We live twenty miles north of Houston, and normally would have been on the west side of the storm, but the manner in which it blew smacked on side of our house badly. We had a concrete tile roof, and the outline of our house was edged with shredded concrete and course grindings of it. We also lost enough tiles at crucial areas to require that the roof be replaced.

I had purchased, cleaned and filled four fifty gallon garbage cans with water, cleaned two bathtubs and filled them with water, and turned down the frige and freezer, put milk bottles with water in them, beginning three days before the storm, and moved frozen ones into the fridge. We had enough canned soup, oatmeal, beans, luncheon meat, and bread and other crackers, canned fruit and peanut butter to last us a month, if need be. As it turned out, we had the use of our frdge due to our generator and it was wonderful. ICED drinks, yummy.

Our area has huge trees and they tumbled down everywhere. Telephone servive was out for us for ten days, our satellite TV came on the next morning due to the generator, and cellphones could be used sometimes, with everyone being urged to TEXT instead of call. Since we had a generator, we had people from all over the neighborhood bring their things to be charged, but we said computers only two at a time. It damaged two large, spectacular trees in our yard, and BLEW IN TICKS, nasty, big ticks found in the coastal areas. We fought those ticks like crazy, had professionals spray twice, cleaned the carpet to suck them up, inumerable times, and both dogs were bathed three times a week in an oatmeal shampoo and then dipped one a month, and it has just begun to come under control with the freezes we experienced this winter.

People grilled out on their propane grills, and since we had a generator and had put in some fuel at the beginning of the summer, and had filled our vehicles, we wondered about for brief forrays into the area starting on the second day. We ran our neighbors’ stocked freezer, everyone would bring a dish some evenings and have pot luck, and our frig got a good workout keeping perishables for others. We also continued to freeze water in milk jugs and take it to friends who did not have power or water service. Fortunately, IKE was not a big rain producer inland, and the weather actually cooled down into the lower 80′s with relatively low humidity. That was a blessing.

Personally, I think Merida, with its’ stone walls and masonry walls, and windows which may be shelterd or under the height of the walls around many homes, is much better suited to coming through storms. They have no drywall, no insulation, carpet, and things which can’t be cleaned to control mold.

Altogether, one would probably be safer in Merida, than in some parts of the states during hurricanes.

My husband and I will be moving to Merida in a month. We know to expect an occasional hurricane. The recent eathquakes have raised the question is Merida in a siesmological hot spot?

Thanks!

Does anyone have any pictures (or links to websites that do) of the coastal towns East of Progresso BEFORE Hurricane Isidore?

Thanks