Ike......here we go again

[cute fuzzy bunny]

HURRICANE IKE IMAGE INDEX COVERAGE AREAS

NGS has high res satellite imagery of the area online. You can click on a box, get a map of that, click on it, get a high res picture, then zoom in on any particular area.

Amazing.

[Rustic23]

On line but not for long.
Ike paid us a visit. It was a little irry when the eye went over. For us the front side was worse than the back. Our area is wind damage only. We lost a couple of big trees, but in general the area survived well. No injuries to people. Trees dropped on four houses, but they came down soft for the most part with little damage. As a neighborhood we were lucky enough to get with a contractor Sunday and had them in the neighborhood Monday afternoon to start the clean up. We have estimated that it will take between 50 to 60, 25 cubic yard truck loads of tree debris to clear the streets and downed trees.

FEMA, for us, is acceptable. We have an ice, water, food station at our fire station.

Our water plant remaind up and there are hot showers for those that have propane. No electricity and none forecast for three weeks after the storm. I have seen power trucks in the area so we are hoping they are being pesimistic. Our problem may be heat when the cool front goes away and sewers backup as there is no power to the lift stations.

Gas is still dificult to find. About 80% of the neighbors have generators. It is interesting folks that complain about $5 a day for power in normal time, are paying $20 to $25 a day for power, and that is for fridge, freezer, tv, light, and fans. NO AC!
I can't bring myself to spend $1,000 to save $300 worth of food.

WE ARE EATING WELL.. It is like a Nathans Hot Dog contest. Try eating the contents of a 14 cft freezer in a week. We had a pound of bacon for breakfast. Going to have to diet after this thing is over.

[bbbamI]

Glad you're doing ok. A pound of bacon this a.m.....now that's livin' large!

[Rustic23]

Only have three more pounds to go! Bacon that is.

[Rustic23]

Update:
We live in a rural unincorporated subdivision. After the storm passed we contracted with a company to remove debris. $400 per 25 cubic yard truck load. When we talked to FEMA they said they do not deal with subdivision and we would have to go through the County. The County said 'You all acted too soon! We have contracted for someone to take away debris and we will not file your claim!' Seems like the County contracted for $1,000 a truck load. Also they would only pick up what was on the street, where our contractor cut up downed trees and removed them from property. Thinking about going to the Federal and Stat AG.

[Dawg54]

Originally Posted by Rustic23

Update:
We live in a rural unincorporated subdivision. After the storm passed we contracted with a company to remove debris. $400 per 25 cubic yard truck load. When we talked to FEMA they said they do not deal with subdivision and we would have to go through the County. The County said 'You all acted too soon! We have contracted for someone to take away debris and we will not file your claim!' Seems like the County contracted for $1,000 a truck load. Also they would only pick up what was on the street, where our contractor cut up downed trees and removed them from property. Thinking about going to the Federal and Stat AG.

When Katrina came through, our local government hired some outside source to pick up debris put out on the street. It took a good 6 months to have it all hauled off. If you don't want to look at it for a long time, you are probably better off hiring it out yourself.

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by Dawg52

When Katrina came through, our local government hired some outside source to pick up debris put out on the street. It took a good 6 months to have it all hauled off. If you don't want to look at it for a long time, you are probably better off hiring it out yourself.

Yeah, but I think the issue is how much the county is paying for removal from the street.

Here's what I picked up from the city council meeting in my city:

FEMA will reimburse the city for at least 75% of the costs of debris removal. They hope that the percentage will be raised to 100% as happened in Katrina and Rita.

The regular solid waste contract calls for a special removal in the event of a disaster. They only haul off bagged plant material. No extra cost to the city.

The city has two contracts on debris removal. $400,000 for a consultant and management firm that will run drop off points for citizens to bring material in on their own, as well as all the stuff picked up by the firm hired to pick up debris at the curb. That's reimbursable by FEMA. The second contract is for $1.9 Million to actually haul off debris from the curb in front of each house, as well as remove debris from all city land and rights of way. Two pick ups scheduled a few weeks apart, with an estimated 140,000 cubic feet of stuff hauled off. That is reimbursable by FEMA also.

So, I figure we're paying $13.57 a cubic yard, which is a little less than what Rustic and neighbors are paying, but of course they get the added advantage of tree removal from their yards. Sounds like a good deal. $1,000 a truck load is a lot, if that's based on the same 25 CY truck. I have seen some really huge trucks here that were hauling trailers nearly the same size. Still, if the cost per cubic yard are the same, you have to wonder if someone isn't padding the bill hoping to screw over FEMA, and ultimately all taxpayers.

