^ Jimmy's just north of Houston. And he didn't say he was without power, but after the call dropped, he texted me asking if he could charge his laptop in his car without running down the car battery, so from that, I assume he's without power.

Steven, Andrew, you won't believe this, but I actually texted him back. Sorry,m but friend going through a natural disaster is a justifiable excuse for suspension of my moral code.

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Within the last few months Jimmy told me he moved into the Houston area for work. My best wishes for him. It may be a while with a technology void.


The pictures make you realize just how wide the flooding is. The people still in the warned areas will come out of the wood work. We realize those that were not ordered out in certain areas as well.

Jimmy called me while I was driving to SFGADV today. The signal was strong. He said he's going to his relatives in San Antonio and then down home to Corpus Christi because of the extensive power outage in the Houston area with the rest of the damage. He mentioned that the Galveston situation sounded like a war zone.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Two
My first park of 2010: SFGADV 3/27/10

The remnants of Hurricane Ike are currently making their way through Ohio and into Canada. Cincinnati got hit bad. A woman died when a tree fell on her, and a lot of places lost power. Here (northwestern Ohio), we saw lots of wind and some rain.

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ThrillNetwork editor emeritus - NSCIGC member
Voyage is the best roller coaster ever.
Raptor ride count - 1,146.

We are under a high wind warning up until 2am. The In-Laws have been without power for awhile now. Wind is blowing something fierce. Our power has been flickering on and off all evening long.

Hope everyone is OK out there that is being affected by this.

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The wind has sure calmed in the last few hours, though we are also still under the high wind warning. Power was out across the street, but I haven't lost power yet, though the street lights, traffic lights and businesses down the road from me were dark. I heard during halftime of the Browns/Steelers that First Energy reported 90,000 people were without power.

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My cousin read an interview about Galveston's damage, which included mention of their Hooters restaurant. Apparently the roof of the Hooters in glaveston was torn off by the wind, so one person stated it as "Hooters is finally topless".

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Two
My first park of 2010: SFGADV 3/27/10

Its scary how this hurricane not only has affected Texas and Louisiana, but pretty much the whole mid-west. Was there any warning in the Mid-west about the possibly losing power and such? Any evacuations?

We got the remnants of Ike this afternoon. We had MULTIPLE power blips at work. Apparently there were several blips at my home, too.

If what we got was just a remnant, I hate to think what it must be like to be in a full-on hurricane.

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http://utube.smas(Copy and paste the address. The combined address is a censored word) hits.com/video/vDc2Qnt0JM4/Hurricane-Ike-Damage-to-Kemah-TX.html

Kemah Damage from a helicopter view. A Houston channel.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Two
My first park of 2010: SFGADV 3/27/10

Just had power restored this past hour. It's good to see the world is still out there, I felt like I was trapped in a bubble here in Houston. The good thing was that I didn't lose water. I can live without electricity, but not having water is a very hard thing to lack.

I am very lucky in how I fared in the Hurricane. People still are having a rough time down here. Many people lost everything (mostly those near the coasts) and simply have nothing now. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

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Never forget justice is what love looks like in public. -- OXFAM

Note to all- I spoke to Jimmy B tonight on the phone. He's doing fine, came through it well, but is still without power.

James, he asked if we'd heard from you, and at the time, I didn't know you were back. I'm pleased to know you came through pretty well, and I'm sure Jimmy would be, too.

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I'm saving my nickels to rent Katie's signature

This may help give some clear idea of some of the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Ike. That is part of the Bolivar Peninsula, a place found northwest of Galveston Island.

Another note, I just realized that if you continue east down that road (or "up" in the picture) in the middle, SH 87, you'll get to High Island. I went there a couple of times in high school for birding trips (don't ask, haha.) because there are a few huge bird sanctuaries there. I'm pretty sure they're all messed up now. I hope I'm wrong.

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I would have thought it was someplace in North Carolina. Wow, Texas.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Two
My first park of 2010: SFGADV 3/27/10

Glad to hear from yah James. That picture is unbelievable.

Yeak, Ike affected pretty much anywhere from the Gulf Coast up to the Midwest.

I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan which is a fairly good sized city (no Detroit), but is a decent size. We got hit by what was left of Ike on Sunday (and as I have stated previously, what was left of Lowell on Friday and then an actual system on Saturday (with that Tornado). But the heaviest of rain fell on Sunday and then we were put in a High Wind Warning.

As of today, there is still no way to get into Downtown Kalamazoo from my house without taking a major detour. All of the main roads are still closed due to flooding.

The Gulf Coast of course took the brunt....but Ike just didnt give up and kept on going.

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Bretten Bailey

Here's another one for those who were concerned about Schlitterbahn Galveston.

BEFORE IKE


AFTER IKE (This was taken by NOAA, just edited and resized by me.)


