Well, last night Ike hit Cleveland Ohio and boy did it gust. We had winds up to 71 miles per hour at times, branches from our just trimmed tree broke off. The guy two doors away he lost alot of branches, trees uprooted in the neighbor hood and roads closed, but for us we still had power. Alot of people lost power and they are saying several days before they are up. I know for us it wasn't bad but for all of you who had the major storm I hope all is well, and everyone is safe.

Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Southwestern tip of Ohio was HARD hit by the winds from Ike. 90% of the Duke Energy customers are without power. Traffic lights are out, roofs and siding gone off houses, and general hurricane damage. This is the worst wind damage this city has ever seen.

I am blessed by the fact that our development has all underground wires and young trees. Older areas have lost many of their trees and of course where they fall, causes more destruction. A woman sitting at her desk, inside her house, was killed when a tree fell on her house. Tree service workers had to cut up the tree to get to her.

This has been the worst wind I have seen in my 74 years. I am fine! But others are not. Pray for those who have lost so much. We had a hurricane and not a drop of water. It is totally unbelievable.

Thanks for your concern and prayers...for all the others.

up here in MN we don't worry about hurricanes, just tornadoes, blizzards, straight line winds, down drafts, hail the size of baseballs....but not hurricanes! However, having grown up on the Alabama coast line and gone through Hurricane Frederick in '78 or '79, I have to say that hurricanes are brutal, although with the advanced warning, you can get out of dodge!

My uncle and his family live 4 blocks from Galvaston Bay in TX and they still don't know the condition of their home. My mother is keeping me up to date on what is going on with them (if anyone remembers from an earlier post, my uncle is a severe stroke survivor and is immobile and non-communicative outside of grunts and very very limited speech). They were able to evacuate with no problems with traffic.

Anyone else out there from TX who can give an update on how you are doing?? Of course, they are probably without power and thus, GULP, without internet and GULP GULP, without US :shock: :shock: :shock:

My thoughts and prayers are with them

Ohio, like Minnesota, never worried about hurricanes. This year and this particular storm, IKE changed all that for Ohio. Never have the people here experienced this sort of thing. This was a FIRST....and now there can be a second and third. Weather patterns have changed drastically.

All this tells us that unusual weather is something we are likely to experience more often in the future. Yes, a hurricane can penetrate thousdans of miles and if the path would be such that it move as far as Minnesota, it will go where it wills.

Just be aware, that at this point in time.....anything is possible!!!

We boarded up our house in Port Aransas since it was initially going to hit at Corpus Christi - no damage there, but we have friends that lost everything in Houston. My son went and got his daughter from Houston to stay in San Antonio until it blew over since her mother wouldn't evacuate. (Hope those genes didn't pass on to her daughter...)

No one we know was hurt - but they sure had a lot of damage. As of news time this evening, they are still telling folks to not go back to Galveston to check on their property - that their property is probably not there and there are no water or electrical services yet. So sad.

We didn't expect to have a house left in Port A. if it hit in Corpus. Guess we got lucky.

I have been watching the news here and it must be so devastating for these people. I can't even begin to imagine losing everything!!!

I have a cousin and her family just outside Houston. I am hoping they left the area. i will call my aunt tomorrow to see if she heard from Laura.

The pictures have been amazing w/what is going on down there. Here in Missouri we've had in different areas 6-8" of rain....and, I've donated my driveway (again) to the county!:0)Nothing to what these people are going to have to deal with. My heart goes out to them all!! Skeat

Sure is we still have people here in Ohio without power because we sent crews to Texas to help restore power long before we got Ike here. Which is okay since no one expected us up here to get hit hard also.

Nina I'm glad your grand daughter is fine and safe cudo's to your son. I just hope and pray all is well with everyone.

I'm in So. Louisiana and Ike did a number on us with the WATER. I suppose Gustav shook everything up with his wind, so Ike had no more to shake from the trees. Many towns are under water. I received an email today with pictures of Houston, Galveston, and surrounding communities. The devastation is unbelievable. Just where do you begin to pick up the pieces and begin all over again? Our little towns that flooded had also flooded three years ago with water from Rita. Many families had just finally moved back into their homes. Now they're flooded again.

I know how you guy's that were in the path of Gustave and then Ike are feeling. After living in South Fla for 23 years and going thru the anxiety prior the storms and dealing with the aftermath after each storm year after year I finally needed to get out.
It is very hard and sometimes you will feel helpless but you have to have faith and keep going because there is always a beautiful morning after a very long and dark night. Our thoughts and our prayers are with all you guy's and many hugs are been sent your way, so hang in there.