Right in front of our house, enjoying full amenities after Hurricane Beryl

[bpaikman]

I didn’t bother to post earlier this week, because internet access has been shaky until Friday evening for us.
Our town was pretty much left without power after Hurricane Beryl blew through on Monday (the city must have the water system on generators because we never lost water. Our water heater is gas, and we never lost hot water either). But no AC at 90 F and 95% humidity is no joke in today’s AC-built horms.
(I’m VERY happy to say our house had no damage, and our motorhome that was stored a few miles away suffered no damage)
When we woke up Monday morning to a dark house with no AC, we picked up our motorhome and parked it on the street in front of our house. ( Our driveway is wide, but too short for the RV.)

We had fully fueled the RV and all cars on Sunday before Beryl arrived - IMPORTANT! (within the next couple days, we were seeing lines at the fuel pumps in town probably 50 cars at each available pump. And apparently, those little gas generators have to be refilled every few hours, depending. Our generator used less than 1/2 tank diesel over the next 5 days, running 1-2 ACs and a fridge.
We didn’t have to use the RV restroom because we still had water available in the house, but the RV was nice for middle of the night …minor needs. We
We even entertained guests when some neighbors visited to cool off. It’s exhausting to clear hundreds of downed limbs and debris from the yard in 90 degrees 90% humidity!
It was great to sleep in our own beds, cook and eat our own food and stay by our house to watch for looters.
And, as a bonus, it was a great opportunity to check out the motorhome supplies and operation before our big trip a few days from now. We had to replace the chassis batteries. Good to find out before the trip!
You don’t fully appreciate the luxuries until you don’t have them for a while!
Bob and I both grew up in tent-camping families, but being camping in a modern house without services is different. Today’s houses are designed for AC.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

My heart goes out to all in this storm. I hear a bigger storm is on the horizon! They are saying a months supplies may be needed!

So for those that know what I'm talking about,did the survivers pass the test???

Are you prepared for a Storm? What would you do for a month after a bigger Storm? When I think hurricanes, I still think Katrina!!!

 

[Neemer]

I went through a few hurricanes when I lived on the Carolina coast. The day after is something that you don’t forget due to the heat and overwhelming humidity. Coupled with the fact I always had a day’s worth of pine tree limbs to pick up, it was nasty. Super glad y’all came thru okay.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I'm glad you survived the storm with only minimal issues.

All of my kids live in the Cypress area, northwest Houston, and they were without power for 38 hours. One of my sons has a home on Lake Livingston and lost a huge oak but luckily it missed the house. He appreciated the whole house generator which is becoming an essential add-on to your home. The area around Lake Livingston had thousands of trees down because the ground was so soggy from all the previous rain and the tree roots easily pulled out of the ground.

As you may know, Centerpoint Energy, the electric provider for most of the Houston area is catching all sorts of flack for not being better prepared for the storm. I'm not sure what they could have done better.

We live in the Texas Hill Country and were praying we would be on the dirty side of the storm since we've been in drought conditions for several years. Canyon Lake is only 53% full and the Guadalupe River is minimally flowing. Oh well, hurricane season is just firing up and we trust God will give us rain in due time.

We leave Monday for some Newmar and Hoots rallies in CO, UT, and AZ.

Safe travels.

 

[DennisT]

My heart goes out to all in this storm. I hear a bigger storm is on the horizon! They are saying a months supplies may be needed!

So for those that know what I'm talking about,did the survivers pass the test???

Are you prepared for a Storm? What would you do for a month after a bigger Storm? When I think hurricanes, I still think Katrina!!!

Read some materials a while back. They studied all the storms up to and including Katrina.

End result was a recommendation to be prepared for self sufficiency of about 40 days. That would have kept you through what they studied.

And it worked well for when things shutdown at the start of COVID.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Luckily we have the opportunity to provide for an alternative shelter away from the coast should things go wrong. Just finishing up on the final build.
Concrete walls, generator power, AC and full facilities. Fits vehicles and RV inside. Should provide adequate shelter in times of need.

 

[bpaikman]

My heart goes out to all in this storm. I hear a bigger storm is on the horizon! They are saying a months supplies may be needed!

So for those that know what I'm talking about,did the survivers pass the test???

Are you prepared for a Storm? What would you do for a month after a bigger Storm? When I think hurricanes, I still think Katrina!!!

we were actually living in Louisiana when Katrina hit, but we were about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. We did experience some rough winds and some houses had damage. However, we benefited somewhat when we were transferred back to Texas the following year - houses in our area increase in value somewhat because we were safer from hurricanes.

 

[bpaikman]

Luckily we have the opportunity to provide for an alternative shelter away from the coast should things go wrong. Just finishing up on the final build.
Concrete walls, generator power, AC and full facilities. Fits vehicles and RV inside. Should provide adequate shelter in times of need.

Our church has concrete cinderblock walls and reinforced construction- the building was originally built as a service staging area for a local power company, and was intended to withstand hurricanes. BUT, nothing can withstand a tornado, and evidently something touched down on the south end of the roof, pushed in some blocks, tore up the ceiling and dumped it onto our grand piano, breaking the lid, and covering it with debris. The pastor’s grandson runs a guitar shop next door, and he patched the lid back together pretty well, but he couldn’t fix the sound. (I’m their pianist) It sounded a bit wonky Sunday morning, but they have it scheduled for a good cleaning and repair.

 

[bpaikman]

I'm glad you survived the storm with only minimal issues.

All of my kids live in the Cypress area, northwest Houston, and they were without power for 38 hours. One of my sons has a home on Lake Livingston and lost a huge oak but luckily it missed the house. He appreciated the whole house generator which is becoming an essential add-on to your home. The area around Lake Livingston had thousands of trees down because the ground was so soggy from all the previous rain and the tree roots easily pulled out of the ground.

As you may know, Centerpoint Energy, the electric provider for most of the Houston area is catching all sorts of flack for not being better prepared for the storm. I'm not sure what they could have done better.

We live in the Texas Hill Country and were praying we would be on the dirty side of the storm since we've been in drought conditions for several years. Canyon Lake is only 53% full and the Guadalupe River is minimally flowing. Oh well, hurricane season is just firing up and we trust God will give us rain in due time.

We leave Monday for some Newmar and Hoots rallies in CO, UT, and AZ.

Safe travels.

We leave Monday for Pueblo too! And some aimless exploring.. That’s why it was good to check out the RV before leaving - we found the cruise control doesn’t work, nor the windshield wipers, so it’s being fixed as we speak.

 

[bpaikman]

Read some materials a while back. They studied all the storms up to and including Katrina.

End result was a recommendation to be prepared for self sufficiency of about 40 days. That would have kept you through what they studied.

And it worked well for when things shutdown at the start of COVID.

Good to know. This was a category 1, mayyyybe a 2, but we definitely got the hardest hit. Amazingly, HEB was open the day after, or maybe the day of - with store-wide generators, I suppose - and they kept the shelves stocked. No other grocery store opened for 3 days or so.
The things in highest demand were fuel. (gasoline mostly), ice, water, and AC.