As promised, here is a link to some photos I took with my cell phone around Clear Lake where I live, near Johnson Space Center.
Hurricane Ike Aftermath PhotosI had evac'd to The Woodlands (on the complete opposite side of town from Clear Lake) and all we had seen there were a bunch of large trees down and a little bit of flooding. By the time I got back to my apartment in League City on Sunday, most of the water was gone and the streets were drivable. I didn't drive around much because power was out everywhere and I didn't know when gas pumps would work again. So because of this I didn't get a chance to see a lot of the 'death and destruction' we were told about on the news right away. Eventually I did get out though.
I was without power in The Woodlands from Friday night/Saturday Morning, up until we left on Sunday. Then I got power back at my apartment by Sunday evening, so that was pretty lucky since most of the city is still down even now as I type this.
The division I work in at NASA is called the Mission Operations Directorate, or MOD. It basically involves all flight controllers, MCC personnel, trainers like myself, and generally anyone that helps operate Shuttle or Station while they are flying (which for station is 24/7/365). It is a fantastic place to work, and one of the things everyone yells when they are enjoying their job is "It's a great day to be in MOD!!". I tell you this because a few of my days since the storm have been spent helping out fellow MODers. Basically, someone organized a task force to find people in the Mission Operations Directorate who sustained heavy damage to their homes and needed a hand (or 20) to help clean up. There were plenty of names to draw from apparently. MOD takes care of its own.
They sent out emails to all of us in MOD, asking for volunteers, so me and some other co-workers decided sure why not. So that is what we did, Thursday and Friday, this week. Basically clean up jobs that would have taken the families weeks to do on their own we managed to help finish in a matter of hours. We helped at 4 houses in those two days, and we saw an awful lot of destruction that was not as apparent driving through my neighborhood, away from the water.
The first house was a nice old house in a neighborhood surrounded by large oak trees. The man that lived there was a fellow MODer who enjoyed a large shaded backyard before Ike. When we showed up, the yard was sunny and literally blanketed is broken oaks. Our job was to clear out that debris and move it to the front yard where city debris removal teams could haul it away. With 8 people helping, we made quick work of that and had a spotless (though still sunny) yard in less than 3 hours. Mike (the owner) was so happy with us, we got a big ol' "It's a GREAT day to be in MOD". That felt good. We went on and helped at another house with a similar yard debris problem, then called it a day.
Friday was a little more depressing because we had to help people in neighborhoods that had been underwater. The first house had been under about 6 inches to a foot of water. That is enough to ruin all the sheet rock and insulation and carpet of course, and some of the furniture. We went in and knocked out the bottom 4 feet of drywall on the entire first floor and hauled it out so the rest of the framework could dry out before repairs were attempted. The family was so grateful. It was a lot of work, but we had about 10 people there and managed to get everything cleaned up enough with enough time to go to a house that had been under about 3 feet of water. That one was just depressing.
Everything in that house was ruined. When we showed up, there had already been a crew there most of the day, and they had gotten all the belongings moved out of the house, onto the front yard, all the carpet removed, and about 90% of the sheet rock out. They still needed plenty of help knocking out the rest of the walls and cleaning up the mess inside from all the demolition. So just remember, if you live near water, and under about 20 feet above see level, buy flood insurance. Their house is basically unlivable until a contractor comes in and redoes all the walls. The entire neighborhood was in this boat, and a few people even went over to complete strangers to help them since we had so many people at this one house.
The job was huge and we had a good 20 people helping out. They were so thankful for us coming to bail them out, they had posted a sign on the garage that said "Thank you NASA and USA, you saved us!" to thank all the NASA and United Space Alliance employees for coming to help, and then brought us lunch. It was a good day for volunteering.
That is the summary so far, I'll try and add some more pics as I get them and keep you informed as things progress. As of right now, we are returning to work on Monday, with all training canceled and under orders to "wear comfortable cloths", whatever that means. Pray for those who lost so much during the storm, that they get back on their feet quickly and painlessly.
