Recovery After Ike

I want to take a moment to give you a little bit of an update on the area since Ike. It has been 7 weeks since the hurricane hit and things are not even close to being "back to normal".

I'd like to start with my drive to work in the morning. First is the causeway onto Galveston Island. There is a sign on the way in that says there will be some lane changes starting this Monday. If that means they are opening up the new side of the bridge, then they have a busy weekend ahead of them. Those lanes are still filled with boats! I counted them and I think there are close to 20 still sitting on the road. I don't foresee them opening that up until the obstacles have been removed.

I noticed a few weeks ago that there is a barge sitting in the middle of a field right next to a group of homes. It appears that none of the homes were directly affected by the giant boat that is now their neighbor. The entire road to my work on the island is lined with fences covered in trash and trash piles of crap that has been removed from the warehouses. Oh and there is the septic tank that mowed down a fence and is now resting dangerously close to the road.

Every day when I get close to work, there is a group of people (mostly guys, but there are some women) wearing Tyvek suits walking down the road. They park their vehicles and then are lead en mass to whichever building they are gutting for the day. When I first came back to work I watched a similar group, if not the same group, pull four truck loads of flooring, drywall and ceiling tiles out of the building across the street. And that was just one day!

Downtown Galveston, dubbed The Strand, is still filled with a mixture of dirt, sand and trash. Everyday the streets are lined with construction trucks and vans that are working to get the businesses back into shape for reopening. One of the restaurants, Rudy and Paco's, is working very, very hard and they don't expect to open up until New Year's day.

The bar my sister works at is still closed and probably will be for a while. Even if they were up and running, there is still a curfew that goes from 12 to 5am. Those are not conducive to proper bar hopping hours, as the bars in Galveston don't close until 2am. In the meantime, her and her boyfriend Robert are finding construction jobs here and there to keep them above water. I know they are having a tough time at the moment.

I heard that the FEMA trailers have finally started to come in, but anyone who lived on the island will have their trailer in a neighboring town. There just isn't any room for trailers. Up until October 26th, people from the Section 8 housing were living in what was named Galveston's Tent City in the middle of a neighborhood. A resident of Tent City was shot by a local homeowner, which probably pushed the need to close it down. Several of the Section 8 housing projects have been closed and condemned. No word on whether they will be repaired and reopened.

I have many, many friends who's homes were severely damaged by the storm. As of right now, it seems like everyone in Galveston is at the point where they have drywall back up, but that's it. Working with insurance is a slow and tedious process. Plus, construction businesses are so busy at the moment that it is hard to reserve someone to do the work. Chris and Alexa still do not have their house back and it looks like it will be weeks before they do.

Something else that is interesting is that the abandoned homes and properties stick out like sore thumbs. There is a house down the street from where I live that still has a yard filled with palm frond and branch debris. It doesn't look like anyone has been there to clean up since the hurricane. On the island there are many homes with yards just like that one.

I am grateful that Travis and I live in an area with minimal flooding. And for the fact that we both have good jobs that pay us well. For me it's a good job that will pay even during times like these when we can't work. I'm thankful for friends who will help us in a time of need and the ability to help friends who are in need. It may not be in the media, but southeast Texas is still rebuilding after Ike.

I added MORE photos to my Ike album on Flickr because I didn't realized they weren't online yet. They are mostly pictures of Galveston (at the end of the album).

PS - Happy Halloween!