfloridian]

A Texas blogger has a moving remembrance up today at his blog about the loss of their home on Bolivar Peninsula last year. We lost nothing 5 years ago in material things, but the stress lingered.

Hurricane Ike One year Anniversary.

It's been twelve months since Hurricane Ike slammed into the upper Texas Coast and destroyed our home on Bolivar Peninsula. Virtually everything we owned was swept away in the storm's 20-ft tidal surge.

On the morning we evacuated, we were running around frantically trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind. But our options were limited. After we'd loaded the animals into the vehicles, there was little room for anything else. We grabbed the computer, a change of clothes, toiletry items, a lock-box with important papers. I remember lingering at the bottom of the stairs that day and taking a final look at the property. It was 48 hours before the storm made landfall and already waves were crashing against the Geotube, sending ocean spray across the front deck. About fifty yards behind the main house was the small guest cabin that we rented to famlies during summer months. (Income from that helped pay for windstorm insurance, which turned out to be absolutely worthless.) I fondly surveyed our two and a half acres of subprime but treasured real estate, thinking about all the changes we'd made over the years: the constant roof repairs, interior/exterior painting, windows replaced, doors hung, carpet laid, water lines dug. And of course the land itself. When we first moved to the beach the ground was covered with broken shells, dried seaweed, and fire ant mounds. It took a long time to coax greenery from the salty soil. As I stood there looking at the land and the shoreline, and the houses, I somehow knew that would be the last time I saw it

Max, thanks for sharing.

We lost nothing material during our 3 hurricanes, but we lost a long time neighbor who could not handle the stress. The hurricanes have left scars in all of us.

[Warpy]

1. The problem is building on fragile land and expecting to keep it

Those folks were luckier than the rest of us who only got to experience it for a week or two on vacations that were long apart. The price they paid for it was much higher than ours, though.

All oceanfront property is doomed, I'm afraid. It's only a matter of time before Mother Nature reclaims the shore.

I hope these folks can rebuild their lives. They'll always have their memories of living the dream.

[madfloridian]

2. We grew up with week long vacations at Florida's Gulf beaches.

It was before the big high-rises starting taking over.

The natural plants that protected the coastline were still there.

There was a time it might not have inevitable, but we did not respect and protect our natural resources.

[TxRider]

12. As it has always been, and always will be.

The sea cares not for our works..

[madfloridian]

3. Something I wrote about after Jeanne hit our city. It was devastating.

Jeanne was devastating to our city...worse than Donna, Frances, or Charley

We just got power back, most of the grocery stores are still getting power, we have joined the masses searching for ice each day. Over half the schools are without power. Very painful to see the mess. We have our house intact, but in a one block area 3 trees fell on houses....huge trees.

It is hard to think of it too much. We lost our two favorite restaurants, the Outback and Beef O Brady's. (They were rebuilt)

But the worst and the saddest part, our elderly neighbor who lived alone with his two beloved poodles, was found dead this morning by the woman who comes to clean.

He was very nervous yesterday, and the heat was really getting to him. We told him he could stay with us, though we had no air either, but he refused to do it. We said he could bring the dogs, but he wanted to stay home. His huge oak fell on a neighbor's house, he was worried, fearful, and just was not able to withstand 3 hurricanes in 6 weeks.

We talked with him a lot yesterday, hubby went to check on him and the police were there. We have cried a lot over this. He was so alone.

[RockaFowler]

4. Hey Mad where are you in FL

I was living in Lake Worth when Jeanne and Frances hit. We lived in a Mobile Home back then. Those 2 hurricanes were the reason we moved into a CBS home a year later.

[madfloridian]

20. Inland..

in Central Florida.

But like Donna, those 3 hurricanes took a large toll inland as well. They were still hurricanes when they came inland...just not a 4 or 5.

In Lake Worth didn't you take the brunt of Francis? I can't remember exactly where it came in...but I know it was north of Miami.

[texanwitch]

5. I knew Ike was coming our way and got ready early.

I will always remember the wind howling and the sound of the carport next tearing apart for two hours.

Two weeks without power, I did like the quiet at night.

Houston did slow down for awhile.

I still don't take ice for granted.

[madfloridian]

21. We wore ourselves out finding ice. Our fingers did the dialing.

It was the most bruising part of it.

The first day the power was out, one radio channel cleared their agenda to have businesses that were still working call in, to let us all know where to find stuff.

But at 7 the 2nd day they announced the return to canned stuff.

There was no local way to find out anything. Our kids would call us from other states to keep us up on daily events.

We have a generator now, hope we never have to use it.

[AnneD]

22. Or hot water.....

my neighbors, or a hot meal 0r even a meal. Ike brought some good like lessons with him. Throwing a shower party at your house has new meaning and a candle light dinner might be nice but not as romantic as it once was but story telling by candle light must be imprinted deep in our DNA because it is still the best entertainment. The biggest take away lesson-no one is so independent as to survive by them selves. We are pack animals and need each other. Sharing means mutual survival and some folks need to have that lesson taught to them again.

Imagine your city without traffic lights. Now imagine the 4th largest city in the US with out them for weeks or even power for as long. Could you survive? The government didn't do as much for us as we did for each other. Those with shared with those that didn't.

I had power back quickly and had power back in a day. I recharged friends phones, computers, and had many over for hot showers, wash clothes, and to listen for news. It was rough, but we made it through all right. Now we just want the insurance companies and government to do what's right so we can get back to our lives.

