Hurricane Ike

September 12th, 2008, Brent and I went to bed in anticipation. We knew that Hurricane Ike would hit the location where we lived sometime in the middle of the night. Neither on of us had ever experienced a hurricane before that night. We were almost giddy with anticipation (weird, I know).

Sometime around 12:30 a.m., Brent jumped out of bed and grabbed his laptop of the floor.  He had heard the sound of flowing water and knew he had to move his computer before water got to it. It was a good thing he moved the laptop because water was flowing into our apartment through our windows (which were closed) faster than I thought possible.

Brent spent several hours soaking up water around the windows with towels and then draining the water from the towels into bowls. It was a good thing Brent reserved that water because later on we realized the bathtub had drained and we had no water with which to flush our toilets.

We both eventually fell asleep only for me to be woken to the sensation of water dripping on my leg. I woke Brent up and informed him that water was leaking from the ceiling! Brent moved our thick, heavy, king-sized bed from the bedroom to the living room so it wouldn't get ruined by the water drip. Unfortunately, I wasn't much help to Brent since I was just over 8 months pregnant.

Although there was much chaos happening in our apartment, it appeared to be even worse outside. The wind was howling ferociously. The rain was pounding so hard against the outside walls of our apartment that I am sure it was coming full force at a vertical slant. It was pitch black outside with huge flashes of lightening. It was all quite eerie. I kept thinking that I hoped no one was left to try to fight against this monster called Ike while outside.

The next morning, Brent and I discovered the effects of Ike were disastrous. Brent and I were left without water and power, as was most of the Houston area. Old, strong trees were ripped to shreds. Thick, sturdy roots torn from the earth. Hermann Park, which is across the street from our apartment, was unrecognizable. 

Brent and I spent four days without water and power. (We were lucky. Most Houstonians went without power for one or two weeks.) We lived off of peanut butter and jelly, crackers, granola bars, beef jerky, and other non perishable items. Thankfully, in anticipation of the hurricane, we had stocked up with drinking water.

We had no water to bathe or flush our toilet. We ended up collecting water from the apartment pool. After a couple days our apartment smelled like a latrine. After day two, Brent couldn't handle being so sticky and dirty that he finally took a shower with the pool water. Yuck!

Thankfully, after day three of no power or water, our neighbors had their water back. They let us take a shower at their house. It was absolutely fantastic! Then, the next day, another neighbor family had power and water back and they let us shower at their house and they had us over for dinner. It was so wonderful.

For the four nights we were without power and water we did a lot of reading, played cards and board games, hung out with our friend, Matt (his wife and daughter were in NYC visiting at the time), and went to bed when the sun went down. Brent had to go back to work after the third day. Thankfully, he had taken a shower at our neighbors' house.

Our apartment sustained some flooding damage, and was covered in mold. So, we had to move into another unit on a different floor. It ended up being a blessing because we were able to get into a two bedroom unit, where we would have more room for Clark when he arrived.

We came from this experience feeling very grateful for all the modern conveniences we take for granted. We grew closer to our neighbors and our ward. We grew closer together as a family. And we are so thankful the Lord protected us through the hurricane and after.