We started calling the Houston area on Thursday September 4. At that time Hurricane Ike was a Category 4 in the Western Atlantic with winds of 145 mph. By Tuesday September 9 Ike had entered the Gulf of Mexico with winds of 85 mph. On September 10 President George W. Bush made an emergency declaration. As Ike neared land-fall we were finding some complexes had phone messages saying they were evacuating, whilst other complexes were happy to answer our survey questions. But one could sense the mounting fear in some people’s voices and, of course, some were a little too occupied, not in a tenant sense, to answer our questions and asked us, with that disarming Texan politeness, if we would mind calling back the following week. By Friday the 11th., Ike had increased its wind field and strengthened to a Category 2 with 100 mph wind and we calculated that our survey team had successfully surveyed over 60% of the 1,140 complexes we call each quarter in the Houston area. Our team had found some areas had had no telephone service or that the answering machine was on. At that point we decided to stop surveying as Texans began preparing to receive Ike’s wrath. For the next few days we all followed the news reports with horror and sympathy as Ike tore through the Houston area, where on Saturday the 12th the winds reached 110 mph.
As we need to complete a survey in the quarter month and had fallen behind in having been able to complete an acceptable number of surveys in Houston, we discussed when, or if, we should resume our calling. We did not do so until September 22 so as to allow people time to recover their properties and themselves as best they could. When we did resume our surveying we decided to take the opportunity to ask what damage each complex had suffered from Ike.
I have been going over the responses that I had from the 150 complexes that I surveyed and what strikes me now as I recall those conversations is the sense of relief and humility that I had in listening to people who had been through a catastrophe. I am reminded of the grace with which people answered my question and the sense of relief and a somewhat puzzled aura of having received a blessing, if the damage had been minor or, as in some cases, non- existent. At RealFacts we gather and analyze data. In trying to analyze the responses to see a pattern, what stands out is that there was no discernible pattern. One complex had had damage to every one of its twenty two buildings, whilst another, only a short distance away, had had “Oh only a few fences blown down, and they were old.”
As people responded to my question at some locations I could hear construction crews sawing and hammering and other people answering tenants’, or adjusters’ or colleagues’ questions and inquiries. One thing that did stand out was that in many cases where there appeared to be little damage, a few days later a lot of water damage was discovered as the very high winds had found any nook or cranny and blown water in, like a supercharger, which had taken a while to percolate down, resulting in collapsed ceilings and a lot of sheetrock damage.
I thought to quote directly from a few of the responses, taken on September 24 thru 29 :-
“One of the 4 buildings very badly damaged, 65 units (out of 556) uninhabitable, should be rentable by the end of November.”
“26 units un-rentable, hopefully back within 3 months.”
“Cannot move new tenants in as Centerpoint (the electricity company) don’t have spare crews to turn on individual meters.”
“2 units so badly damaged we had to permanently re-house the tenants within the complex. Other than that some roof and siding damage. It could have been a lot worse.”
“6 buildings badly damaged no time frame for fixing them as we are still waiting for the adjusters report. They do not know how many units were affected.”
“No units damaged, just a lot of mess.”
“Ike came from the south, but the rain damage was from the north, west and east. The shingles were damaged but we were going to replace them anyway.”
“Minor damage, some roof damage and some units still without power.”
“6 units un-rentable, waiting on insurance co. to give go ahead for repairs.”
“All front apartments damaged, ceilings caved in, tenants were re-housed within the complex. Estimated 4-5 months to repair and rehab.”
“Some water damage, still waiting for sheetrock, seems we be last on the list.”
“Yes damaged, didn’t have to move any one around, we’ll fix ‘em but some people did move out of the area after Ike.”
“First complex in Houston to regain power.”
“300 out of 419 units damaged, 40 very badly, no estimate of when they will be back on stream.”
“No damage, we didn’t even loose power.”
“Substantial damage/ceilings fell in/were able to move tenants to other units. We were hit bad.”
“Replacing 20 of the 22 roofs. No damage to units. No one had to move. It has always been a well maintained complex.”
“33% of the units damaged, most fixed now will take some time to rehab 4 units.”
“Major damage. At first look just a couple of feet of water damage on lower floors. Then realized a lot of sheetrock has had bad water damage. Adjusters still working 12 hr. days to assess damage. Not known how many units will have to be taken out of rental supply to rehab.”
“No hot water because of Ike.”
“When Ike hit we had 16 units available to rent,after only 2! 9 were very badly damaged. 56 out of commission. Metro National is a very good owner so does repairs as they are needed. Est. 2 weeks to have all back on stream, no window damage.”
“Minor leaks, all fixed/didn’t loose power as power lines are underground.”
”Miraculously absolutely no damage. When you have a company who cares for their property, when things are fixed as soon as they need it, there is nothing loose to blow away”
“Lots of debris, fences down, two trees were blown against the property, but just ended up leaning on the gutters with no damage to the units. It was a miracle.”
“No building damage, lots of debris and the pools are out as they are full of debris and pollution. Still waiting for the chemicals to fix it.”
“Adjustor said ‘Oh nothing, you were lucky’.”
I can not imagine how awful it must have been to have gone through the brunt of Ike, but in speaking to the people who had, I believe that I did get a sense of how many of the people’s faith had helped them through it and how it was strengthened by the experience.
Gerald Patrick Cox
