It’s ALL ABOUT ME!

I was driving to an appointment yesterday afternoon when I saw this, which reminded me of my brother. This picture is for him…..

jimthompson A formation of four helicopters just passed overhead moving fast to the south. At least one had his searchlight on. Weird. about 2 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update: we’re actually seeing patches of blue sky now. Today’s clouds were great. Kept the temperature down. about 4 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update: we have cleaned up all the debris from the collapsed ceiling. At least it was over a tile floor. about 5 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update: we have my XM radio plugged into my inverter and into my daughter’s car. Family gathered around listening to Auburn at MSU. about 5 hours ago from txt

Jimmy and his family are doing pretty well considering they have no power. Of course that means no a/c, no t/v, no lights, etc. Pretty boring. Now they just must make it through the next week or so without killing each other. On the way to the game, Jennifer and Kelly saw a bunch of power trucks apparently en route to Texas. Jimmy was glad to hear that, as I knew he would be. The damage to their house could be worse, but it’s still discouraging. They have shingle damage, the foyer ceiling fell in and their fence needs some major repair work. Still, they have a house and made it through the storm.

Here are the latest tweets:

jimthompson Pearland update: that was the sound of the foyer ceiling collapsing under the weight of water that leaked through the roof. Not good. #ike about 7 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update: I’m up after a few hours of sleep, interrupted only by the sound of our foyer ceiling continuing to collapse. about 3 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update. Bit of good news: my new shed weathered the storm with hardly a scratch. (My neighbor’s shed right next to it: flattened.) about 2 hours ago from txt

jimthompson Pearland update: just started the claim process with state farm. 800-SFCLAIM. They’ll be calling me after they set up their triage center. 33 minutes ago from txt

Gas prices in North Alabama were raised insanely yesterday afternoon due to unfounded rumors of gas shortages. Yes, the refineries in Houston were closed in advance of a strong category 2/3 storm approaching the coast of Texas. Does that justify gas prices going from 3.51 to 5.15 in a few short hours? When Jennifer went to town yesterday morning, gas was 3.51/gallon. Jim got gas at 11:00 for 3.65/gallon at the same pump. By last night, the price was 5.15. 5.15! There was just a story on the local news channel where a man called the station to report gouging and while they were standing in the parking lot of the gas station waiting on the news reporter to get there, the station owner (operator?) came out and dropped the price by a dollar a gallon. The owner confirmed that he had raised the price on his own with no direction from his distributor.

Insane.

Per CNN,

“The circulation center is onshore, the bad news is it hasn’t weakened. If anything it has strengthened as it came onshore. Now instead of dealing with a storm that is weakening onshore, we are now starting from scratch and we are dealing with something that is just as powerful as it was if not more powerful than it was 12 hours ago.”

My latest attempts to call Jimmy failed (6:30 a.m.). Are they now now without cell service?

Just received a tweet:

“jimthompson Pearland update: wind continues to subside, but still gusting. half a minute ago from txt”

Cell service must be spotty.

I called Jimmy at 2:00 a.m. and they were doing ok, so I went back to bed promising to call around 5 or 6 a.m. I guess my phone listened to me because just before 5:00, it put through all the tweets from Jimmy for the last 3 hours. I read them all and come in the living room to call and check on my Texas family. I got to speak to them briefly 3 times, but each time we lost connection. I’m not sure what’s up with cell coverage, but with each call, he faded in and out and I eventually lost him.

They have some roof damage as they have water dripping in through two different air ducts. They placed buckets under the leaks and mopped up the water. In the foyer, another bucket is catching water dripping from the second story. Rain is blowing in one of the the kitchen windows; apparently the window doesn’t have a good seal on it.

Jimmy reports that the wind has died down a notch. The eye didn’t pass over them so they had no relief from the winds. He says it didn’t get too scary, but there were a few intense gusts. That said, he did say he “would hate to be in a storm worse than this.” Everyone is awake, although Wendy (and maybe Bryn) got a catnap early in the storm. Summer has been up all night alongside her father.

He sounds exhausted.

I’m listening to The Weather Channel. They report that winds were gusting 80-90 mph in Houston with current sustained winds of 70 mph. Regarding Houston, the host on The Weather Channel just said they “were in the northern eye wall, the eye went by you, pivoted into the western eye wall which is rapidly becoming the southern eye wall…. the winds never really subsided neither did the rain.”

Here are all the overnight tweets:

“jimthompson Pearland update: the house is taking a pounding, but so far is intact. Some of the gusts are now scary loud. about 3 hours ago from web”

“jimthompson Power has been off here in 77581 since about 1 AM. Now running MBP at minimum display brightness. Wondering how long the UPS will last. about 3 hours ago from web”

“jimthompson Pearland update: judging by the radar, we’re getting the western side of the eye wall now. Whatever it is, it’s making a heap of noise. #ike about 2 hours ago from txt”

“jimthompson Pearland update: the storm continues, but I don’t think it’s going to get any worse than this. The house seems to be holding up just fine. about 2 hours ago from web”

“jimthompson Pearland update: just mopped up a puddle that accumulated below a window that apparently doesn’t seal very wet. Storm continues to rage. about 1 hour ago from web”

“jimthompson Pearland update: the UPS has gone into continuous beep mode. I think that means it’s about out of juice. If so, I’ll tweet on via SMS. #ike about 1 hour ago from web”

“jimthompson Pearland update. UPS battery dead, no Internet, no weather underground, no nexrad radar. Will press on with SMS. #ike about 1 hour ago from txt”

“jimthompson Pearland update: just came down from the attic. We have water coming in. Must have lost some shingles. 35 minutes ago from txt”

“jimthompson I also hear an ominous thumping from the roof that must mean another section of shingles is loose. 33 minutes ago from txt “

“jimthompson Pearland update: have had to place a second bucket upstairs to catch water dripping from the ceiling. 9 minutes ago from txt “

I’m going back to bed for a while and will then call for more updates.

I just called Jimmy. It is getting worse, but they are weathering it. HAHA! Pun intended! As you can tell, I’m giddy-sleepy, I cannot imagine how tired Jimmy is. I’m going to bed and am going to call Jimmy back aroun 6 or 6:30.

Update: Per The Weather Channel, they should be experiencing the eye in 30 minutes…..

That title certainly uses an overused phrase! I was just talking to Jimmy on the phone. They have been without cable for several hours and the power has flickered on and off from time to time. Most of the flickers have been to the tune of 15-20 seconds. As we talked, the power clicked of…. and has stayed off for about 4 minutes. Are they without power for the duration?

I’m going to go to bed for an hour or so and then call Jimmy to check on them. The eye wall is poised to go over them in the next couple of hours.

“jimthompson Pearland update: winds getting worse. Heavy gusts. Nothing we can’t handle. half a minute ago from web”

“jimthompson Pearland update: power still on. Internet still on. Cable TV still out. 1 minute ago from web”

Jimmy finally called me. His phone was upstairs and he was trying to get some sleep, but to no avail. We’ve been talking for about 30 minutes now. The worst of the storm isn’t there yet, but on it’s way: