To all our friends in south TX and LA,


We hope you guys and your families are holding up well as could be expected down there. It looks pretty bad according to the Weather Channel. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

How bad is it for you?

Frank

Deffinately! Keep those planes hangered today. I hope loss is minimal and all are safe.

Absolutely. Having lived on the gulf coast for 25 years, I know what they are going through, and it ain't nice.

I'm north of San Antonio
and it was pretty much a non-event here.

I hope the guys that were in harms way got their stuff together and did ok.

KE,

Glad to hear you are OK where you are at. Overall it looks pretty bad. Lots of flooding and no power for millions.

Frank

Yes indeed, our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Dave

The eye practically ran over my house. No damage. I was in the first 100k people to get power back. I actually had power Saturday night. Although many of my co-workers may not have power for 4 to 6 weeks according to entergy's website.
There is no gas. Most folks have enough food for about one week. A cool front passed Sunday morning. Lows in the 60's at night and highs in the 80's . But this may only last til Thursday or Friday. IF the grocery stores aren't up and running in one week then things might start getting ugly.

Thanks for the update and glad to hear things went well for you. 4-6 weeks is a long time! Hopefully the Co-ops will get the power up and running much sooner than that. We lost electricity in an earthquake for 3 days, which we weren't prepared for, and it was difficult. I can't imagine weeks of no power. No electricity makes it tough since we rely on it so much. We've been debating on getting a generator for our home, just haven't done it yet. They are pricey.

Frank

I just got power back noon Mon. after hi winds, remnants of Ike, knocked our power out 2pm Sun.

22 hrs. w/o power seemed an eternity, can't even imagine days or weeks.

Here's wishing the best to all you guys hit by Ike, stay safe!

Bill

We had sustaind winds at 40 yesterday, gusting to 60. Louisville and western Ky had it worse with gusts up to 75. Lot of people without power. In my area most everything is underground and all I had was a short blip around noon Sunday.

Wow, it looks like Ike continues to effect us. Thanks for checking in.

Frank

Sounds like Ike didn't loose much strength on his way up there. That was a funny looking storm. Generally a level 2 doesn't do anything at my house, about 30 miles north of Galveston Bay. We have gas in the stations now. Groceries are still hard to find. Traffic lights are out everywhere. Looks like someone up there doesn't like trees. Its a miracle so few people were hurt. Turns out the eye did pass over my house. I was asleep then, about 0600am.

Bomber Feild has its big bird this weekend. Its a huge event. I wonder if it will be rescheduled?

Well, maybe we don't have gas. Stations open when a tanker comes. A long line forms. It might take you 5 or 6 hours to fill your tank. Then the gas runs out and the station closes. Deliveries are unreliable.

No FEMA PODs to see or hear about. Food might be getting scarce soon for many. Most people are without power. Folks with water might have sewage backups. Power to the ground water pumps before power to the sewage treatment facilities.

Debris is still everywhere. Most streets are passible. No traffic signals. Most phone service is out. Cell phones don't work in many places. People don't have a way to charge them anyway.

PilotFighter,

Thanks for keeping us posted. Sorry to hear that the storm did that much damage. How long does the co-ops think power will be off for?

Frank

There are only two power whole salers, Centerpoint and Entergy. No matter what retailer you have or if you are a co-op, your power comes from these two whole sale suppliers.

There are between 6000 and 8000 crews working to restore power, depending on the info source. After 48 hours, they had restored power to 580,000 homes. But they say that rate my slow.

I had power the night after the storm. But many people, particularly people in the northwest sections such as the Woodlands are at the very end of the Entergy network. Entergy's website states they have experienced and complete system failure, which actually began with Gustav. Their system failure includes LA. and AR.. Estimates range widely and up to 6 or 8 weeks.

BREED, AP wire:
"As of Tuesday, the official death toll from Ike stood at 48. Only 17 were in Texas — and many of those were people killed by fires or generator fumes after the storm had passed"

Jetero R/c field has substantial damage.... I just got out there today to get pictures. See my post this forum, "Jetero R/c vs. Hurricane Ike" for some of the photos I took today.

Our shelter was structural steel and the poles were concreted into the ground.... parts of it have been blown a few hundred yards away down the road!

I'm on generator power here near Splendora Tx and not scheduled to be turned on until Oct. 5th according to Entergy. [&:]

- Michael

My Son is a crew member who is down there from Nashville and is working to restore the power grid. He arrived yesterday (9-18) and will be there at least 10 days, and maybe longer. He said, last night when I talked with him that the switching apparatus is pretty much junk, and will be one of the major projects in order to bring the grids back to life. You guys hang in there. Help is there, and from all over the country, as well as from Canada. Chris (my Kid) said that the teams are from everywhere, and are all working together. There will be light.

Bill, AMA 4720

Thanks Bill! Convey my appreciation to your son Chris as well!!

Which company grid is Chris working on, Centerpoint or Entergy? I've heard bad things about Entergy, that they refuse to pay overtime to the linemen and require them to stop working at 40 hours, while Centerpoint DOES pay overtime and does not limit the linemen. Considering the scope of the disaster, Entergy is crazy if they're nickle-n-diming the linemen! [:@]

Does anybody know how Houston Sport Fliers and Propnuts in Crosby made out?

I'm going out to Bomber Field with some other Jetero club members Saturday. Just need to get away from this mess for awhile! [&:]

- Michael

I don't know which grid he's on. I just know that he's there.

Bill, AMA 4720

Did it ever occur to you that 40 hours lineman duty is probably the most that a person should work at this dangerous trade? Tired lineman = dead lineman.

Thanks Red, That's just what a worried Father wants to hear.

Bill, AMA 4720

Please accept my apology but I didn't realize that you didn't already know that fatigue and high power just don't mix well.

They worked some of us 24 hours straight. What does a tired air traffic controller equal ?

The gorcery has milk and red meat and veggies now. But the groceries are still far from being completely restocked or operating at normal times.

Gas lines are getting shorter.

Jetero is my club also. I saw the pics. Wow. Much of that material was donated. It was a very heavy structure supported by very small poles. IF the material is to twisted to re-use, I hope we go lighter, with a more elegant design, maybe with a canvas covering.

Bomber Feild has its anual big bird this weekend. I was wondering if it has been cancelled ? Does anyone know ?

The messages I've read elsewhere on this board seem to indicate that it's on. Can't vouch for that personally, though.