WestWind Airlines

I live in one of the storm surge evacuation zones in southeast Houston.  I evacuated to a co-worker's home Friday morning and just got back to my house this morning.  I was extremely fortunate.  No damage to the house, and the storm surge didn't make it that far inland.  I even had power restored, though many in Houston have been without since Friday evening.  Many people who live closer to Galveston Bay or Clear Lake are in a bad way due to this storm, and of course the devastation to Galveston island goes without saying.  I was lucky: all I have to deal with is a big mess!

Here are a few pics of the damage to my back yard.  Lots of tree limbs down, and a few sections of fence blown over.  Otherwise I came out pretty good compared to others...

http://www.geocities.com/kuebeler@sbcglobal.net/I_dont_like_ike_1.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/kuebeler@sbcglobal.net/I_dont_like_ike_2.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/kuebeler@sbcglobal.net/I_dont_like_ike_3.JPG

 

 

 

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Mark Kuebeler, KSLC

Mark, may fortune continue to smile on you, and our thoughts and prayers to those who were not so lucky.......all we got was a little rain and wind gusts up here north of DFW.

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EHAM-YSSY B772LR

Mark, I am really glad you didn't have any more damage than you did. These things are really devastating to a lot of people. Blessings.

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WWA1702 Senior Command Captain +3
RWP SEL Instrument Rating (almost)
WW Test Pilot
Monster Driver

Glad to hear all is well for you.  I am blessed to be able to live up here in the North...even if it does snow 6 months out of the year!

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Bob S.
Senior Command Captain
E.V.P. Scenery

Mark, did you do anything to protect your house such as boarding the windows etc.?  We got some gusts close to 50 here in Memphis.

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Scott Williams
WWA 1404
Command Captain KBOS
Commercial ASMEL Instrument
CFI #1876545

wolfrunner:

Mark, did you do anything to protect your house such as boarding the windows etc.?  We got some gusts close to 50 here in Memphis.

I didn't board the windows, and I was lucky not to get a tree branch or a lawn chair through one of them.  Seems like these windows can handle the wind, but it's the flying debris that you really need to worry about.  I need to look into a solution for the next storm, in case my luck runs out that time.

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Mark Kuebeler, KSLC

Mark it's good to know you survived relatively unharmed. Just didn't think OK was the proper term. I know what your facing. Just got off the phone with my daughter. She's in Spring/ Woodlands and says things are getting quite bad and they probably didn't get it near as bad as you. No help arriving at all! Making arrangements now to get her up here to the midwest. Texans are a strong lot, we'll keep our thoughts and prayers are with you!

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The last thing every pilot does before leaving the aircraft after making a gear up landing is to put the gear selection lever in the 'down' position.

A co-worker lives up in the Woodlands and she's on a different power equipment provider (Entergy?) than Houston (Centerpoint).  After Hurricane Rita in 2005 she was without power for quite a few days, and then had rolling blackouts for weeks.  Hopefully they learned from the lessons of Katrina and Rita.  So far Centerpoint seems to have their act together, and there has been a lot of help coming in from outside the state.  Hope they get your daughter's power going again soon!

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Mark Kuebeler, KSLC

My family is in Houston/Galveston.  The ones in Houston (Northside) faired well, with only tree damage.  Galveston, not so much.  They aren't letting them onto the island to see how bad it is.  The big suprose for me was that the remnants of Ike brought 70 to 80 mph wind gusts to Louisville where I live.  Over 500,000 without power and hundreds of trees and power lines down.  I was without power for the better part of 48 hours until it was restored last night.  Crazy weather!

Matt M.
WWA 1887
AHM KDEN