35% have power back after Hurricane Ike

Hurricanes and Weather

This is taking a long time! The good news is that more help for the electric folks is arriving every day. Now, the outage percentage is 65%. See the latest graphic to the right. Maybe someone could shed some light on this...is it a linear relationship or does it get become exponentially more difficult to restore energy as you get into more populated areas? Just wondering.

The weather sure was pleasant today. We had some friends (without electricity) stay overnight and watched their kids all day while they did some work at their home. We had such a great time at the park and hanging out with the neighbor's kids outside. We even opened our windows even though we are lucky enough to have power.

Groceries are still sometimes hard to come by. We go through milk like water. So my neighbor volunteered to pick us up a gallon...no luck where they tried. Gas lines are long in most places. Everyone should try to conserve.

Another pleasant day on the way for Wednesday. Checked on this morning's lows...Huntsville had 56 and Sugar Land had 62. But I couldn't check too many spots because many of the weather stations were knocked out of commission by Ike.

Humidity levels begin rising on Thursday. Please try to help out a neighbor or friend by offering your home for a/c and power. We all need to reach out to help each other right now.

SPANISH FOR THE DAY
Let's do electricity...electricidad -- pronounced eh-lehc-tree-see-dahd. I can't wait for the return of the electricidad.

AND MORE
Round of appreciative applause for the garbage collection folks...they looked like they were running half staff and picking up 3 to 4 times as much trash. I gave our's a big thank you today!!!

Be safe and hang in there everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Recovering from Hurricane Ike

HURRICANES AND WEATHER

Been busy all day just trying to get back to normal. On the right, you'll see the 12 pm 9/15 restoration graphic from Centerpoint. The red is where there are still outages. As of 12 pm, 27% of customers had had power restored. I am also posting a couple pictures of my husband and neighbor trying to fix the fence. And, a view of my neighbors yard and some of our garbage. I am really impressed at how quickly folks in our neighborhood have been cleaning up.

Needless to say folks, if you are waiting to come back in, you might want to wait a little longer. You can't buy groceries if the grocery stores don't have power.

Here in the Sugar Land/Missouri City area, there are still many neighborhoods without power. Went to the store and there was a limit of 1 gallon of milk per family. I thought they had run out, but a worker was handing out 1/2 gallons from a box. There were no eggs left. There was butter. There was some large volume packages of meat and cold cuts, but no hamburger. There were a few packages of hot dogs. There was some produce and bread, but in limited quantities. Potatoes were available but just as individual potatoes.

Hey, here's a bright note, Starbuck's was open in the store.

Also, gas lines are long. So gas up before you get back into town. And if you're already here, try to conserve gas.

Ice was going fast as many still without power. Thank goodness it is cooler and less humid.

More restaurants opened today.

The forecast for the next few days...pleasant, cool mornings in the low 60s (some upper 50s outlying areas) and highs in the low to middle 80s...lots of sunshine. More humidity returns on the weekend with a few showers.

In the tropics, nice and quiet.

SPANISH WORD(S) FOR THE DAY
I thought it would be helpful to have these 2 words (well one is a short sentence)...to help which is ayudar (pronounced eye-you-dar) and help me which is ayúdame (pronounced ah-ju-dah-may). It is kind of hard to explain but the y has kind of a soft j sound. We should try to help (ayudar) each other and when we need help, we should say help me (ayúdame).

AND MORE
I am really impressed at how quickly folks in our neighborhood have been cleaning up. And for the most part, everyone is being very nice and very patient.

Be kind and be safe.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Some relief in the wake of Hurricane Ike

Hello all -
The cold front has arrived and it is a pleasant night in the Houston area. This week's drier weather will surely help the crews who are working so hard to restore power. It will also help rescuers who still hope to find people okay. And it will help with the cleanup.

Things are a mess...it get's worse as you go east and toward the coast.

Here in the Sugar Land/Missouri City/Stafford area, things are slowly improving. There are still many neighborhoods without power. A few grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations are open. If you are heading in, I would suggest filling up about an hour or so outside of town. And, maybe pick up some groceries at that distance as well...there are slim pickings here. I tried to get some eggs tonight, but there weren't any. Keep in mind, that it is going to take some time for things to get back to normal.

It's interesting how things look on the other side of a storm's impact. You realize just how many creature comforts we enjoy and how painful it is not to have them.

I hope everyone is safe. I am grateful to all the heroes: the utility workers, the insurance adjusters, the weather folks, the media--on air and behind the scenes, the emergency management people, law enforcement, fire personnel, paramedics, doctors, nurses, medical assistants, restaurant workers (who are in many places already back in place), grocery workers, convenience store workers. And I'm sure I've missed some. But, if you have worked hard and extra during all of this...thank you so much!!! Your efforts are not in vain.

