"Claudette"

LadyFish · Jul 14, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Hi all, I've been securing everything since about 11:30 this morning. The boat is out of the water and at least two vehicles are on higher ground. My husband's truck has been jacked up a bit in hopes it won't get flooded. The road to our house has been under salt water (no rain yet) since about 7:00 tonight, so we are going to weather it out. According to the latest news it has taken a somewhat westerly motion but we are already feeling the winds from the outer bands up around 36 right now. Don't know where she'll come in but my guess right now is between San Luis Pass and Matagorda. San Luis Pass is 7 miles down the island from where we are. Winds are not expected to exceed 85 our biggest worry is coastal flooding from storm surge and we've done everything we can so far. I'll try and give an update tomorrow if the electricity holds out.

SpinnerBait_Nut · Jul 14, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Hold tight LadyFish. I have been watching it and they say a Cat.1. That's bad enough. Keep us posted if and when you can.

KennyKenCan · Jul 15, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Hi LadyFish, I see that you have made all the preperations for the coming storm. I hope that the storm remains minimal, but having gone through a few up here, I can understand the anguish you must be going through. Hang in there and be safe. We will all pray for your safe return. Kenny

Specks n Reds · Jul 15, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

LadyFish · Jul 15, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Hi again, just checking in with a brief update. The house rocked 'n rolled all night long. We were cut off from the main road last night and as of this morning, 3005 the only road outta here has been closed. The canals have now met eachother and there is barely a 4' patch of grass them. High tide isn't until 11:00 a.m. The obvious things are floating down the street, coolers, life vests, garbage cans and a few small boats. Our neighbors went out of town for two weeks and won't return until tomorrow. The neighbors and I have been caring for their greyhound and cat in addition to our own and trying the best we could to secure things at their house. My lemon tree is completely under water as is my garden. It was like a Chinese Fire Drill getting the boat out of the water yesterday at noon. Everybody had the same idea at the same time and it was pretty congested at the boat ramp. Hard to keep your boat steady while waiting when the winds are so high. We've had winds to 50+ and heavy rain since about 11:00 last night. Things should settle down in a few hours but we won't be able to get out until the tides subside and the ditches drain. We're good on food and beer and books. Cable is out. The electricity has been going on and off so I can't spend much time on the computer. Talk to ya'll soon.

LadyFish · Jul 15, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Ob, how are things down your way right now? I see the eye is approching Matagorda Bay. We have friends that live on the Colorado on Matagorda Island, I hope they evacuated.

ob · Jul 15, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Looks like this thing is going ashore between Rockport and Port Oconner.Corpus is forcasted to recieve NNW trailing winds of 50 mph as this system moves inland.It is expected to be down graded to tropical storm shortly after landfall.Anyone in the path of this storm is cautioned to be alerted to the probability of spawned tornadoes.Corpus and the surrounding area is forcasted to recieve rainfall amounts between 4-6 inches.All in all it appears that this storm will not be catastrofic.We put plywood over the windows nevertheless.Being veterans of Celia in 1970, we didn't want to take any chances.At this very moment it isn't raining yet and winds are light from the NW.That is expected to change around the noon hour.Will try to keep ya'll apprised of what happens.Thanks for asking.

KennyKenCan · Jul 16, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

LadyFish, Are you out there or did you get washed out to sea? LoL Hope you weathered the storm OK. Let us know how things are going down there when you get an opportunity to do so. Kenny

LadyFish · Jul 16, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

After Claudette; We finally made it out to get one of the vehicles last night around 10:30. My husband got pulled over by the police due to an 8:00 curfew. After much talking he was able to convince the local PD we were indeed residents. Otherwise, its a $2,000 fine. I understand now that many places suffered far worse than we did but I can tell you the west end of the island where we live is a mess. The main road in Jamaica Beach was down to one lane this morning due to debris washed up from the Gulf. On the bayside, water came within 100 yards of the encroaching Gulf. The island is only one mile wide from Bay to Gulf in Jamaica Beach. Down the road closer to town the gulf totally covered the highway all the way to the bay cutting us off from the rest of the island. The neighbors accross the canal from us didn't have their boat tied up. It floated out of the slip and ended up on his lawn when the tides finally subsided. In the middle of the night our winds were in the upper 70's for a couple hours. I expected the windows to come crashing in at any moment. The strobe lightening was an indication that a tornado was also in the area. Thank God that didn't last long. We fared very well compared to others, but this storm should send a message to anyone who has become complacent about hurricanes. If its more than a category 1, or a rain producer......get the heck out! This storm didn't produce as much rain in our area, but if it did we'd still be under water. The tides we well over 7' above normal. That combined with a full moon (4 tide days) and the fact we've had a lot of rain lately made it flood fast and drain slow. As of this morning, only residents are allowed on the west end and workers, who must present work permits. They are already warning residents about scams related to roofing and repair work. On my drive in I couldn't believe the debris on the seawall however, signs of wind damage were minimal. Does anyone have information on Matagorda Island? Is the swing bridge open yet? Has power been restored? Is Alan's Landing open? I haven't been able to get in touch with friends of ours who live there and am worried. Thanks for all your kind thoughts the past couple of days.

mellowyellow · Jul 16, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

glad to see you posting Ladyfish... must have been quite scary! we had a bad windstorm up here 2 yrs. ago and 4 telephone poles 1 road over snapped like twigs... no power for 5 days! all the best! M.Y.

LadyFish · Jul 16, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Thanks, MY. I've been through a few of those 'wind storms' you speak of. I really think they must be small tornados in order to do so much damage. My Mom lives on a lake up there and I've seen damage beyond belief in the woods after a thunderstorm. Her beach had holes the size of a car in three different places once from lightening.

RICKRICK1 · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Glad to see ya'll weathered the storm Ladyfish. Was watching the news about it and the storm pictures reminded me of typoons in Okinawa and Phillipines when I was there. Sure do not envy any of you and the aftermath cleanup. Just glad to hear ya'll are OK.

SCO · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

I know the areas you speak of well Ladyfish. Did the water connect gulf to bay at around Sportsmans Road?

LadyFish · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

SCO, it did in the area of the Captain's Table/Delarana Park on 3005 all the way back to Stewart Rd. Just past the end of the Seawall right where they always said it would. To my surprise this didn't happen during tropical storm Frances even though we had more rain and higher tides. It must have a lot to do with the wind direction. The good news is...the Captain's Table didn't suffer and is 'open for business'.

At 2:00 today they will close the checkpoint at 103rd and 3005, anyone can get through.

KennyKenCan · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Hi LadyFish, So glad to hear that you and your husband survived the storm with no harm. Did you have alot of property damage to your home? I hope not. Just glad to see you back on-line with us, we missed you. Kenny

LadyFish · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Thanks Kenny. No damage to the house or more importantly the boat. We should be back out fishin by the weekend.

snapperbait · Jul 17, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Ladyfish... Glad to see ya'll are present and accounted for...

Where's ob?...

LadyFish · Jul 23, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

Here are a few pics from Hurricane Claudette in Galveston. The waves breaking over the Seawall were pretty impresive considering its 17' above MSL.

Seawall

Seawall

61st Street Pier

FM 3005 (our only evacuation route)

KennyKenCan · Jul 24, 2003

Re: "Claudette"

WOW!!

"Claudette"

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