Post Ike Recovery Week 2

I spent all week desperate for information about home and a friend started sending out email updates each day and put together a website http://www.tikiislandnews.com/ for us to get information. The water system was working, but it did not have a lot of pressure and we were under a boil notice and of course we had no power or sewer system.

Beginning on day 8, Tiki residents were allowed to stay overnight so Hunter went up to start the recovery process. He and our contractor were able to clean out all the debris from under the house and in the yard; salvage and clean what he could; scoop then power wash the mud off the dock, tile patio and driveway; repair the breakaway wall; and remove the sheetrock in both rooms that first week. Of course this had to be done for several days without any power or hot water. He slept at the house with the windows open and made coffee by boiling water on our propane grill. About mid week, the power came on and the water was turned back on. By the end of the week he had a temporary gas tank hooked up for hot water and could flush the toilets. We were back in business.

The debris piles were growing at the street. Our cul-de-sac had four piles the size of school buses grow during this week. FEMA brought their trucks in and removed the piles. This made our street look much further along in the clean up process than other streets are, but it is still a long way to back to normal.