Survived Hurricane Harvey

Distance shot-white arrow points to chimney hidden by tree

I'm literally too tired to write anything so I'm going to reprint some of what I posted to Facebook.

Post Hurricane Harvey

Darling Hubby managed to get home Tuesday afternoon. We started putting together our insurance claim. No rising water i.e. flood damage because our small community drained well. We do have flood insurance and will continue to pay the $425.00 a year for that.

We do have rain damage from the hurricane. I thought it was limited to 2 areas, but the more we investigated, the more we found.

We took lots of pictures to document. Found a Home Depot open Wednesday and bought a bunch of fans. Pulled carpet up and have fans blowing constantly in the house.

We filed a claim, have a claim number, but we're way down on the priority list and rightfully so. At last count there are 162,000 flooded homes from a few inches of water in houses to those with 8 feet or more in them.

Thirty-six people lost their lives in this hurricane.

Turn around; don't drown should be actionable words, not just something you hear on TV and then ignore.

We had a call from our insurance company. They told us to do whatever to make sure there was no more damage (rain forecasted for Monday!!) and to make sure no mold/mildew started growing which is easier said than done. We were told to buy what we needed and save receipts, and that they'd try to be in touch in 7-10 days.

We've contacted contractors, but that list is 10 miles long too. We've waited all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for contractors who said they'd be out but haven't yet appeared. Seems as if we spend hours on the phone trying to get contractors and then sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting. But that's insignificant compared to the problems so many have.

This morning we started making calls again, trying to find someone who would come out and look at the chimney. (The contractor who said he'd do that yesterday ended up falling off a roof at his morning appointment and broke his ankle.) The first contractor who showed up did a walk through of the house and went up to look at the roof. He referred us to another man for the chimney issue and didn't want to take the interior job because it wasn't that big of a project. He still hasn't called.

Fortunately, we found a very nice man this afternoon. He inspected the inside and the roof, identified the issue with rain entering at the chimney, and did a temporary fix that should prevent further damage. That's great since rain is forecast for next week.

He promised to be in touch and tell us when he could do a permanent repair. I was thrilled because Darling Hubby was getting ready too go on top of the house and see if he could cover the chimney with a tarp.

The reason this is a problem is that the house is a mid-century modern with sharp angles and a really high sloping roof line in the middle of the house over the second floor. So I can breathe easier now.

As I write this, most of the stores have re-opened, but some gas stations are out of gas. Prices have increased dramatically--50 cents a gallon at some stations--while others, like the nearby HEB station, still have the normal price.

All in all, we feel very lucky. We still have our home, vehicles, and health. Just have to persevere with the insurance claims and do what we can to make repairs in the meantime.

Takeaway Truth

Thank you to all of you wonderful people who have sent facebook messages, comments on the blog, and email messages to me. I appreciate each and every one of you.