The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave (expats)... All Those in the US!

[UnderRated]

I just finished the old thread by accident

i have been unable to get through to them at all.

even on cell phones.

three other people i know with close relatives in houston and the galveston area have been similarly unsuccessful.

I expect it'll take a while for it to be sorted out too

There's probably nothing any of us can do, but do say if you think of something.

i'm most concerned for my sister and her family in league city.

our family home has - touch wood - never flooded, even during Carla.

i remember the street flooded during Alicia, but not the house.

it's a ranch-style, too.

but my sister, i'm not so sure.

she's in zip code 77573.

i know that she appeared on channel 13 yesterday, in an interview, because my aunt told me.

heard that Ike put power out, if that's any help expat?

oh, yes, the hurricanes will always take out power. if the storm doesn't, the power company will shut off supply because of the fire and electrocution risks from downed lines with a bunch of water around.

and i'm assuming there's interference with the cell phone masts.

no A/C, no clean water, flood water full of mosquitos, schools of water moccassins, raw sewage and fire ants = misery.

i remember Alicia! and my mother kept insisting as of last week that she was 'only a tropical storm'. i told her she was getting dementia. Alicia was a Cat 3 hurricane.

Expat I don't want to worry you, but that's one of the mandatory evac areas so I'm sure you sister will be much further inland by now. The storm surges were no were near as bad thank goodness. Let me know if there's anything we expats can do to help by trying to get in touch. 2million are without power at the moment and I guess all telecomms are severely disrupted.

i don't know when the evac order became mandatory, though, ali.

last i checked - about midnight - it was 77571.

their officials completely dropped the ball on the evacs, especially galveston's utterly useless mayor.

told them to hunker down after the hurricane rita fracas.

then when they twigged how high the water was going to get, it was literally too late for people to flee as there would be a serious risk of getting stranded on the road during the storm.

now it's all about how they 'refused to evacuate'.

i know the kids were out of school only on the friday, as my niece is a freshman at Clear Creek High and i spoke to her yesterday.

This website says they did not have a Mandatory evacuation but that residents were encouraged to leave voluntarily. Helpful, eh?

i've had channel 11 khou live stream on ALL DAY and it was on all night till they had to cut out.

and CNN as well.

expat, your family will be fine. You would have heard if they weren't. May be damage to property, but am sure their safety is what you're worried about.

Cannot get a phone line to NM - not sure if Ike related....

i think the phone lines might be jammed up all over the country, ilove.

lots of people trying to phone in and out.

NM?

new mexico

Oh yes, sorry

I am listening to the Proms. It is making me cry

and

at Califrau

Lots of wind and rain here. We lost power for 4 days with Gustav and water for 1. Have located flashlights for tonight. We have a very large tree right next to the house that seems to have shifted during Gustav. Am hoping it stays put!

Oh, Jabber, I hope it stays put too. Do you have an emergency box all sorted out?

I was thinking that too, Cali

Hope your trees stay put, and power and water stay on.

How's your flooding doing, SB. DH is very worried after FIL told him about flooding in Chicago. I told him it looks great when we get there, and stop worrying. I'm kind of liking living here in the NW with no hurricanes, tornadoes, and lots of rain, just spread out over the year.

No emergency box as such, but I think we're OK. Dh and I are eating fruit bars in case the freezer goes out again My biggest worry last time was keeping the dcs vaccines safe. They get their MMR vax done in singles and I have the measles one still in the fridge for ds1, lol.

I think downtown will be fine, Dooney. The problems are in the burbs and NW Indiana. But there are enormous puddles and the parking lots have disappeared under water. I am glad I don't have a basement. The forecast for the week looks good though. You'll be ok

Oh Jabber, that would be a worry. Hope this doesn't come to anything and that there is no repeat of Gustav.