24 Hours in Fema 3 Hours Late?

Just heard the evening press conference with Houston officials on 740 AM radio.

Apparently, supplies were originally supposed to be delivered to Reliant Stadium, the Texas state government was supposed to take these supplies to 17 'Pod' sites across the greater Houston area.

However, while the supplies were delivered on time, Texas was unable to fulfill its obligations because most of the rest of the Texas coast is a giant pile of rubble right now. Because of this the National Guard troopers supposed to transfer food and ice to 'Pods' were instead deployed to look for survivors in the wreckage of the gulf coast.

Such deployments of resources and supplies sound incredibly reasonable to me. I mean, we have our health and house and there is a mexican restaurant open with power not 10 miles away from us... lets leave the National Guard to find the people who are treading water (literally) in Galveston...

oh, 'POD' = Point of Distribution

Instead of Texas distributing the materials, Bill White (Houston Mayor) and Judge Emmett (Harris County Judge) offered to have city volunteers distribute the supplies to the PODS.

The PODS have emergency ice, water, and some basic food items.

The Net result of all of this drama? The PODS were brought online at 7 PM instead of 4 PM. This is mainly because the City received an additional 3" of rain today from another front that moved through.

Why are the press trying to tear these guys apart? 24 Hours after Katrina, the first levees were breaking... I think Texas, Bill White, FEMA, and Judge Emmett are doing a pretty damn good job so far if you ask me.

They told you ahead of time, to have non-perishable food, a grill, a generator, and some basic food stuffs. We are 24 hours after the storm. Eat some cereal, have some crackers, there is a cold front coming through, so enjoy the great weather, and quit complaining people. This is a natural disaster on a major scale. There are people who died. Get over not having cable.

Alive but Damaged after IKE

Had a car get a rear winshield blown out and beat up pretty good. House made it through okay. Intermittent cell bandwidth access. When I can get access to EVDO I'll upload a ton of pics and videos.

Most people here are safe but some people are starting to get hungry...

Have had virtually no news since the storm hit.

Will update again as able.

Pressure Dropping

The pressure is dropping here very quickly. My ears are constantly popping and the doors in the house keep swinging on their hinges (no, they don't normally do that).

Eye of Ike over Galveston

The first edge of the eye is over Galveston. Looks like the seawall is pretty much being destroyed by the minute. Here in Spring the rain is intensifying a bit and the power is mostly on but flashing on and off. The last flicker put our power down for about 3 minutes, the intervals are getting longer with each interruption.

So far we are hanging in there.

81 Billion in possible Damage?

Govenor Rick Perry is talking right now saying that the storm could cause 81 billion dollars worth of damage to Texas. I talked a little bit about the most destructive storms yesterday and...

power just went. signing off for a bit.

Storms picking up

Midnight here and the very first outer bands are starting to run through. Getting some decent wind gusts and starting to rain a bit.

Sill have power but have had it pop on and off a few times.

Galveston looks like it's being hit really hard right now

Going Ike Surfing...

taken by a local station almost 10 hours ago... can't imagine what Galveston looks like right now.