Going Home

Heading down HWY 61 was like driving through another world. I can't tell you how many times we drove over power lines that were strewn across the road, I quit counting at 25. Trees, huge trees were either snapped in half of ripped right from the ground in which they stood. We passed countless boom trucks that power companies from all over the country had dispatched to help with the recovery. Rarely did we see a telephone pole that was not leaning, on its side or snapped in half by Ike's winds. At a police checkpoint, a Texas state trooper needed to see identification for us to travel through. Last he'd heard, the road we'd planned to travel was under water, but we could continue at our own risk. After the checkpoint, our journey took us through a marshy, pasture mix of Chambers County. Metal silos stood like crushed soda cans, a testament to the force of Ike's winds. At one point we passed what used to be a farm. The house and barns were no longer there. Just a couple of concrete slabs. A couple of pickup trucks and a large grain wagon were flipped over in the ditch across the street. Paul Mills, the engineer I was traveling with stopped next to a flooded shallow to show me some of the area's newest residents. About half a dozen alligators were lounging on the banks of the water. The gators will have no shortage of food in the coming months, especially being scavengers. Fish, birds and other dead wildlife littered the road. More to come...

Kevin just got back to the station and we're heading home today. Logging off and will finish when I get back to Toledo, after I've spent some time with my wife and baby.

Until then, thanks for watching.
-Billau