Well, now that hurricane Ike has passed through Galveston, Houston, and the surrounding areas, they can get out and assess the damage. I don’t think it was as bad as it could have been, but it was still pretty bad. The good news is, there was supposedly not too much damage to my apartment. The area I live in was expected to be under water, and for the most part it was, but somehow right where I live did not flood. It honestly has to be some sort of a miracle. I’m grateful for it either way. My parent’s home is still standing, too. This again, is a miracle because they live in a mobile home and they were in one of the hardest hit areas. Galveston, Tx was torn up. It’s going to take a long, long time to get things back to normal there and in some parts of Houston. We are told not to come back yet, though. The problem is this hotel is really expensive, and so is my parents’ hotel. I looked around on Craigslist this morning and found some fully furnished apartments where you can pay a weekly rate, and it’s alot less expensive than this hotel room so we are going there until next week. Hopefully by then the electricity will be back on, and it will be safe to return. They are saying though, that it might take weeks or even a month to get power fully restored. FEMA is supposed to reimburse for hotel and travel expenses for those of us who had to evacuate. I wonder how long that’s going to take though?

I haven’t heard from my friend Erica yet, who lives in Katy. I hope she’s doing okay. Julie lives in the Houston area too, and I hope she and her husband and their pets are all safe and dry. This is a storm we will all remember for a long time to come.