Hurricane Ike - Photos from the Clear Lake & Kemah area

Here are the photos I got this afternoon. I finally got dry and without running water to take a shower I didn't want to go swimming in the salt water again. The city is pretty well shut down and road blocks are everywhere. Not a bad police presence. A few folks had asked for specific updates and my apologies if I haven't responded yet. Communications are spotty and I can only check things from a cell and a borrowed laptop on occasion connecting through a cell air card.....the old slow kind. Power is coming from a portable generator I bought that got delivered on Thursday. Got lucky there.

Waterford Harbor Marina. Water was 4 - 5 feet over the bulkead this morning. It looked really peacefull this afternoon compared to what we went through this morning. Overall, we fared excellently in this marina. On Nasa 1 there were a few marinas that were completely wiped out. Nothing left. Fixed piers on the North side of Clear Lake got hit hardest around here. If you were on a south side marina, especially Watergate, you have a fair chance of having a salvageable boat.

A tree in the front yard of the house we are staying at. Trees much bigger than this and everything smaller are down all over the place. Road crews have opened up the main roads really quickly. You still have to be carefull where you are going.

This is the scene at the intersection of 2094 and 146 a stones throw from the Kemah Boardwalk. Roads where shut down. I couldn't resist a shot of the evacuation route sign.

My friends and neighbors Gany and Lisa. These things are scattered everywhere. I've only seen one working traffic light in all of the Clear Lake Area.

This is on Nasa Road 1. Boats over here took a beating and reports say that the Marine Center here was wiped out. This sailboat came lose and grounded next to the Hilton. The hotel took quite a bit of damage and the marina behind it doesn't exist anymore.

In trying to get to Seabrook to check on a friends boat we found ourselves in the Home Depot and Target parking lot. It was a debris field. Here is a shot looking over another traffic light, not the one from the other picture, towards the Kemah Bridge.

These boats sit out in a field and have been there for years up on blocks. The surge got high enough to get at least one of them off. The sad part is a bunch of boats were put on blocks at the shipyard at Watergate Marina. We found them this morning scatted all over the place. Boats float. Don't put them on blocks when a storm surge is coming.

Typical structural damage all along Nasa Road 1. This side of the lake really took it hard. We though everyone was exaggerating about how bad this storm was. Turns out, we just lucked out.

We found almost every intersection looking just like this on the way to the marina this morning.

A resident of Clear Lake Shores looking over the debris in Kemah for any remnants that might have come from his house. There was no way for them to get to thier property as the water was, and is, still way too high. The first floor of most two story houses was completely covered. People were being brough out today by boat.

All over Houston billboards are down. We saw several of these in different states from unscathed to demolished.

The activity of the past few days is starting to catch up with me. Going offline for awhile so no worries if updates slow for a bit. Again, sorry if I didn't get back to everyone. Lots of questions and requests. We are alive, unhurt, and our homes - our boats, are OK.

P.S. For those who asked, my pup Georgia has no idea a hurricane even happened. She is happily sleeping on top of my feet as I write this.