Hurricane Ike

Now that our live has gone back to somewhat of a normal state, I finally have time to recount of experience of Hurricane Ike.

I've heard about the hurricane as I heard about all the previous ones (Gusteauv, Eduard, etc.) because we don't have time to watch the news everyday. On Wednesday, September 10th, I heard people saying that it's heading our way. As with any other hurricane, we are still waiting on the final word yet still got ourselves ready in the meantime

On Thursday, I still didn't realize the severity of the storm until my co-worker called me on my way in that the director has cancelled all meetings for the day so they can discuss the storm. I looked up the news of the storm on the web and started to get worry. I didn't even realize there is a mandatory evacuation for Galveston and other areas. I called my mom to warn her about the storm and my sisters to discuss if they think we should evacuate even though we are not in one of the threatened areas. Both of them said they don't plan to and my little sister said if we are leaving then to go without her since she doesn't want to drive to Dallas for 10 hours like when we evacuated for Rita.

My concern and anxiety grows as the day progress. As last minute preparations, I made sure Hieu got gas, milk, and some cash to prepare for the hurricane. My little sister got some fruits, veggies, baby food, and bread. It was our first hurricane, as in most people here, so we weren’t sure what to expect. This is one of those times that we are thankful for my stockpile because we didn't have to worry about bottled water, crackers, soup, spaghetti sauce, cereal, etc. I talked to several of my co-workers on what they plan to do and most are concerned but planned to ride out the storm at their house. I truly didn't know what to do because I keep imagine those horrific storm images that you see in the news and in the movies. I don't want to put my kids through that drama. However, if we decide to evacuate then we'll have to sit in the traffic for who knows how long. We don't want to do that to our kids either. It was so much easier with Rita a few years ago when we can just pick up and leave.

Hieu and I keep kicking back and forth on what we should do and we decide to pack a bag and leave Friday morning if we need to. We kicked our preparation in high gear on Thursday night when the media keep stressing how large this storm is.

Friday we all get to stay home from work and it's an entire day of anxiety as we wait for the storm to come. We were glued on to the news all day and I think the kids sensed our anxiety because they were a bit fussy and clingy. We cleaned out the hallway closet that's right under the stairs in case we have to get in there. I put the emergency box, a box of toys, baby food, formula, bottle, sippy cup, snacks, cereal, bread, flashlights, and blankets. I just didn't know how long we'll have to be in there if we need to be in there. I even discuss with Hieu about which kid to grab we need to get them out of the room.

We watched on TV how the water surge coming up much quicker than expected at Galveston and was already 16 feet high 10 hours before Ike was suppose to make landfall. We heard the coast guards had 150 emergency calls to rescue people who didn't want to evacuate. (Don't even get me started on that topic!) I cooked 2 large meals for us in case we can't cook for several days. I also made a large pot of rice and made sure we have the gas cans for the portable stove that we have in the garage. We put extra water bottles in the freezer and plastic canisters to make ice in case we lost power. Hieu put the van in the garage and put our suitcase in the car in case we need to get out quickly. We also make sure our phones and laptops are charged, and put all the keys in one place. We put all our important documents in the safe and put it in a high area. Anything valuable we put it on the second floor and in the closet in case the windows break. We filled up all our bathtubs with water in case the water stop running.

We live right across the retention pool so I am very worry about flooding. I keep kicking myself for not getting flood insurance before this hurricane season started. After I put the kids to sleep; Hieu, myself, my little sister, and my brother-in-law all camped out in the family room and wait for the storm to come. Hieu put on a pot of coffee and we planned to stay up all night to monitor the storm. We didn’t want to sleep and miss a tornado or an opportunity when I should move my kids to a safer area. The room we camped out to wait for the storm has a wall of 6 large windows. Our master room where the kids sleep in have 3 large ones. Thankfully it's facing away from where the hurricane hit us.

At 11 o'clock, we can hear the wind starts to pick up and the rain drizzles a bit. That's when our power went out. We were expecting it already and have a backup radio/TV where we listen to the news. I decide to be in the room to watch the kids since we don’t have a camera nor monitor to see them anymore. I keep coming in and out of the room the check on the storm and on everyone. At about 3 o'clock in the morning is when it was the scariest. The wind was howling above us and you can feel the pressure building inside the house. The wind was pounding on our front door so bad that Hieu has to put some cushion and a ladder to keep the glass from breaking. The garage was howling from the air vent and rain was pounding down on the house. It feels like all the windows will burst any minute and the storm will break into our house at any second. I asked Hieu if this is the worst of it and he assured me it is. My sister told me that we are just on the outskirt of the storm and the eye is heading for downtown. I immediately think of the people living in downtown and how scary it must be for them. This is already scary enough for us; I can't even imagine what they have to endure. I also used text messaging throughout the night to check on my friends and family to see how they were doing.

