Update of sorts.
Hello people and greetings from Houston, TX. Home of the Astros, the Texans, Tang, and of course the site of hte latest incompetencis of FEMA.
I've *finally* gotten my laptop's wireless card to connect for the first time since I lost power. Power went out at around midnight Saturday morning, it's still out, and no clue when it'll be back on. I managed to check the power company's website and they were bragging about restoring power to 200k people in the last 24 hours. Um...wtf? They were telling everybody that they had 7k employees standing by to start working as soon as the storm passed (which was at about noon yesterday). I've only seen ONE of their trucks so far, and he wasn't even power, he was gas, checking on a reported gas leak.
FEMA was supposed to have supplies being distributed, but they dropped the ball (again). They said that they were waiting on local govt. to say where to put things, but were told around 1am this morning that Texas wanted THEM (FEMA) to handle distribituation. That's a pretty crappy response, I think. I'm lucky, in that I prepared pretty well (I have an entire deep freezer dedicated to holding bags of ice.) A LOT of people didn't, the dumb asses, and now they're hurting because of it. Gas is scarce, there's no fresh water in the city of Houston (well, there is, but we're under a boil water advisory), and with over 2 million people without power, a lot of grocery stores aren't open either.
There are mandatory curfews in effect, not that anybody is paying attention to them. I don't go out, I just stay here and try not to sweat to death. 91 degrees in the house yesterday! No a/c sucks, lol. Today was better, though. A cool front came in and temps lowered to about 85 or so. Not much, but there's a breeze, so as long as you don't move too much, you're doing ok.
Let's talk damage! Parents' house came through pretty good. Lost a tree, most of the fence in the backyard, and enough branches to build a log cabin. A bit of roof damage, but no signs of water leakage. I spent most of yesterday cutting up the tree in the front yard with a chainsaw, and then I went around the neighborhood helping others do the same. I was one of the few people with a gas powered chain saw. Everybody else had electrics. *sigh*
Today I spent putting the fence back up. My parents' will need a new one, but I was able to get it back up and brace it in place. It's ugly, but it'll last a month or two, by which time my dad and I can build a new one.
People in my neighborhood are pretty cool. They heard my generator and came over to ask what I was powering. I think they were secretly hoping I was running the a/c, but that would be a waste of fuel and the generator. Instead, I'm running the deep freezer with the ice, as well as a portable ice maker. It doesn't crank ice out fast, but it's enough to help augment what I have in the freezer, and I can give it to the neighbors to help keep their own freezers cool. The cop down the street is using his generator to run a water filter for the kids in the area, and I'm keeping him supplied with all the ice he needs in return. It's a good trade.
We did have a slight problem with some jackasses, though. People from other neighborhoods have been driving around, taking pictures, and generally ignoring the whole order to stay at your house. They saw our generators, and one of them first offered to buy it from me (he wanted to give me $500 cash for a generator that cost $5500, lol...I said no.) He then demanded I give it to him, because he needed to run the ac in his house for his pregnant wife. Um..sorry dude, by my generator is better served doing what it's doing. The cop made a call, and Ft. Bend county sheriffs came over and told the guy to stay away. I'm now providing ice for the whole culdesac, though.
*mutter* I don't really mind, but some of these neighbors suck. They didn't plan very well, and they're almost expecting those of us who did plan, to take care of them. I've lucked out, in that we still have running water, and plumbing is still at 100%. I keep the bath tubs full, of course, just in case, but so far, it's been a non-issue.
Ok, I need to get this sent. I have about 100 emails to answer, and I don't want to divery power to my computer from the freezer and ice maker too long. Besides, my wireless connection keeps coming and going.
More later, when I can.