Ike... this says it all.

[Oldman]

Click to Enlarge Image


Olds

[Gizmo]

Been some incredible picture of the Galvaston and Houston area.
Your picture is in this set of 28 pictures.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
My son's apartment was in the path of the eye.  It was quite shocking to see some of the live video the Weather Channel was shoot just a mile or so from his apartment of the boats capsized in Nassau Bay.  He now has a carport roof 4 ft from his bedroom window.  Knowing the storm was going to be significant and they were going to be in the eye, he left last week Wednesday and traveled up to a friends house in Tyler.  Opps, Tyler was in the eye as well but only as a CAT 1 (Tyler is just east of Dallas).  They were fine there.  Monday he went back to his apartment as was fortunate the power outage was their only loss (food in the refrigerator).  He didn't say if the other appartments were spared but all the carports were destroyed.  He went to another friends house in Austin this morning to escape the heat as without power, they had no AC.  One of the websites reports they got power restored today.  He will probably go back home tomorrow now that it looks like they have power.  Quite an eventful 1st month welcome to Texas for him.  2 tropical storms and a cat2/3 hurricane. 

[Oldman]

WoW those images really say it all.

Glad your boy is ok.

Olds

[Gizmo]

He didn't return to his appartment after all.  Still no power.   :(

[Gizmo]

My son got power back on Thursday.  He thinks it was Karma as he volunteered to help out folks around Galvaston.  They were escorted into areas to work.  They gutted a house on Thursday and the resident was very gratefull for their help and wished them well.  When he returned home, they had power.  Friday, they shoveled mud and debris out of garages then powerwashed the concrete.  This was in the area they called ground zero as it had the most destruction.  One of the surviving houses he was at today (on Tiki Island) was up on stilts.  The length of the stilts go from 16 ft below the ground to 16ft above.  The water was up 8 feet inside the garage.  One of the walls inside the house was bowed so there is structural damage inside.  My son estimated the floor of the garage is about 8 to 10 feet above sea level, so they had a tidal surge around 16 to 18 feet.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry to hear your son had to go through that, but glad that he is back home.