The recovery

It's gonna take awhile.

Houston Mayor Bill White said this morning ice and fresh water are on the way, although he couldn't give a timetable. He said fuel is being distributed first to those with "critical needs," such as hospitals and emergency facilities. Power restoration is focused on the same buildings as wells water treatment plants.

"We have stressed to CenterPoint, the private company which owns the wires carrying electricity ... we've emphasized to them that everything humanly possible should be done to get the grid back up as soon as possible.'

This morning's rain is not expected to cause major flooding from bayous, but residents should stay inside their homes, County Judge Ed Emmett said today.

"I cannot stress this enough - transportation arteries are still very, very dangerous,'' Emmett said. ''Please don't venture out unless you absolutely have to.''

Still, the latest deluge complicated the recovery effort after Ike, whose toll and property and life was still coming into focus today. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff could not yet put a dollar amount on damage, except to say that it would likely rival some of the "legendary" damage figures of storms past.

"By any measure, it was a huge storm," Chertoff said.

RMS, a company that estimates insured damage for companies, put the initial estimate in a wide $6 billion-to-$16 billion range. That doesn't count flood damage or uninsured losses, which certainly will amount to billions more.

[...]

In Galveston, ground zero for Ike's assault, the wreckage surpassed that of any storm in recent memory. Ten buildings burned to the ground, another seven collapsed because of wind -- including two apartment buildings -- and huge portions of the island remained underwater and by this morning had not been reached by emergency personnel.

They probably won't be able to get rescue crews onto the island until tomorrow. The known death toll so far is two. That's going to go up by a lot.

Most of the region, encompassing perhaps 5 million people, from Brazoria County into Louisiana, remained without power Saturday, although more pockets were lit, such as along Mason Road south of the Katy Freeway. Neighbors with power ran extension cords across streets to help neighbors without in some places.

Full restoration of power to the area was expected to take two to four weeks, according to CenterPoint Energy, the area's primary transmission provider.

We actually have power at our house again, according to Andrea, who stayed there last night. CenterPoint is tracking its progress at restoring power here, but it has a huge task ahead of it.

And the truly amazing thing is, it all could have been worse.

The fact that Galveston Island has a future today can be attributed to a final landfall by Hurricane Ike just east of forecasters' projections.

Instead of coming ashore across the island's west end or even Jamaica Beach, Ike came in directly over the east end of Galveston. This brought the storm's maximum surge to bear on Bolivar Peninsula -- completely drowned for a time -- and a long stretch of the upper Texas coast.

It's just scary to think about. And since I've seen some comments wondering about how Reliant Stadium could suffer such damage in a storm with relatively low wind speeds, there's this:

But the alternative was so much grimmer. Forecasters expected Ike to blow up into a major Category 4 hurricane.

For whatever reason -- dry air? an ungainly large size? -- Ike did not.

Some parts of Houston still got a taste of what might have been had Ike gained such an intensity. Because of the storm's odd configuration the winds were significantly higher just a few hundred feet off the ground, reaching Category 4 levels.

This explains why Ike ripped half the roof off the $450 million Reliant Stadium, but not the much more modest homes nearby.

Speaking of which:

Damage to Reliant Stadium caused by Hurricane Ike has forced the NFL to move the Texans' game against Baltimore, which had been rescheduled for Monday night, to Nov. 9, which was supposed to be the Ravens' open date.

The Texans and Cincinnati Bengals, who were supposed to be off Oct. 26, will play on that date instead of Nov. 9, as they had originally been scheduled to do. The changes mean the Texas will still host the Bengals and Ravens; the question is whether they will be able to play them at Reliant Stadium.

Ike's wrath took five panels out of the stadium roof.

"The facility will not be usable (on Monday)," SMG president Shea Guinn said. "There is some structural damage to the roof. Part of it is off. There's also other damage on the property caused by wind and water. We're in the process of assessing the damage."

[...]

The Texans and the NFL didn't want to comment about the possibility of not being able to play at Reliant Stadium, referring questions about the damage to Guinn. Guinn and other SMG officials are waiting for estimates from experts before commenting.

[...]

When Hurricane Katrina drove the Saints from New Orleans, they relocated to San Antonio and played their games in the Alamodome.

A more viable alternative for the Texans might be Rice Stadium, but it's too early to speculate until an assessment of Reliant is complete.

I cannot imagine them playing at Rice Stadium. It just isn't a suitable facility for NFL games, and parking would be a nightmare. Frankly, the Alamodome would be a far better choice, even three hours away. I presume the Astrodome is out of the question - it can't possibly be event-worthy. My money's on the Alamodome if Reliant can't be fixed in time. The Astros, meanwhile, will play in Milwaukee, while the Comets will close their season in San Marcos.

Finally, I'll say again that if you want to know the best way to help, I recommend donating to the Red Cross. They need every penny you can spare right now.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 14, 2008 to Hurricane Katrina