You can see that the large white tents were damaged, as the fabric covering was ripped off, fragments remaining. If you look just below the biggest one of the right, you'll see a sand volleyball court. I played on that last year (and got an intense sunburn at the same time). All of the panels on the Torrent (the enclosed wave/river) are gone, but I think the park removed them (rolled them up, or took them off) before Ike came. It seems as though, structurally, the rides held through. Hopefully there are no foundational problems hiding beneath. The rivers are full of sea water/crap.

I was actually supposed to go down to the park this coming weekend. My university had discount tickets and had a trip planned. That's not happening...

In other Ike news, here is a neat feature the Boston Globe has on Hurricane Ike. Warning, it's high-res image intensive.

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ThrillNetwork Editor (past tense: lectricShark)
Never forget justice is what love looks like in public. -- OXFAM

Wow, the roof did get ripped off like I was guessing would happen. Without the chlorine the lazy river is looking like Geauga Lake. Yuck. Thank you for getting those pics.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
The 2010 TN Coaster Draft: Now Underway Round Two
My first park of 2010: SFGADV 3/27/10

I woke up Sunday morning, on a day that I was off from work, and was amazed how windy it was outside. I looked out my window, only to see trees being shaked violently back and forth, while hearing the roar of the wind pound my house. It was absolutley crazy. A lady down the street from me, was taking her dog outside, when a large snapped and fell in her direction. In response, she ran but tripped on the ground, where she avoided the tree but ultimately injured herself requiring a trip to the hospital. In the town of Shelbyville, which is about a twenty to thirty minute drive from my house, their was a ten year old kid killed when he was struck by a tree. His aunt made him cut her lawn, which to me, is rediculous that she would jeopardize his life in such severe weather, pretty much sacrificing his life. The city of Louisville had about 250,000 people lose their power, about 100,000 people are still without power. I dont think I have ever seen so many fallen in trees in my life, their everywhere, streets are lined with them. I also cant remember anytime I witnessed a storm where rain or snow wasnt involved.

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Finally got power back and all is well with me. And as CHILLERLC1 (or we can call him Leo C now) mentioned, I had moved to Houston a few months ago with a new job, but due to the impact of Ike, this job will probably be very short-lived and I could very well be headed back home to south Texas this fall looking for new work.

Hurricane Ike is the costliest single storm in Texas history and the second most expensive ever in the Atlantic side, behind only Katrina, some current estimates around $31 billion in damages. Also, it is the third costliest hurricane in US history after the 2005 storms of Wilma and Katrina.

Galveston Island, which took the direct hit of Ike, remains closed and off limits to everyone (visitors and residents) indefinitely. Kemah Boardwalk, located midway between Galveston and Houston suffered near total destruction, but the rides remain in critical condition and the Boardwalk is planned to be revived and the rides that were damaged to be repaired soon. Several million people in southeast Texas lost power for some stretch of time; I believe I heard on radio, 80 percent of Houston lost power immediately after Ike's impact. Houston's tallest skyscraper, the JP Morgan Chase Tower suffered clearly visible and extensive damages from the hurricane force winds with many windows either cracked or completely blown out.

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Hurricane Ike is the third storm to land on the Texas coast this season, the other two being Edouard and Dolly. Of the three, Ike at 110 MPH winds was the most intense, but slightly edging out Dolly's 105 MPH winds as far as sustained winds at landfall go. Both Edouard and Ike, chronologically, impacted Galveston and the Southeast Texas region, while Dolly struck the Brownsville and South Padre Island area.

Hurricane Dolly at the time of its impact was the third costliest storm in Texas history. In the same season, the Brownsville area got hit, and then the Houston/Galveston area got it....both times my hometown of Corpus Christi was spared; however many locals there are now wary that our time could possibly come -- perhaps later this fall; the citizens and local officals are indeed preparing in case their turn comes up this season.

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Now going off topic here, a few of you have asked me privately about my avatar and asked me if I was going to change it after having gone through Ike. My answer is still a resounding NO! Ike is just the latest of several hurricanes I have been through over my lifetime; in fact, my avatar epitomizes my fascination with hurricanes, having studied them in the past, and having experienced them on the Texas coast. That is also why my user name is Hurricane on ThrillNetwork and a few other boards I have registered, which is indicated in my signature below.

Hopefully, we'll hear from the other two Houston-area ThrillNetwork staffers, Byron and James R, and any updates they have to offer.

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Galveston opened to residents this morning and there's quite a bit of traffic from people trying to get back in right now. Over 600k people in Houston still don't have power, and about 1200 traffic lights are out around town.

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There are traffic lights out all over the Houston-area. It's crazy! Some people need to calm down at these now 4-way stops, or they're going to kill someone. Some of the most trafficked intersections in Houston still are not under the control of a stop-light, but a few I've crossed are directed by police officers...

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Never forget justice is what love looks like in public. -- OXFAM

I don't know If I were from Galveston that I would want to go back and look at the damage today. There will be a lot of people out looking at the damage, but isn't there a curfew or, and surely there is no place to stay. So what are they going to do with all the people? Send them back to shelter?