Hurricane Ike Hits Texarkana

This has been a bad summer for hurricanes. It seems that one right after another has been battering the Gulf of Mexico. I've spent the greater part of this summer, on weather.com, tracking hurricanes. Watching them on radar. Texarkana is nowhere near the coast, but we've been getting bad weather off the hurricanes of this season. And Ike seemed no different from all the others that have hit. Every evening, before going to bed, I'd track Ike to see what he was up to now. Which direction he was heading, and what he'd left in his wake. I saw on the news, the damage he'd done, as he hit the coast at Galveston. I heard when he hit Houston. But on Friday, September 12, I went to bed, secure in the knowledge that Ike was heading due north, for Oklahoma, and was down to a Tropical Depression. I knew we'd get storms, possibly some flash floods, as usual. No big deal. We'd been through many, already.

Saturday, September 13, I wasn't doing much, hadn't really been thinking about that hurricane. Was simply preparing for regular thunderstorms. Then I heard we were supposed to get gusts of wind up to 40 mph. HMM. That didn't sound right. So I went to weather.com, and checked, and got two big shocks: first, Ike had actually gained power OVER LAND, and was back up to a Category 1 Hurricane. What hurricane GAINS strength OVER LAND? My second shock was that Ike had shifted course, within the last hour and was heading straight for Texarkana! I watched the radar tracking it, in disbelief.

At 2:30 pm, it was mild enough. There was just a light rain, and my daughter was actually outside playing in it. I checked the radar, again, and saw that the heavy rain was crossing 7th Street, about 6 miles away. I went outside and played in the rain a few minutes, myself. Actually enjoying the cool rain. It started coming down a little harder, and the wind picked up, and I brought Sedona inside. The radar showed the heavy rain was about to cross New Boston Road, which is right behind our house. Sure enough, just as I watched it cross over on the radar, I heard it outside. Looking out the window, I saw the rain was horizontal. I'd only ever seen that during a tornado. Surprise.

By 3:30 pm, the wind was up to 73 mph, and we could hear it battering the house. A broken window in the kitchen fell apart, allowing the wind to blow through the room. I pulled the blanket blocking that doorway closer down. We watched the blanket billow in the wind. Strong, steady winds blew, and sheets of rain fell. It was like nothing I'd ever known. I got word from my ex and his wife that they'd come get us, if we didn't feel safe. HMM. By that time, it was really too late. It hadn't hit their side of town yet, so they didn't know. I had to tell them we'd been warned to stay inside.

Around 5:00 pm, we heard what we thought was loud thunder. But I realized there was no rolling sound after it. I stepped out on the porch, to look in the direction of the sound. The streetlights that had begun to come on were now off. Within minutes, I heard the sirens blaring. Fire trucks, squad cars, ambulances. Sedona was afraid, and couldn't stop screaming, "We're gonna die in this house!" I had to calm her down. If we got out on the road, there was no way we'd make it to safety.

By 6:00 pm, it was growing dark outside. The wind never let up, and neither did the rain. More trees were falling, more limbs breaking off stronger trees. That's when we heard another loud boom. That one was close! I looked out the back window, to see the tree behind our garage had lost most of its top. I couldn't see where the limbs had landed. That's when I began watching the neighbor's trees. Swaying and dancing in the wind that was still over 70 mph. I realized, if those limbs broke off and fell our way, we'd lose that entire side of the house. New instructions to my daughter: we stay in the living room, away from the windows. If she needed to go use the bathroom, I'd go with her and watch out that window. If that tree would tip, I'd drag her back to the other side of the house.

By 7:00 pm, winds were down to 60 mph, but the rain had still not let up. Our entire neighborhood was pitch dark. Except my block. In this part of town, the block where we live seemed to be the only ones with electricity. I was amazed. I chatted with my brother in Idaho, during the entire storm, because he was worried about us. Weather in Idaho, at that moment: 70 degrees, and sunny.

By 9:00 pm, it had finally begun to wind down. Wind down to 40 mph, with gusts of up to 60 mph. Trees still going down around town. Sirens still going off. But the worst had already past us. By 10:00 pm, the announcer on the radio had said the eye was 60 miles northeast of us, and the storm was traveling at 20 mph. Ike was gaining speed, as he was losing strength. By 11:30 pm, it was over. Sedona was sound asleep on the couch. And I learned from the announcer on the radio that, in Texarkana, with its population of around 50,000 people, 9,000 homes were without electricity.

Texarkana had never really been hit with anything like this, not since the ice storm of 1999. It was crazy. Tornadoes hardly ever touch down in Texarkana. It's usually pretty boring, as far as storms go. But now, it's been hit with a Category 1 Hurricane. Amazing, that there wasn't more damage. In the dark, through the night, it sounded like the town was tearing apart. The next morning, in daylight, I realized it wasn't as bad as it sounded.
The tree in my backyard that lost nearly the whole top, dropped its limbs BESIDE and IN FRONT OF the garage. The garage, itself wasn't touched. No limbs or anything else hit the house. The tree next-door, lost a couple of limbs, but they went down in their yard, nowhere close to any houses.

Looking at what happened in Galveston and Houston and those surrounding areas, I know this could have been so much worse. Even a Category 1 can do terrible damage. I know I'll never underestimate a hurricane, again. And, never again, will I assume a hurricane cannot touch us, so far inland.