Comments on: Hurricane Ike: The Woodlands, Texas Frustration Edition–UPDATED

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:31:48 +0000

Just stumbled across this, and Ike already seems like a long time ago, but what a mess it did to our lives. We packed up shortly after it hit, since it took well over a week to get power back (as well as the streets cleaned up.) A lot of lessons were learned from that storm about being prepared.

By: Hurricane Ike: The Woodlands, Texas, Power Returning « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:02:11 +0000

[...] Other posts about Ike here: Hurricane Ike, Woodlands, Texas Frustration Edition [...]

By: Eileen and Lee Woods

Eileen and Lee Woods — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:47:11 +0000

We’ve been trying to reach good friends, Jane Yates and Bob Finehout, for several days.They live in The Woodlands, and of course, there is no answer by phone or e-mail.

We understand that FEMA is trying to keep lines clear (and they have had enough experience to truly understand this aspect of what they are doing)but hope that some means of communication can be established. It’s very important that people contact friends and relatives—-even if it’s controlled.

By: Victor

Victor — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:25:10 +0000

Does anyone know if there is land based phone service in the Woodlands? I do have ATT DSL service but no regular (ATT) phone service. And I do get cell phone connections. Thanks

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:16:38 +0000

Thanks for the blog! It’s allowing me to check on my best friend, who lives in the Woodlands. I hope you guys all get power back soon! I’ve been through several hurricanes myself in NC, so I know it’s no fun during the aftermath. Just hang in there and know that it will soon get back to normal.

By: Trish

Trish — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:07:58 +0000

Glad you’re okay, dear.
I don’t know enough about cell phones to comment about that.

By: Chillmonkey

Chillmonkey — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:10:07 +0000

Entergy should be ashamed of their record. Compared with Reliant and others they look like a company based in Beaumont or New Orleans…in other words, slow and defensive.
I , for one, plan to monitor the situation carefully, then notify the PUC and the lobbyists to open up competitive energy alternatives for the Woodlands using their dismal comps as reasoning. I will go the Supreme Court if necessary. Entergy is a joke!

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:46:29 +0000

I work in wireless infrastructure. Andrew C is right about the power being an issue for cell phones. Different operators are better/worse about what kind of backup power systems are in place. Last time I checked, Verizon was the only one with backup power at every cell site, but that was years ago. Also, there are some settings in the network that allow first responders priority over everyone else when making a call – this would knock your calls off, but your phone would still probably report that it has service, you just wouldn’t be able to make a call or your existing call would drop. I doubt that FEMA (or anyone else) would just take all of the backhaul capacity and prevent anyone else from using it, since they already have the ability to pull priority over everyone else on a per-call basis.

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:26:44 +0000

FYI – Entergy website says that 80% of the customers in the Woodlands area should be restored by Friday, Sept 19 and 100% by Sept 25

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:45:50 +0000

Yes, power came back on around 3:00 am but went back out again 4 hours later……..Mom got a rare line out an called me about 10:00 a.m. She thinks they are testing the grids to see if they are going to be able to come back online soon.