What do you like most about Houston?? (Live Oak: live, cost of living)

[TFW46]

Alicia caused minor street flooding (after which the city underwent a major renovation of its drainage system).. Power outage was limited for hours, not days and weeks. Some traffic lights (primarily in the outlying areas) were out for a day or so, but they werent blown away entirely. Some trees were down in people's yards and on their roofs, but forty-year old trees werent uprooted into the streets. Life went on as usual for most of the city the next day; I went to work in the Galleria area the day after Alicia hit.

Do I need to post here how Ike affected the entire city?

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by texasfirewheel

Alicia caused minor street flooding (after which the city underwent a major renovation of its drainage system).. Power outage was limited for hours, not days and weeks. Some traffic lights (primarily in the outlying areas) were out for a day or so, but they werent blown away entirely. Some trees were down in people's yards and on their roofs, but forty-year old trees werent uprooted into the streets. Life went on as usual for most of the city the next day; I went to work in the Galleria area the day after Alicia hit.

Do I need to post here how Ike affected the entire city?

Essentially, the city looked like a war zone. Glass was everywhere in the streets. Houses were broken in two. Century old trees blocked the middle of major thoroughfares. There was no electricity throughout most of the city. A policeman was difficult to locate most of the time. It was anarchy. But, while there was was a huge potential for mayhem and people rioting in the streets, neighbors helped neighbors rebuild. They shared their food in full street barbeques. They looked after each other's property in the off case a looter might appear (which rarely occurred).

Unlike some cities, our jails didn't burst at the seams because of our disaster and our response to it. We handled ourselves like respectable adults. We didn't really have any major concerns with unscrupulous people until some dishonest carpetbagging contractors came in from out of town to turn a quick buck.

[TFW46]

TexasTheKid, just to clarify for those who might not know...you're referring to the aftermath of Ike, not Alicia.

[jfre81]

I'm sorry, maybe it just didn't look really look all that bad in my part of town. I personally only had power gone for 36 hours. Them's the breaks. There are a lot more people here than in '83, a lot more development - of course it's going to take people longer to get everyone back online.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by jfre81

There are a lot more people here than in '83, a lot more development - of course it's going to take people longer to get everyone back online.

You stole my thunder. I believe this is the main reason it was worse. Some structures built before 83 have sustained 2 hurricanes now as well...

But it wasn't that bad in Clear Lake, either. We lost power for only 24 hours, some parts didn't lose it at all, and others were out for a week. The damage was mainly on broken/uprooted trees, tons of tree material in the streets, destroyed fences, and traffic lights that went AWOL. I know the media was looking for Katrina II but we don't live in a hole, and we actually have a much more proactive, 'git-R-done' attitude unlike our neighbors to our east. Once the wind started slowing down Saturday afternoon, people were out cleaning up all over town.

[TFW46]

jrfe, I admire your photos so much. But are you really that much out of touch with what was going on after Ike? Since you had electricity, did you see the news reports and photos of what most of the city was experiencing? Some of my co-workers in the Heights and in the Memorial area off Dairy-Ashford were without electricity for three weeks. My daughter in Garden Oaks was without it for longer than that. You were probably smart enough not to venture out on the city streets (or lucky enough not to have to do so) so maybe you didnt see the traffic lights all over the city totally blown away and huge trees blocking many roadways. I havent even mentioned all the fences and roofs that were blown away because, in a hurricane, that's a given...although there was much more damage from Ike than from any previous hurricane (ok, I wasnt here in 1900, so I cant vouch for that one).

[jfre81]

Well yeah, if you recall, I took a walk on Westheimer four or five days later. It was on the following Thursday. I walked from Shepherd down Westheimer all the way up Smith to Gray in Midtown before taking the 82 back to where I started, and had parked my car that got a piece of roofing gravel sent through the backglass. The same one I drove, with said glass in a million pieces in the back seats, from my little corner of no-man's land where trees came down onto buildings and worked my way around said downed traffic signals. It was a lot like Alicia when that same kind of gravel from the rooftops in downtown that the winds turned into a shooting gallery; windows on the highrises were the targets.

Anyone who says there wasn't glass on the streets and that it was completely business as usual the day after Alicia wasn't here for it. No, the prolonged power outages weren't as widespread but like it had been mentioned, there were fewer people here and things were less spread out. Of course if you're living as far onto the fringe of the metropolitan area as possible you're probably going to be one of the last ones they get to. It only makes sense to work from the middle and go outward. It worked the same way in '83. There was no power in patches of Galveston County for >2 weeks after Alicia too.

Likewise, I consider Ike to be a major event because of its impact in Galveston and on Bolivar, and even in the Beaumont/Southeast Texas area before its impact on Houston proper. There are inconveniences like not having power, and calamities like not having a house anymore. I don't mean "well shucks, I have a little hole in my roof" but gone. As in living in a tent for a lot longer than anyone in Houston lived without electricity in a solid, structurally sound building. Out of the two I know which ones I feel more for.

Reason why we think power outages and downed traffic signals signify some sort of major hurricane here is because we don't really get them that much. Seriously. Ike was the first even noteworthy one since '83, and last big one before that was '61. There was one in '43 that was made worse because of wartime censorship of storm reports, another one in '15, then the infamous one of 1900. So even going back that far, you're seeing 15-25 year gaps and nobody can really come up more of a horror story than "OMG I'M IN KINGWOOD AND IT'S BEEN FIVE DAYS WITHOUT POWER!" That's more of what I heard on radio and TV more than anything, and it didn't take long to get me to quit bothering with listening to these whiners, going on about Brennan's burning down and showing an occasional blown shingle or a tree through someone's roof in the heart of Houston. Compare that to images of South Florida after Andrew in 1992, or Louisana and Mississippi after Katrina. Doesn't even come close.

[Headin2Texas]

Just the fact I do not live in New Jersey anymore.

[D-Towner]

Originally Posted by I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA

Hey I'll go for the Cowboys/Texans Super Bowl Of course the Cowboys will win, because they are the best in Texas!

You are a traitor to the greater Houston area...may the overlords of H-Town not smite those who root against the sports teams down there.

[D-Towner]

Originally Posted by Headin2Texas

Just the fact I do not live in New Jersey anymore.

Friend, if I move to New Jersey...it will officially become the coolest state in the Union. I can't allow this manner of speech towards the Garden State.