Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hurricane Ike

Did I ever mention that Marc and I almost bought a beach house earlier this year? Some friends in Houston were considering selling their beach house on the Bolivar Peninsula (right next to Galveston).

Long story short: we didn't buy the house.

With that said, one concern when we were considering the purchase was the potential for a big storm. After all, the biggest natural disaster in American history happened when a hurricane hit Galveston.

We would have fully insured the house, but no one wants to have a house destroyed. Sitting here tonight, it's hard not think how we would be feeling if we had bought the house and were watching this...



Of course, we're worried about our friends in Houston. They've been through these things before, so they know what to do, but it's still scary.

As for their beach house, the threat is something they're used to. They even have pre-cut boards for the windows, and I'm sure Steve went and put them on by now. By this point, they should be going somewhere safe, and that is the main thing. But I still wonder what things would be like if we had to wonder what was happening to a house we owned that's sitting in the path of a giant storm. "It's just a house" is easy to say.

4 comments:

Squirrel said...

Hope all is well with your friends.

dantallion said...

It's never "just a house". I hope your friends have fared ok through all this.

Cincy Diva said...

A friend of ours has been glued to the news channels watching all the reports about the hurrican even tho she knows absolutely no one outside of KY.
She was so upset over the people who refused to leave Galveston even after they were told leave now or face a fairly certain death. Even tho, I do not wish for anyone to die. I have always been of the view that natural disasters happen in order to weed out the weak and utterly stupid of the species.
Seriously, do we really want the surfer dude waiting on the beach for Ike to hit cuz of the "gnarly waves" to reproduce?

Jess said...

Squirrel: Thanks. They got through it just fine. The beach house may be destroyed (they won't be able to check on it for a while, due to washed out roads, etc.), but they're fine.

Dan: True, but this is as close to "just a house" as such things can be, since it's just their beach house. They have happy memories there, but they always knew this could happen, so they kept very few things of real value there. They're not rich, but they did well enough over the years to buy this little place (it was cheap when they bought it, but it has been special to them) as a getaway. Their actual home is just fine, and that's the most important thing in terms of property!

Cincy: I know what you mean. It's sad to see these things happen, but it's hard to feel sorry for someone who gets plenty of warning and says, "I've been here for 40 years and no durn hurry-cane is gonna make me leave." Okay, Einstein, you just stay there and show the storm surge how tough you are! The smart people (like our friends) make sure they're somewhere safe, even if it means hitting the road and staying in a hotel hundreds of miles away!