Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hurricane Ike Part VII (Safe Room)
Aside 1: I ran some errands earlier today and passed two gas stations. They were both open with no wait for gas.
Aside 2: A comment on this article Life and death after Ike says:
Safe Room
Anyway, Safe Rooms. You need to have one if you are going to ride out a hurricane in case a window is broken and glass is flying all about, or a tornado forms near you, or a tree falls on the house or simply, for peace of mind. Ours is a deep closet under the stairs. We lined the floor with couch cushions and spent some of the night in there when the winds got bad and the big oak tree in front was dancing around. We had a battery powered radio and could listen to a TV station's updates on the storm progress and status.
Our cats Simon and Schuster rode out the storm with us. When the storm was at its worse we had them with us in the safe room. They were locked into their cat carriers so we did not have to close the door or scramble to find them if something happened. We have two carriers that are the same and they were each in one. Well, Schuster just cried up a storm about being locked up. Meow. Meow. MEOW! MEOW! Nonstop.
After a while when the winds died down and we could not stand it anymore we opened up the cat carriers and let them both out. Simon left the safe room to investigate what he had missed. Schuster ran over to the other carrier, got inside, laid down and started purring. I guess he wanted to be in ther other (identical) carrier?
Aside 2: A comment on this article Life and death after Ike says:
I have been in Houston for 6 weeks, and rode throught the Hurricane without damage. There is a lot of damage around, and unreported, there has been a huge loss in the bird population.And I agree, people have behaved quite nicely.
What struck me was how well everyone has behaved.
In Houston before the Hurricane, it was stated that emergency services would stop answering to calls when the wind speed reached 50 mph. I heard police and fire sirens at 3:30, when wind speed peaked at 90 mph. At that speed, branches and signs (from the frontage of shops) become deadly.
People with generators have hooked them to their own, and neighbors, refrigerators.
Supermarkets placed power points outside so that people could charge their cell phones.
As I waited in line for a supermarket to open, people with working phones lent them to people without.
May traffic lights are without power, the motorists automatically treated them as four way stops, allowing cyclists like me, to cross unhindered and in turn.
People down here been wonderful.
Safe Room
Anyway, Safe Rooms. You need to have one if you are going to ride out a hurricane in case a window is broken and glass is flying all about, or a tornado forms near you, or a tree falls on the house or simply, for peace of mind. Ours is a deep closet under the stairs. We lined the floor with couch cushions and spent some of the night in there when the winds got bad and the big oak tree in front was dancing around. We had a battery powered radio and could listen to a TV station's updates on the storm progress and status.
Our cats Simon and Schuster rode out the storm with us. When the storm was at its worse we had them with us in the safe room. They were locked into their cat carriers so we did not have to close the door or scramble to find them if something happened. We have two carriers that are the same and they were each in one. Well, Schuster just cried up a storm about being locked up. Meow. Meow. MEOW! MEOW! Nonstop.
After a while when the winds died down and we could not stand it anymore we opened up the cat carriers and let them both out. Simon left the safe room to investigate what he had missed. Schuster ran over to the other carrier, got inside, laid down and started purring. I guess he wanted to be in ther other (identical) carrier?
Labels: Hurricane Ike