Goodnight...tomorrow I'll be back with my old format.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Aftermath Ike Rain - River Flooding

We have numerous rivers/creeks/bayous still under flood warnings. Here is the latest summary from the National Weather Service.

A RIVER FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR BUFFALO BAYOU...CYPRESS CREEK...GREENS BAYOU...LUCE BAYOU...PEACH CREEK...SAN JACINTO RIVER...SPRING CREEK...WEST FORK SAN JACINTO...WHITE OAK BAYOU.PERSONS ARE URGED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE RIVER UNTIL WATER LEVELS RECEDE.MOTORISTS SHOULD AVOID ANY WATER COVERED ROADS AND FIND AN ALTERNATE ROUTE.LIVESTOCK AND EQUIPMENT SHOULD REMAIN OUT OF THE FLOOD PLAIN FOR THE NEXT FEWDAYS.

I went throught the entire list from the National Weather Service and by the way, here is the link so you can read the entire report yourself: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=HGXFLSHGX

Although some levels are still expected to rise, I didn't not see any forecast levels high enough for homes to flood. I'm not sure the extent of flooding around the Heights, but I wanted to include the statement for that location as it looks very serious from this discussion and I want to make sure that you can see that the water will start to recede some time this afternoon.

..FLOOD WARNING EXTENDED UNTIL LATE TONIGHT...THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR WHITE OAK BAYOU IN HEIGHTS BOULEVARD* UNTIL LATE TONIGHT...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED.* AT 8 AM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 43.3 FEET* MAJOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE.* FLOOD STAGE IS 32.0 FEET.* FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 45.1 FEET BY LATE THIS MORNING. THE RIVER WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE LATE THIS AFTERNOON.

Please stay away from the water everyone. Remember, also that there will be many displaced snakes. Please be careful. Keep your kids away from storm drains too!

Be safe!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Dangerous Flooding with Ike aftermath rain

Good morning all -
While the remains of Ike are up in the midwest, a trail of storms extends all the way into southeast Texas...this line of storms is also preceding the approaching cold front. Heavy rain is pounding southeast Texas this am. Here is the latest Flash Flood Warning from the National Weather Service:

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1130 AM CDT FOR... SOUTHEASTERN AUSTIN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... BRAZORIA COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... CHAMBERS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... FORT BEND COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... GALVESTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... HARRIS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... JACKSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... LIBERTY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... MATAGORDA COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... SOUTHEASTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS... WHARTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS...*

The good news is that in a few hours, this rain will begin to move out as the cold front arrives. This will bring drier and much more pleasant weather (before the sun comes out and has a chance to heat everything up!). I'm sure the rain is hampering the efforts to return everyone to power. I know everyone is trying to be patient.

Remember to never cross a flooded roadway on foot or in a car. One foot (sometimes as little as 6 inches) can sweep a person off their feet. Two feet can sweep away a car. Just always remember, TURN AROUND, DON'T DROWN.

Be safe!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Weather after Ike - Cooler Temperatures on the Way

Cold front arrives during the day on Sunday...won't feel the real difference until overnight Sunday when conditions will become much more pleasant. Morning lows will be in the 60s with highs in the low to middle 80s through Thursday...and the humidity will be low.

So just get through Sunday and things are going to feel much better!

Hang in there everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Ike Aftermath - May take 4 weeks to return all power

Here is the direct link to reports on restoring power. Note that they said it may take up to 4 weeks to restore all power. I'm assuming that is for the worst areas mainly south and east of Houston. Here is the link:
http://www.centerpointenergy.com/newsroom/stormcenter/ike/

And here is the statement from Centerpoint:
As Hurricane Ike approached Galveston Island on Friday, Sept. 12, CenterPoint Energy’s customers began to experience power outages. As of 11 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2.1 million of CenterPoint Energy’s 2.26 million customers were without power. Most of this widespread damage was caused by intense wind that blew toppled trees, broken branches and fallen debris onto power lines.
CenterPoint Energy knows the location of the power outages and requests customers call only to report safety concerns, such as downed power lines or natural gas leaks. CenterPoint Energy crews are ready to respond to any gas emergencies resulting from Hurricane Ike.
“The impact of Hurricane Ike on our service territory has been extensive and widespread, affecting more than 90 percent of our customers, which is the largest power outage event in our company’s more than 130-year history,” said Kenny Mercado, division senior vice president of CenterPoint Energy’s Electric Operations. “While service remains available to the Texas Medical Center, downtown Houston and Bush Intercontinental Airport, most of the rest of our service territory is currently without power.
“As the storm leaves our territory, we are beginning to assess the damage to our transmission and distribution systems, and more than 7,000 mutual assistance skilled personnel will begin arriving Sunday to help. However, we anticipate it will take four weeks or longer for restoration to be complete, and we may need to request additional assistance from other utilities,” Mercado added.
Watch here for the latest news and outage maps. For information on hurricane safety tips you can follow before, during and after a storm visit our Storm Center.

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman