Huricane Ike-- How It Affected Our Family

Hurricane Ike was the ninth named storm, and fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

On the night of September 12, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast near Galveston Bay, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island.

People in low-lying areas who had not heeded evacuation orders, in single-family one- or two-story homes, had been warned by the weather service that they "faced certain death" in the overnight storm surge. Near Corpus Christi, a man was reportedly swept away; he is presumed dead. The Coast Guard will search for his body after the storm has passed. Another death was confirmed to have been Ike-related as a tree fell onto a boy while being cut in preparation for the storm, and another person was killed not far away from a fallen tree during the storm. Another fallen tree in Huntsville resulted in a fatality after it crashed into a house. One death was reported in Galveston as a result of natural causes when the generator failed.

Who'd think that us Toledo Pedees being thousands of miles from the nearest ocean would be affected by a hurricane. Well after hitting Houston and taking out the power to over 3 million customers, like Uncle Allan & Aunt Margie, it quickly traveled up the center of the country. The Weather Channel kept saying that the Detroit/Toledo area was in the direct line of the north bound storm and to expect 10+ " of rain directly related to Ike. As it advanced inland the rotation started to cease. By the time it got here today, it was just another big cloud on the radar. The storms kept tracking across Chicago, first a cold front and then the remnants of Ike. Some areas in Chicago got 5-8 " of rain and areas flooded that have never flooded before. We got 3 " of rain over the last couple of days, maybe 1/2 " from Ike. We need to count our blessings.

We talked to the Fanaffs today in the aftermath of the storm today and they are okay. Alan said they had at least 10" of rain and winds of over 100 miles per hour. The palm trees in the backyard uprooted and a tree in front snapped in half and fell across their driveway. Their swimming pool was emptied in anticipation of the storm. It then nearly overflowed with rain water. The Weather Channel said that it might take up to 3 weeks to get all the power back. Alan said Jeff''s family and Lisa's were okay. No major damage reported. Thankfully the phone lines still work.

Jason's home in Cedar Park was on the extreme western edge of the storm. Other than wind and a little rain no damage.