Email from Beth from October

This is an email from Beth, from October. Looking for a more recent update and will post soon. She did get the update from the city to continue the work on the house. Bellaire Freeranger



Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: Checking in

I won't have cable at my room for another couple of weeks.

I can't download whatever you sent on my comcast web mail. You can use my school address: bthomas@gc.edu.

Now at the place I am staying, the homeowners association has determined that there was enough water damage to go ahead and remove 5ft of sheetrock downstairs, so I am living in another demolition zone. Tho I am upstairs, the dust, noise and general chaos is not fun. the cats are disturbed. I try to stay with them for a couple hours in the morning at least to calm them but I have to go to work. The almost functional kitchen downstairs is now really not functional- except the fridge, so I have a 4 cup coffee maker and hot plate in my bathroom.

There is only one functioning laundry mat on the island, so I miss being able to launder the cat towels...

I am still waiting like 60% of the island residents to hear if we will be allowed to rebuild or required to demolish and elevate. It could be a year or more (if there is some federal involvement) if we have to totally rebuild...meanwhile many people are leaving the island. I can't blame them!

I am too tired when I come "home" every night to do much of anything except clean up after the cats, feed them and eat a turkey sandwhich (my new diet- I've lost 12 pounds). I go to the Poplar house in the morning to feed the cats and in the evening to get my mail (feed cats) and maybe find a tool in my pile of possibly salvagable tools, to take to the studio for restoration. I lost most of my stuff but I tried to hang on to a few tools to fix maybe later...perhaps a vain attempt to just take some time letting all the little stuff go.

You cannot imagine the collective devastation. I only recently went out on the west end...ALL the homes are damaged to some extent. except the newest construction. I wonder where all the people are living? and in town the same thing...most people had to gut their one story or bottom story...the town is very surreal..and scary in places...

well I need to tend to my night class...

Hope all is well with you and Derek,

Enjoy your home and life! It is so precious!

Love, Beth

Houston Chronicle today

Todays, Nov. 7th Chronicle headlines from Citya nd State:
Galveston Causeway - Island''s connection to mainland complete.
"The $150 million project started Oct. 13, 2003." It is good news for the island.

Background

Sept. 13th 2008 ~ Hurricane Ike [aɪk] was the third most destructive hurricane to ever hit the United States. It was the ninth named storm, fifth hurricane and third major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.^[1] It was a Cape Verde-type hurricane, as it started as a tropical disturbance off the coast of Africa near the end of August, then tracked south of Cape Verde and slowly developed. On September 1st 2008, it became a tropical storm west of the Cape Verde islands.^[2][3] By the early morning hours of September 5th, Ike was a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) and a pressure of 935 mbar (27.61 inHg).^[4] That made it the most intense storm so far in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. At one point the diameter of Ike's tropical storm and hurricane force winds were 550 and 240 miles (885 and 390 km), respectively, making Ike the most massive Atlantic hurricane recorded.^[5] Ike also had the highest IKE (Integrated Kinetic Energy) of any Atlantic storm in history. Integrated Kinetic Energy is a measure of storm surge destructive potential, similar to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, though the IKE is more complex and in many ways more accurate. On a scale that ranges from 1 to 6, with 6 being highest destructive potential, Ike earned a 5.6 on September 11 at 12:30pm (EDT).^[6] In comparison to Ike, hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, both from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season peaked at 5.1. As such, had Ike made landfall as a Category 3 or higher, the hurricane would have likely had a record breaking storm surge and the potential for damage could have been worse than what was seen with Hurricane Katrina.^[7][8]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1765018/hurricane_ike/

Beth's Galveston Recovery

Nov. 6, 2008
Beth is staying on the East end of Galveston, with construction on the first floor. Her kitties and her on the second without a working kitchen. Progress on her house started pretty quick with some helpful connections on a carpenter, and sheet rock ripped out. She found an electrician and then progress slammed to a stop as the city of Galveston and the good-ol government came a calling. Permits were eventually cleared and work resumed.

Yesterday Beth was trying to find a glimmer of sunshine in a new path being laid to her front door. Flagstone and sounded quite nice. Can't wait to see it.