I, Alive, I think?

[Bengal65]

Back on-line. Major house damage, but livable. Fences down, tree's down etc.. Power back on at 11:20AM today. The neighbors house lost the roof, but they survived Ok though. They are at a FEMA motel until they can get a new house built. Finally, got some sleep last night after being up since Thursday night. Worked at covering my roof with tarps yesterday and drying out the interior. I worked quickly and got some help yesterday. Thank God the weather cleared out the rain was terrible. My guitars and equipment survived only because I moved stuff from room to room, trying to beat the water that was pouring in. I was able to contain it, and thanks to the cool front that came in, thus the rain had stopped.

I've got a 30' diameter trampoline in my front yard that came from somewhere. That trampoline is huge. It's wedged between my house and my big pine tree in my front yard. Luckily, it missed the house and my truck.

We got the highest winds here on the west side of Houston out of the storm. Galveston, as you know is on the TV due to the storm surge, but the winds here West of town were the worst. My neighbor has a 2 story and his roof was torn off. I just lost all the composition tiles, I would imagine since I was much lower with a single story.

I was out today through the neighborhood. It looks like a war zone.

Sitting here waiting for the claims adjuster......

I hope everyone was else is OK!

[Ben...]

Holy! That's crazy! You're lucky nothing insane happened to you're house(roof tearing off, vehicle through the wall, stuff like that). Too bad about the neighbor's house. Hey, it looks like you got a free trampoline though!

**Please Note: This is coming from a person who lives in one of the safest places in the world when it comes to this stuff. We can't get hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, tsunamis or anything like that because we're about as far from the ocean as you can get, are in the middle of a tectonic plate and basically on a hill so all water just flows away. The only threat we have is tornadoes, which only occur about twice a year in the middle of some obscure farmer's field.**

Edit: I guess we gotta deal with -50 degree Celsius temperatures though(walking home for 25 minutes when there is a wind chill of -45 isn't so fun, I completely froze the tip of my right ear.). Then again, I like the cold. I hate hot weather! My theory is that with cold, you can always add more layers of clothing. With hot, you can only remove so much before you just overheat.

[nhspike]

Glad you're ok Bengal65!!!

[SEEGERMANY]

Best wishes! How did Sugar Land fair storm wise?

[straycat]

Glad you are OK Bengal!!!!!

[emperor_black]

yikes! thank god you're ok bro. And here we are in california complaining that a great sunny week is going to be spoiled by chance rain on thursday! :doh!

[Joelski]

Glad ya pulled through! Hope the repairs are quick, too!

[Joe_Steeler]

Damn dude I am sorry to hear about the carnage but glad to hear you are OK.
Stressful times for sure, get some rest and take care.

[Jayster]

Glad you're ok !!

[Spivonious]

Wow! Glad you're okay.

[metalchurch79]

Likewise, what these guys all said!
So, when ya movin out of Hurricane country! I'm in PA, so all we really have is bad winters, and the occasional tornado.
Glad you are ok bro!

[Bengal65]

Best wishes! How did Sugar Land fair storm wise?

Sugarland took a hit as well, but the further out from I-45 the better. Just North of Sugarland in Southwest Katy, not bad at all. It looks like 20-30 miles West of I-45 took the brunt of the high winds. The heavy rains after the storm were what did the damage inside the houses, since by then most roofs were opened by the wind.
I was in the no-evacuation zone according to the authorites. After, Rita, there was no way I was leaving unless I was in the "Surge Zone" which was South of downtown extending to Galveston.

I hid in my walk-in closet in the Master bedroom with 34 guitars around me
At 3am, I could feel the vibrations through the foundation slab! The wind sounded a lot like a tornado. I hope I don't ever have to deal with winds like this again. On a downer note, we still have 2 more months of hurricane season!

Hey, thanks for the support guy's.

I'm totally exhausted. I'm so tired I can't sleep. That's because I have been doing so much and have more to do.

[Ben...]

Likewise, what these guys all said!
So, when ya movin out of Hurricane country! I'm in PA, so all we really have is bad winters, and the occasional tornado.
Glad you are ok bro!

Whooo!! Go inland areas!! *high-fives*

I hid in my walk-in closet in the Master bedroom with 34 guitars around me

Only a true guitar player would do that!

[daisp]

Glad you're physically OK, hope everything works out quickly for you mate!

[bonghits]

Hey Mark, glad you're ok. My house took a bad hit as well mostly from the strong winds and rain plus the fact that we back up into a bayou so no shelter from anything at all. Also my car has some damage from flying debris. But overall me and the family are physically ok. So I do have alot to be thankful for and it's just part of living in the great state of TexASS. Hell, when I lived in Orange, CA it was earthquakes. Then I moved to Jacksonville, FL and it was hurricanes. I guess I escaped the earthquakes.