[maxintexas]

6. From the Ike guy...

Hey, madflo. In the 10 years we lived on the peninsula we there were 3 hurricanes besides Ike - Claudette, Humberto, and Rita. We evacuated for Rita, and rode out the other two. I made a video of our experience with Hurricane Humberto, here: http://www.progressivepuppy.com/the_progressive_puppy/2008/07/remembering-hur.html

About two-thirds of the way through the vid, a window shatters and glass shards start flying through the house. It was kinda scary. My partner and I were probably foolish to move that close to the water, but it had always been a dream of ours. Now we're hoping to find a little farm in Tornado Alley... :crazy:

[madfloridian]

9. Well, we live in the Lightning Capital of the country....

and a wee bit prone to hurricanes also.

Guess there is nowhere to live that doesn't have some risks.

:hi:

[Dr.Phool]

7. I remember Francis and Jeanne well.

Charlie was forecast to come right up our driveway. About 5 hours before it was supposed to hit, it made it's notorious right turn into Port Charlotte. We never got so much as a drizzle or a breeze from that. We were sitting at the golf course, around the corner that morning sipping Bloody Mary's.

I was in Cleveland for a wedding the week-end that Francis hit. We were supposed to fly back into Tampa the day it hit. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours, and I remember watching the Weather Channel in the airport bar. The thing was sitting right on top of my house. On our descent into Tampa, we hit a couple of bands of storms. We were hoping we still had a car. We had parked on the roof of the airport garage. We had some minor roof damage, and it blew the fence down in my back yard.

Jeanne was the worst for us. I was sitting in my living room watching my pool cage bending back and forth. All the screens blew out, but the structure survived, but was weakened. I could hear the solar panels being ripped off the roof. Blew the fence down again.

But, no injuries, and the dogs were fine.

[madfloridian]

8. I remember that notorious sharp right turn Charlie took at Port Charlotte.

Listening to one of the stations, they said oh look...it is taking a right turn. The others ignored that turn for hours. If they had noticed it would have helped.

Jeanne was the worst for us as well as far as damage.

[Mojorabbit]

11. I still mourn the ancient oaks

I lost when Charlie hit us. They were magnificent draped with spanish moss. The roof, the truck, etc all those things could be repaired or replaced but not those old oaks.

[madfloridian]

24. Here are pictures of two ancient oaks that fell during Jeanne

That's when we lost power so long.

[tammywammy]

10. The entire town where most of my family lives was flooded

Well, I believe there was around 8 houses in the whole town of Bridge City that didn't get any flooding. A cousin was building their home at the time, and it luckily didn't get any flood water, since the mobile home they were living in was completely flooded. They at least had a roof to go over their heads, even though it was in a construction zone.

My grandfather, who's 88, said that after they had pulled every thing out of his house and it was just in piles on his front lawn "That's it, that's 80 years of hard work right there." He had over 5 feet of water in his house.

[madfloridian]

14. That picture is heartbreaking.

Thank you for sharing that story.

[tammywammy]

15. He was lucky, he always purchased flood insurance

I have a cousin that was expecting their second child in Dec. They didn't have flood insurance, and those FEMA trailers are tiny. They took the money FEMA gave them and her husband busted his butt to get the house ready before she gave birth, so there would be a proper home for them to go to.

My grandfather used a local contractor to fix up his house, and that man told his workers "We need to get this man out of that trailer, he doesn't belong in there, he belongs in his house." It was eerie the first time I went down there after Ike. It was so spooky, it was all foggy and when I got back into his subdivision, it was a lot darker than usual and there were these strange white trailers everywhere. It was just spooky, these trailers on their front lawns and driveways. And when you drove around during the day, you could just see straight through the houses. Everything had been torn out inside, it was just studs, so you could see straight through. Another mile or so away from where my Grandpa lives, there were houses with a whole side of them torn off. The destruction was incredible, and my aunt was telling me, "and this looks better than 3 months ago." The town grocery store just reopened in June, before they just had like 3 mobile home sized trailers out front for groceries.

Bridge City is kind of small, so you don't hear a lot about it. Plus it has the ability to cut off access to itself, I mean you have to take a bridge to get into it. When we saw the pictures of the flooding, it was just horrible. I know that an aunt and uncle refrained from telling my grandpa about it for a few days. He told me after the fact that that's when he knew it was bad, when no one was really talking about it.

[madfloridian]

18. Our area didn't have much flood damage....but it took years for repairs.

We had neighbors who still had blue tarps on their roofs two years later. There was just no one to fix things, no material for roofing with all the demand.

[tammywammy]

19. Yes, they were lucky that Rita didn't cause too much damage

I mean there was damage, but my family was lucky they didn't really have any. I don't think my grandpa even had to get a new roof. And then you have the "contractors" that come into the area and just gouge the people. My grandpa took bids from a few people, but ultimately went with the gentleman he knew from church. He figured if someone ever went wrong, at least the guy was from around there. I have to say that Mr. Clark did an excellent job on his house. :) I was so glad when he got to move out of that damn FEMA trailer. :)

[tammywammy]

13. kick n/t

[Romulox]

16. How in the world did water get into our oceanfront home???

:shrug:

[madfloridian]

17. That's unnecessary.

And not very nice.

[AnneD]

23. You didn't have to own an ocean front home.....

to get sea water or even water into your home. You would think over 50+ miles from the shore would be safe enough. Spare us the sarcasm and ignorance.