Ike updates - Tuesday Sept 16

500,000 people in the Houston area have now had power restored. I think this means another 1.5 million are left to go. I can't check the CenterPoint website because it's been down for 2 days.

I talked with my friend Jenn last night - she is the one who works for one of the news stations - and she echoed what Tracy told me on Sunday. Houston is not devastated, just severely inconvenienced. Roads are not impassible, and the flood waters have largely receded. They haven't gotten rain since Sunday morning, and there is not any more rain expected for around 5 days.

With no power for going on 4 days now, many people who thought they'd just wait for the lights to come back on are deciding to head out of town and stay with relatives for a while. The same is true for Galveston, which is a good thing because the Galveston mayor has been asking people to get out and let the clean up efforts begin for days now.

Here is a link to a broadcast I found on the internet. This one is not local news, it's national, but it illustrates the destruction of Galveston well:

Galveston mayor: 'There's nothing to come here for'

We are thinking about heading home tomorrow. Will keep you posted.