Snippid

A link to my Hurricane Ike web album:

Hurricane Ike

I’m posting a link to David’s blog rather excellently documenting our experiences with Hurricane Ike, which struck our campus in the wee hours of Friday morning.  (He also has some pictures, including some doodles of mine, a product of boredom the night of the hurricane).

We students are fortunate, as we have only been inconvenienced by a lack of running water for about 2.5 days, but have had almost uninterrupted electricity, internet, and hot food in the serveries.  In contrast, about 99% of Houston didn’t have power immediately after the hurricane, and a Houston Chronicle article written Sunday at 9 PM says that only 1 in 4 Houstonites have power.  Only the Medical Center area had power immediately after the storm, and I don’t know if the electricity at Rice has come from a Houston plant or one of our own plants, but in any case, we’re much more well off than the average Houstonite at the moment.  Water has even returned; at first, a brownish trickle from the faucet, then clear water at a close-to-normal pressure.  That is something to be grateful for, despite the horribly clogged toilets.

Some Bakerites put their energy to use by clearing fallen foliage and debris from the area surrounding our residential college.  It was great seeing people channel their energy and boredom into something constructive for the campus.  Looking beyond Rice, there are other ways people can help as well:  give blood, donate money to a reputable charity, get in touch with volunteer agencies to see if you can help on-site, if you live close to hurricane-affected areas.

More later on the hurricane, when I get around to uploading pictures.