After Ike

It is Saturday, and broad daylight has shown us what happened with Ike last night.

There is quite a bit of destruction.

Here are some photos that I found:

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/weather/17465520/detail.html

And a few broadcasts of Houston news stations:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17467286/

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=weather/hurricane&id=6375108

One of Houston's signature restaurants for the last 40 years, Brennan's, has burned to the ground after a transformer blew.

Galveston is quite devastated. There are starting to be a multitude of photos coming out of the island showing utter destruction of homes, and severe flooding of businesses.

Downtown Houston seems to be ok, though many of the skyscrapers have been damaged and trees bent over like a blade of grass.

We are still in Lafayette, and of everyone I know in Houston, only one still has power. One friend has said that power may not be restored for a week. However, local Houston broadcasts, which I am reading over the Internet, say that it could be up to 4 weeks. I am sure this is more for the very hard hit areas of southeastern Houston and below.

The bayou near our home, Buffalo Bayou, did breach its banks, though it looks like the water didn't go very far. I have been told that there is no power where we live, much like the rest of the city. I don't know anything else related to damage in my neighborhood.

City officials have been urging people to stay indoors all day today and let the emergency crews and the utility crews and the police get out onto the roadways and assess things. I hope we learn more tomorrow.

Anyone with no power can tune into KPRC (NBC) news on 1560 AM. If you know someone in Houston without power and needs to tune into what's happening, let them know about this station.

If I can find some more photos, I'll share them with you. In the meantime, we are kicking back in the RV in my parent's driveway!