Has Houston recovered from...um, cant remember the name of the last hurricane...? (Sugar Land: to live, fences)

[UrbaneAspects]

want to come down within the next week or 2...Is it like desolate down there still...or has things picked up pretty normally?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Ike. The city of Houston is okay, but Galveston and the surrounding area is not, and won't be for a while. Not all the 'fun' has returned yet, too much debris still around, lots of places went out of business.

[UrbaneAspects]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

Ike. The city of Houston is okay, but Galveston and the surrounding area is not, and won't be for a while. Not all the 'fun' has returned yet, too much debris still around, lots of places went out of business.

that sucks...so is it even worth coming down there or what? and by ok, do you mean just okay or OK

[tstone]

It's fine. Except for the downed fences and the occassional blue tarp, you may never notice anything happened. It wasn't the armageddon the media wants you to believe. Also, please be 100% clear on this one: We are not Louisiana or Mississippi.

However, the coastal areas such as Galveston and up the bay towrads Kemah, Seabrook and the waterfront areas of La Porte were hit hard. I'm in the Clear Lake area of Houston... the area of Houston proper that was told to evacuate and everything is fine here. However many of our nightlife type hangouts here that made our burb unique are pretty much gone for now.

[UrbaneAspects]

Originally Posted by tstone

It wasn't the armageddon the media wants you to believe. Also, please be 100% clear on this one: We are not Louisiana or Mississippi..

I thought Houston had a similar vulnerable coast like Louis...

Originally Posted by tstone

However many of our nightlife type hangouts here that made our burb unique are pretty much gone for now.

aw, well that kinda slims the chances. are the downtown nightlife doing ok or are they also closed?

I would just hate to visit down and be

[tstone]

Downtown will be A-OK.

Yes we are part of the Gulf Coast, but the part of the coastline that resembles Louisiana's (marsh) is from Bolivar to Port Arthur. Out there the surge killed 10-12 miles of inland areas. Here, the surge wiped out about half a mile of inland areas around the bay. (Haven't been down to G-town yet.) The rest of this side's coastline has a notable increase in elevation immediately on land. It may not be noticable to the eye, but it is when it comes to storm surge.

For example, my part of Clear Lake is 7 miles from the bay but is about 25 ft above sea level. Sugar Land is 40ish miles inland and is about 85 ft above sea level. The TX marshes and Louisana doesn't have this kind of elevation increase. Look at Orange for instance.

Check out terrain maps sometime if you get some free time.... it means all the difference when it comes to storm surges, which are much more devastating than 100 mph winds.

[jfre81]

What? Something happened?

[Supermac34]

Most people's power was back on within 10 days and right after that you could hardly tell anything happened in most parts of Houston.

You'll see a blown down sign not replaces or someone getting their roof fixed here and there, but mostly things are back to 100%.

[UrbaneAspects]

So other than the surface appearance, are things really ok? I mean, are people not going to resturaunts, stores, etc?

I know this is a silly question coming from someone who lived on the atlantic and gulf of florida...and the fact that things usually get back to normal within 1-3 weeks after a hurricane (depend on severity)...but the news made it seem like Houston turned into an underwater ghost town

So I assume its back to lively

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by UrbaneAspects

So other than the surface appearance, are things really ok? I mean, are people not going to resturaunts, stores, etc?

I know this is a silly question coming from someone who lived on the atlantic and gulf of florida...and the fact that things usually get back to normal within 1-3 weeks after a hurricane (depend on severity)...but the news made it seem like Houston turned into an underwater ghost town

So I assume its back to lively

Most stores and resturants are back to business as usual. I live in seabrook, and some of my favorite places near the water have not reopened (Tookies, T-Bone Toms, etc) and I think a lot of the Lemah Boardwalk is still closed but for the most part it's business as usual. Outside of the towns close to the water, it's hard to tell anything happened.