About 5 o'clock the storm died down and Hieu was right, the worst was over. I prayed that the kids would sleep through the entire storm and my prayers were answered. Our room was amazingly quiet and you can hardly hear the storm in there. I really think someone is watching out for them.

As dawn breaks, we start to assess the damage of Hurricane Ike. Our neighbor's homes have lots of missing shingles and we thought for sure we would too because our house situates on the corner. Miraculously, there is no physical damage to our house. The only damage is a few fallen sections of the fence. We got so lucky compare to our neighbors and my parent's home. My parents’ house lost some shingles that cause the house to leak in many places. One of our neighbor's house lost both of their oak trees in the front, one my co-worker lost 1/2 her roof, the front 1/2 of my dad's friend's house collapsed, and Hieu's co-worker lost the whole front foyer. There were so many tree branches and leaves on the road.

Saturday was hot and humid with no electricity and no AC. Even though we were uncomfortable, we were still thankful that we have running water and gas. I felt so bad for the kids because Ky-An was sweating all day and Ai-Vy developed a heat rash. We had two little portable fans blowing at them but all it blew was hot air. Ai-Vy was so uncomfortable that she was in a bad mood and clingy all day. The house felt humid and really icky. The carpet was really gross to walk on because it feels moist. We were sticking to everything and every time I sat on the couch, I jokingly asked my sister to peel me off.

We tried not to open the fridge and the freezer too much to keep it as cold as we can. We put the milk in a cooler and pour some ice on it. At the end of the day our ice is melting but luckily Chi's restaurant has an ice machine so he and his mom delivered us a full chest! We pile everyone in the van at about 6p.m. to take a tour to my parent's house and to give everyone some AC relief. It was such an uncomfortable day that I told Hieu if we still don't get power by Sunday then we are leaving to be with my sister in Dallas. I just don't think the kids can stand another day of this heat.

I put Ai-Vy to sleep when we got home and wanted to cry because she had such a hard time going to sleep because of the heat. Every time I try to fan her or put on a portable fan, she tried to grab at it. I felt even worst for the rash that's still on her body. The poor thing finally went to sleep after being so exhausted. I heard a lot of noise outside as I put her down to her bed and went out to see what the commotion was about. They pointed to the light and informed me WE HAVE POWER!!! Those are just music to my ears and I started cheering with them. You'd be amaze at how many of your problems are solved with just electricity. I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my chest and all is well in our world again.

We immediately text my parents to let them know we have power but didn't receive a reply. Hieu, being a great son-in-law, drove over to their house and took them back to our place to get some relief. They slept over since Saturday until today when they finally got power back in their neighborhood. Believe me; I know how lucky we are.

Even though things are relatively back to normal in our house after the power came back, it wasn’t so for so many others. I went to Kroger's yesterday and felt awful for the long line of people waiting for ice there. They limit everyone to 2 bags but the machine only makes 6 bags of ice in one hour and the line is about 30 plus people. That would mean only 3 people will get their ice per hour. I put my groceries in the van and came back to see if I can help someone. I approached an old Asian lady at the beginning of the line and asked if she would like some ice. I explained to her that we have our power back and won't need it so if she would like them she is welcome. The guy behind her overheard us and thanks me for being kind. I felt bad that I couldn't offer the ice to him also because he was in a wheelchair and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for him with no power and having to sit there waiting for ice. I regret I didn't tell him so instead of just smiled.

The lady followed me home and I went to get her some ice from the freezer in the garage. I was a little surprise at how some of the ice seem to have been melted and the freezer didn’t seem to be working. She was thankful regardless. I went in to ask Hieu about it and found out he unplugged the freezer the day before to cut some wood and FORGOT to plug it back. Needless to say I was livid with him. I was worry about the stuff in the freezer when we had the outage and was so relief that everything still seem to be frozen when the power came back on. His unplugging was even longer than the outage and it caused some of my stuff to defrost. I still can't believe how he can forget such an important thing. It's odd though that I tried to help someone else out and they end up helping me instead.

Well that brought us to today, Tuesday September 16th. Hieu and I are still out of work and things are still trying to be back to normal. There are many people using the generator until their power comes back on and got sick from carbon monoxide poisoning. People don't seem to read their directions carefully and operate these generators in the garage or inside the house. One 4-year-old boy died from the poisoning and 2 men in a trailer also died from it. People still line up for gas and groceries stores are still a little bare. Most stores have to throw away their frozen stuff because of the outage and produce is very expensive. There were no eggs when I went to Kroger's on Tuesday and had to buy some organic ones for over $4 a dozen! With no coupon!!!

We mulled over what to do with our camping trip this weekend but decide we will go ahead with it. Everyone already asked for vacation days off, the cabin is already paid for, and I think it'll be good for us to get out of the city for a little while.

I hope everyone is staying safe and my thoughts are with the families who are still suffering after the storm.