The Divine Secrets of a Southern Diva

Ike is gone but he’s like an asshole ex-husband: You can tell every place that motherfucker has been because he left all kinds of shit behind.

Most of the city of Houston was left without power- something like 97%.  Downtown has a lot of it back and so does some of our neighborhood.  Our street is half lit- just not our half! Of course. Cuz fate hates me or something. I’m posting this from office which has lights and no water.

We had tree limbs all over our street and one tree was uprooted and is now leaning on a neighbors house. We think it was a small tornado that did that. We woke up in time to hear the end of it. That’s the only time our house actually shook. I swear, they don’t build them like they used to. Because if you could hear what we did and realize that we felt safe and sound in our house, you’d be amazed.

It was like the ocean was raging right outside our house all night. It sounded like waves were crashing against our house, only it was wind and rain. Imagine that mixed with the sound of a freight train in the distance.  We could hear shit in the back yard banging the house. Lucky for us, the back was pretty protected being surrounded but big 2-story brick houses. So even though our fence was destroyed, we didn’t have any damage to our house.

Like I said, some of the power has been restored in the city. Outlying areas are going to be a while. A lot of people are out of water, too. I know my office doesn’t have any. My manager had a tree fall on her house. She’s at her parents without power or water.  Luckily we have water- not full pressure, but we can shower and what not. We also have a gas stove so we can cook. It really hasn’t been all that bad except for the heat. Fuck that shit.

Gas is non-existant. Or if stations have some, they can’t pump it out because have no electricity. My parents and my sister are all out hunting for it for their generators. They’ll be siphoning it out of their cars soon.

The coast looks like a bomb went off.  I mean, the devastation is unbelievable. I still can’t believe they didn’t evac Texas City. Galveston just looks non-existent. It’s piles of rubble everywhere. I’m scared to know what all they will find once the water recedes. I think the body count will be a lot more than they anticipated.

Here are some videos we made out of sheer boredom and ridiculousness.  Not that you can see shit. It’s pretty much a black screen with voices cuz we ain’t got no lights.

During the storm:

After the storm:

Photos:

Allen Parkway:

Standing on an overpass to Allen Parkway. The water you see is actually street.  The next exit is to Taft- the street you turn off of to get to ours.

Dangling street lights Downtown.

Flooding on Memorial just outside of downtown.Yes, that’s a street under there.

Flooding near the police station downtown.

The end of our street flooded.

Tree that was uprooted on our neighbors house.

Another neighbors house.

The view from our front yard.

Our front yard. That tree took a lickin’ but didn’t fall!

Our backyard:

This is Diedrich’s coffee on Montrose. Took a lickin’ but was still open yesterday. We took this pic then went and had a nice cup of coffee and a biscotti. It was one of the only things open in the city.

Light down on Montrose.

Mike took a lot more pictures and you can see them all on his flickr page.

For more photos of the devastation all over the coast and the city of Houston, Click here. The Statesman has had reporters out in the field shooting what they see and using twitter to update folks with no power.

Also, one of my favorite restaurants-  Brennans- burned to the ground during the storm. It was a real Houston iconic type place. It’s been around for almost 40 years and is one of the few that still require a jacket and tie for dinner. It was known for its exquisite creole food and sending you home with a baggy of delicious pralines. It hurts my heart. There were people inside, too. They are severely burned but still alive.

Trying to function in a city that will never be the same again
-Ali