Freeport and Lake Jackson

I finally had the opportunity to return to work today, and I took the opportunity to look around Freeport and Lake Jackson. Freeport was protected just barely by the towns levee, with was within three feet of being breached, but sustained significant wind damage. It was very similar to what we have seen up in Pearland, but with a few more windows blown in.

Lake Jackson actually looks pretty good now that the tree limbs are mostly out of the roads, but it will take a long time for the town to get back to normal. Overall, I would have to say they fared a little bit better than Pearland.

Had Ike not taken such a sharp turn to the north right at the end, both the Freeport and Lake Jackson levees could have been breached, and that would have shut the area down for weeks or months rather than days or weeks. Apparently the enormous storm surge that the news people showed on Friday night before the storm was enhanced by high tide, so that when the storm surge rose later, the tide was out and the surge actually didn't come in any further than it had before the storm. Very lucky.

Dow also fared well, minimal water damage, and some minor wind damage, it appears that most areas can be started up within the week. My office was not under water as I had feared, and life at work may be semi-normal soon.

Power has still not been restored at home, but Emily had a utility truck sighting while she was out for a run this morning, which is very promising. We may have to bribe the power crews with cookies or Gatorade or something to keep them around and get our power back sooner. But we have high hopes it will happen today.

We will keep y'all updated as stuff happens, but hopefully there won't be any more excitement for a while, other than our power being restored.