San Antonio, TX Residents need to prepare for Hurricane Ike, too!!!

Carl, I'm concerned about family in Lake Charles.  My brother lives in Cameron Parish and has evacuated because they're predicting the storm surge will reach their neighborhood.  Most of the family will be staying in their homes in Lake Charles and my brother is staying at a friend's house in Lake Charles.  I hope they'll have a home to go back to -- he has just finished with the repairs on his home from Rita.  :(

Debbie, the good news is that since Ike turned a little more northeast, the impact here in San Antonio has lessened -- the winds won't be as strong and maybe less rain.  The bad news is that it'll have a stronger impact on Houston, Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.  :(

Thank you for stopping by and for your thoughts and prayers.  :)

Teri, when I wrote this post, they thought Ike was heading for Corpus Christi or Port Lavaca which is more South of us and were predicting 75 mph winds and 6" of rain for San Antonio.  The Office of Emergency Management sent out a Bulletin advising residents of San Antonio to prepare for flooding, flash flooding, and high winds with power outages.  Like Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix areas, we have a lot of low water crossings that people seem to ignore even when they're flooded.  :(  Now, that Ike turned more Northeast and is heading for Galveston & Houston, we'll still have Tropical Storm conditions up to 45 mph gusts and about 2" of rain.  We were on the east side of Dolly and had tornadoes touch down in several areas of San Antonio causing damage -- something we're not used to.  There were areas without power for several days due to the tornado damage -- they wanted residents to be prepared just in case.

Our families are in Lake Charles, LA (Calcasieu & Cameron Parishes of Louisiana) and are "riding it out".  Cameron is already flooded and the winds are picking up in Lake Charles, I'm really worried about them all. 

Marchel, there are always tornadoes spawning off of Hurricanes -- usually on the East side of the storm.  I've been talking to my brother and sister-in-law in Lake Charles off and on all evening.  They have a radio that sounds a siren or signal when there's a tornado warning.  They are under a tornado watch right now and it went off several times while we were talking.  There were over 100 tornadoes in and around Lake Charles when Rita hit in 2005.  My brother & his family live in Cameron Parish (Grand Lake) which is under water right now -- they are staying at a friend's house in Lake Charles.

It wasn't fun sitting in the closet waiting as tornadoes were heading for my neighborhood.  Although, when I lived in North Carolina, we had them every now and then.  We had a basement there and when I'd hear tornado warnings, I'd send the kids down to the gameroom in the basement and tell them to get in the closet under the stairs.

Carl, I spoke with my brother about 6:30 AM (I was awake early). The wind was blowing pretty hard, and it was still raining.  Still had electricity -- the next door neighbors had the top of one of their pecan trees on the top of their  house.  No word yet on the flooding in Cameron Parish.  Officials are planning a fly-over in a helicopter as soon as it's safe -- winds are still too strong right now.  There is flooding in Lake Charles but not where my brother is.  Haven't called Don's brother yet -- will do that in a little while. 

Carl, here's a link to the KPLC-TV (Lake Charles TV Station) website -- I keep checking it for news about the Lake Charles area.

No word from Derenda & Mary Kay -- hope they are both safe. 

Teri, Marchel is in Spring, TX which is northwest of Houston - the storm went right over them around mid-morning.  I'm hoping everything is ok there.  Deb Brooks lives around Huntsville at Lake Livingston which is also northwest of Houston.  Deb went to Wichita Falls, TX yesterday (and is safe, I talked to her last night) -- her husband stayed at their house.  Hopefully, everything's ok there too.

I'm in San Antonio west of Houston about 150 miles (about 2-1/2 hrs) -- they were predicting we'd get rain and wind -- so far we've only gotten some winds but nothing serious.  Of course, I'm on the Northwest side of San Antonio -- there may have been more wind and rain just east of San Antonio. 

Teri, thank you for your concern about our Texas AR Family.  There are some AR Family members in the Lake Charles area too.  I haven't heard from them -- I hope they're ok.  My personal family is in Lake Charles and Cameron Parish -- they're ok, we're still waiting to hear/see what kind of damage my brother's house in Cameron Parish has.  They can't get into the area yet because the water is too high.  :(  Doesn't sound good, does it???  :(

Ricki,  We didn't get any either -- just a little wind. 

Yeah, I wish we could have taken some of the excess too. 

My brother's house in Cameron Parish, Louisiana had about 6" in it.  Everything's still flooded down there -- he went to check down some back roads and the water was over the running boards on his suburban.  :(   I also spoke to Derenda Grubb in Lake Charles, LA (she actually lives in a small town outside of Lake Charles - Carlyss, LA)  She had 4" in her house and was packing up so the contractors could come in tomorrow to start the clean up and repairs on her house.  :( 

Ricki, your brother lives in Houston or Galveston?  I'm glad his home is ok -- hopefully they'll have power again soon.