Recovering From Ike

I've been working for our sister station, KTRK, in Houston, Texas since last Monday. The destruction down here is incredible. What reminds me of coming down here in 2005 to cover Katrina and Rita, is how much more real the damage is when you see it in person. We can become desensitized from the images on our televisions because they all seem to look the same. When you see a whole waterfront neighbor hood where a community once stood and all that is left are the posts that the houses once stood on, it quickly becomes very real. With the exception of a quick trip to the center of downtown Houston, I've spent much of my time in the communities on the east side of Galveston Bay. In one location, there was a row of houses that were once right on the gulf. Today it's difficult to tell there were ever houses there. Everything, everything blew across the bay. Driving through a marshland we started to see roofs, walls, and refrigerators. No driveways. There were never houses in this area. Not even within 10 miles or more. That was the power of this storm.

I'm off to see what today will bring. I'll have much more to post with a ton of pictures when I get back (my flight home is now booked for Sunday afternoon).

Thanks for watching.
-Billau