I have to say that if the city gets this stuff all hauled off in the next few weeks that I will be impressed. That's the promise from the director of community and environmental services. He said, "We have no control over when gasoline gets delivered or when your electricity gets turned back on, but we can commit to getting this stuff hauled off as soon as possible. I mean weeks, not months like you have seen in other places."

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hmm...my old city in the South SF Bay Area used to do an annual pickup of anything and everything you put in front of your house, as a way to reduce suburban junkpiles and ugly yard waste. Everyone would put their mountain of junk out a few days in advance. Torrents of pickup trucks would scour the neighborhoods taking the good looking junk...sort of an olden day Freecycle. Then the city would come through with dump trucks and front end loaders and take it all to the city landfill. No extra charge over your regular garbage bill

[Rustic23]

We had the guys in Monday after the storm hit on Sat. It took a little more that a week, but all the debris is gone and the job is done! County has not started their pickup yet!

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

Hmm...my old city in the South SF Bay Area used to do an annual pickup of anything and everything you put in front of your house, as a way to reduce suburban junkpiles and ugly yard waste. Everyone would put their mountain of junk out a few days in advance. Torrents of pickup trucks would scour the neighborhoods taking the good looking junk...sort of an olden day Freecycle. Then the city would come through with dump trucks and front end loaders and take it all to the city landfill. No extra charge over your regular garbage bill

Other places where I lived did the same thing, but here they've privatized the collection of garbage. They say that the contractor picks up heavy trash on one or the other of the two weekly pickups, but I've never seen it happen. All I ever see is the regular trash truck with an older guy, about 60 years old, on the back who works like a mule. I don't see him tossing an old stove in the back of the truck though.

[Want2retire]

You are all doing so wonderfully with your clean-up!! I am just finishing up my clean-up after Hurricane Gustav, believe it or not.

Actually, I haven't done most of it myself, this time. My neighbor has already rebuilt most of the fence in my back yard (it was his anyway, but I am really happy that he did it). Then he even brought his chain saw over and sawed up the humungous branch from my tree that destroyed it his fence! He even hauled the cut up branch out to the street, where it was 3-4' high clear across my lot. What an incredibly sweet thing for him to do. I think he figures he is doing a good deed for an old woman (he is, but I'm not THAT old, in my opinion! ). I think I will probably pay to have my tree removed so that the rest of the branches don't fall on the new fence during the next storm, which I would imagine he would appreciate after this.

All of our Gustav debris from my neighborhood was collected last Tuesday, FINALLY.

Today, Frank helped me to get my shutters nailed back on the front of my house. I had to get him to help me, since I couldn't both hold them and hammer at the same time. We did a great job of it, and afterwards I painted the new wooden shutter pieces to match the old. Later this week (after buying more paint) I will repaint the entire shutters but this looks OK for today.

Making progress on these Gustav repairs. Once I get the pencil-thin gas line to my front porch gas lamp repaired (and the valve turned back on so that it can get gas), I think I'll be done!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

I think he figures he is doing a good deed for an old woman

He's just buttering you up in advance of your reception of the insurance claim he filed due to your tree branch smoshing his fence

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

He's just buttering you up in advance of your reception of the insurance claim he filed due to your tree branch smoshing his fence

I asked him about that, and he reminded me of the mandatorily high deductibles on wind and hail that we have had since Katrina. His fence didn't meet his deductible for that storm.

Frank thinks maybe the guy is severely Christian and might want me to attend his church. Hopefully he was just doing it out of the goodness of his heart, instead.

[Leonidas]

The news had a story on two guys who rode out the storm, literally.

He found some plywood and a rafter that helped keep him afloat as the current carried him across submerged Bolivar and East Bay. He came to a halt about six miles inside Chambers County atop a bed of floating wreckage. He found a pear, a can of Sprite, and some Tupperware to catch rainwater.

He realized he'd made a terrible mistake when the waters began lapping the floor under his stilt house. He went to his dresser and put on his dog tags in case he was found dead.

Waves began crashing through the boarded windows and wind rocked his house off its pilings, setting it adrift with him inside.

Eventually, he swam to open water, away from flying debris. A small tabletop floated up. He used it like a boogie board.

His salvage skills netted him a bottle of Gatorade, a child's life jacket and a kayak, which he was in when a National Guard helicopter spotted him.

Two Ike Survivors Tell Their Stories - Houston Weather News Story - KPRC Houston

A lot of people didn't pay attention to the warnings about the surge and thought this would be a normal cat 2 or 3. By the time they realized how bad it was going to be, the water had already cut them off from the mainland. There are several hundred people missing still. Some will show up in shelters, but they have found at least one body in the debris piles in Chambers County so far.