Hurricane Ike is currently heading straight at Houston. Right now, I'm trying to decide whether we flee or stay. I'm about 50 miles inland. Nonetheless, winds could easily reach 100 mph as the storm passes through my area early Saturday morning.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5day?large

 

whatever you do, best of luck to you and your family. Hope everyone stays safe

 

you of all people should have a diagram of how to get the F out!

gl bro

 

hahahahaha

thoughts and prayers go out to you and all those that this storm will affect

 

Thanks to all. Humor is always good. I followed my "diagram" to San Antonio, where my family and I are now safely staying at a Hotel for the next three days. Just hoping I will have an intact home to return to in Houston.

 

good luck to you and your family

 

assuming they build the houses there up to code, it should be fine.
i live in FL and we've been hit by worse (category 4, a couple of 'em in a row), and the worst that ever happened was a few shingles came off my roof, and in the eye of the storm (the calm part, in case anyone doesn't know, so don't call us crazy) we went on the roof and put up a tarp and nailed it to the roof with boards.

Either way though, good luck. I think you'd not have to worry about the storm surge being that far inland

 

Yeah, we are far enough inland not to be affected by storm surge. High wind appears to be the primary source of damage -- many trees and limbs down, minor roof damage, and more important - wide spread power outage. Red in the map below depicts areas that currently have no electricity. Note: Red is basically all populated areas of Houston, which is the fourth largest city in terms of population in the United States. For this reason, we remain in a San Antonio hotel at least through today.

 

did you do okay?

 

Yes, thanks -- in fact, better than many. We were very fortunate. Power was restored Sunday afternoon, so we returned to Houston late that day. No visible damage to my house. One portion of our backyard fence was knocked down -- this should be a pretty easy and painless fix. Internet has been a bit patchy, but nothing to complain about given that many in Houston are still awaiting restoration of power. Some grocery stores and gas stations are still out. Though, because we have gas-saving Civics, we have not needed to visit a gas station since our return!