Ike: How bad is it going to be in Dallas? (Houston: appointed, Home Depot)

[Grainraiser]

I moved to Houston 2 days after Alicia. I had never seen 4ft diameter trees pulled up like weeds and layed on their sides. I remember getting hard rains in Dallas but it was nothing like Houston got. If I would have owned a chainsaw I could have paid UH expenses two years in advance.

[Lakewooder]

Then you have to watch for all the snakes once the water drains...according to my Houston friends.

The main thing I remember about Alicia is that I was in San Antonio eating at Mi Tierra - stayed in there all afternoon.

[5stones]

Then you have to watch for all the snakes once the water drains...according to my Houston friends.

yes! in backyard pools etc... we had a water moccosian in ours!!

[Kootr]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Then you have to watch for all the snakes once the water drains...according to my Houston friends.

The main thing I remember about Alicia is that I was in San Antonio eating at Mi Tierra - stayed in there all afternoon.

[SIZE=3]GARDEN SNAKES CAN BE DANGEROUS...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Garden Grass Snakes also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis)
can be dangerous. Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why.

A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted plants. During a
recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to
protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one
of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife
saw it go under the sofa.

She let out a very loud scream.

The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room
naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake
under the sofa

He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About
that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He
thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the
floor.

His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up,
told him to lie still and called an ambulance.

The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him
on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.

About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the
Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the
stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in
the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she
called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed
himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.
Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the
sofa in relief.

But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where
she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the
snake rushed back under the sofa.

The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR
to revive her.

The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the
grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and
slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned
goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed
stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor
lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that
the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small
bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it dow n the man's throat.

By now, the police had arrived. Breath here......

They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a
drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when
the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green
snake.

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his
sobbing wife.

Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of
the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and
hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it
shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the
window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped up
and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it
and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire
department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they
were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead
wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a
ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house
was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all
was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a
cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought
they should bring in their plants for the night.

And that's when he shot her.[/SIZE]

[5stones]

^LOL
That reminds me of my Dad telling how changing out a .50 cent light bulb cost over $5000 in home repairs!

OK, I just got home from getting my hurricane preparedness items....beer, wine, milk, bread, peanut butter and Toilet paper. We are good for a week!

But seriously...the flooding down south is looking bad. I don't theink the seawall was breached during Alicia. most of the flooding then was west end... and so far the flooding is almost as bad now as it was after Alicia came ashore.

Hard to believe that we are under a Tropical storm warning all the way up here. I'd bet that if you had flooding last summer, you will probably be getting it again. The storm that went through here in Feb caused alot of wind damage, trees, fences etc... so i would say it will be simuliar, but just longer lasting.

Take care and have a good weekend!!

[stargazer]

Well I am worried, I have a nephew with his pregnant wife who is due the 17th, dialated to 4 1/2 centimeters, not in labor yet, who had to evacuate their home. They are having their baby at Memorial Hospital over in downtown Houston. They got a room at a hotel that is connected to the hosptial they are set to deliver at through a skyway. My husband just called and told me H-towns downtown will be flooded. I am SO WORRIED right now about them. My sister is in Waller and I am worried about the roof. She doesn't live in a subdivision , out on a ranch with the closest neighbor being about 1/2 mile away. I am worried about the wind. For us, I don't know but am worried. I know that a hurricane can come miles inland. I had Charly destroy my property in Geneva Florida over 200 miles away. My house was ok but I lost every pine tree when all was said and done. I live now under the canopy of cedar elm trees that are about 80 years old, one I believe is much older. I believe they can make it due to having a strong root system but am so worried that they can fall and hit our roof and hurt my family. I also am worried they will hurt my neighbors and I don't know how I can take it if it they hurt anyone. I have been looking up wind stats and from what I have seen, that smaller trees will go before the larger ones due to established root systems. I though am not comforted. We have a small shelter inside our home and will take cover under the stairs if necessary.
Does anyone know if a tree falls in the street, if we call the city in Mckinney or should it be handled privately? My insurance agent lives 2 houses away. You think I would know what to do. All my trees in Florida fell on my acreage, I don't have experience with understanding the process of what to do if they fell on a public street though.

Before





Home now-

Trees in backyard

Canopy at top , this is not a current picture.

[unexpected]

It looks like it keeps swing more and more west- I think we may miss the storm entirely now!

[_Charles_]

The trajectory has Ike passing east of DFW and over Tyler. I wold imagine the bands are large enough to dump plenty of rain on DFW, but you will not be getting the brunt of it.

[Kootr]

The winds are picking up as it moves closer to us. It looks like we'll be on Ike's west side so we'll be sparred the heaviest wind still associated with the storm. However, I suspect we'll get a goodly amount of rain and gusty winds later this afternoon and evening.

[caligurltotx]

Well now I can look forward to higher gas prices again for my 1420 mile drive!! Always something! Thanks Ike.