There are so many lessons to be learned from destruction! Take the house at 2205 Bartlett St. in Greenbriar, for example. Here’s a photo from earlier this month, as the house was prepared for demolition.
What happened next?
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Tag: Hurricane Ike
Thanks to the efforts of a volunteer firefighter, banished Surfside Beach and Surfside Shores residents may be able to view their homes on Flickr. Former New Orleans resident Adam P. Devaney has taken more than 800 photos of surviving homes in the area, though he’s only halfway through with the uploading.
Devaney, who has taken photographs as a hobby for about 10 years, said he did not zero in on the most dramatic damage, but rather tried to document the entire landscape. He estimates he has photographed bout 95 percent of Surfside Beach since Ike’s landfall.
He will try to photograph the beachside communities of Treasure Island and San Luis Pass later this week at the request of some homeowners. He tried to enter Treasure Island on Tuesday, but was turned away by Brazoria County Sheriff’s deputies, who are keeping the area off limits, due to severe storm damage.
Which Texas counties have been declared official disaster areas? Just these.
From the seemingly ubiquitous Pankaj, a few choice images of Hurricane Ike kicking some Houston ass:
SURVIVOR GALVESTON: MAYOR VOTES EVERYBODY OFF THE ISLAND “‘There is nothing to come here for right now,’ [Mayor Lyda Ann] Thomas said. ‘Please leave. I am asking people to leave.’ City officials have yet to decide whether to force people off the island. . . . The bottom line is that Galveston can’t adequately accommodate its population,” [City Manager Steve LeBlanc] said, adding that if people returned, the city ‘would go into a downward spiral.’†[Houston Chronicle]
“Kirby Drive is just as purty as ever,” writes the Swamplot correspondent who took these photos Saturday.
The evidence?
From the company’s website: a current (as of this morning) map of Centerpoint Energy power outages resulting from Hurricane Ike.
It sure looks a lot like Houston.
- Outage and Restoration Updates [Centerpoint Energy]
Photo of W. Alabama near Dunlavy: Swamplot Inbox
That Sunday open house scheduled for this townhome at 18224 Lakeside Ln. in Bal Harbour Cove on Clear Lake? Probably not going to happen. Sadly, it may be that the only open houses taking place in the Houston area this weekend will be unscheduled ones.
If you find any impromptu open houses taking place in Hurricane Ike’s wake, how about adding them to this weekend’s Open House Tour? Send pix to the Swamplot tip line, or add your comments or directions below. Have any other Hurricane Ike photos, videos, or stories you’d like to share?
HELPFUL HINTS FOR HURRICANE IKE HOME SELLERS A special notice on the HAR home page: “As Hurricane Ike advances toward the greater Houston area, the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR) urges homeowners to remove or secure all objects outside their homes that could become deadly projectiles in high winds. This should not be limited to patio furniture, barbeque grills and other large pieces, but include yard signs promoting home sales, contractor services, home security services and other messages.” Well sure, but won’t that make househunting a little difficult this weekend? [HAR]
They didn’t name this site Swamplot for nothin’! Now’s as good a time as any to stake our claim on the Google as the go-to website for photos, videos, and salty tales from Hurricane Ike — of waterlogged, flooded, or otherwise fluid-besmirched homes and businesses in the greater Houston and Harris County areas. Have we stuffed enough sticky keywords into this post yet? How about real-estate damage resulting from Category 2, 3, 4, or 5 hurricane-force winds in Southeast Texas? Yeah, come here for that stuff, too.
And where will all these videos and photos and stories come from? How about . . . from you? You’re charging your camera phone anyway — and loading up the address book with email addresses . . . Why not add Swamplot’s tip line to the list?
Once you’ve captured it, send us that great shot of newly waterfronted property — just tell us where it was taken and who to credit. If your neighborhood stays high and dry, send in the pics to prove it! It might make things a whole lot easier a few years from now, when you’re trying to explain to a skeptical potential buyer that your house didn’t flood during Ike.
Of course, it may be a little while before we can post the stuff that comes in. It’s all gonna depend how long it takes our laptops to air dry.
We do hope everyone has a safe, dry, and floating-ball-of-crazed-fire-ants-free Hurricane Ike experience. Maybe this thing will simply blow over! In any case, why not have your camera ready?
- We Only Know What We Read in Our Email [Swamplot]
Photo of flooding after Hurricane Alicia, Houston, 1983: Michael Glasgow
IKE TURNS HERE Apparently, some sort of storm is headed this way. If you live in the 77507, 77058, 77059, 77062, 77520, 77546, 77571, 77586, or 77598 zip codes, here’s a little advice: Surfing Swamplot for real-estate news is probably not the best use of your time right now. How about a little gettin’-out-of-town-ing instead? There’ll be plenty of time to gawk at photos of soggy homes right here — after we’ve been soaked and the power comes back on. On the other hand, all you shelter-in-place people: How’s the installation coming along on those foundation bolts and jacks? Got any tips for turning decorative shutters into something . . . useful? And who’s been buying up all the toilet paper? [Houston Chronicle]