D. Baxter Smith - Saga After the Surge: Hurricane Ike 2008 & Hurricane Harvey 2017

For all of my family and friends who were physically and emotionally affected by Hurricane Ike & Hurricane Harvey

And for my father, who passed his love of Galveston, TX to me,

And for Julie, my love, and number one inspiration to write Part 1 of this story,

And for my sister Linley and her sweet family, my inspiration to write Part 2 of this story.

eBook ISBN:978-1-54394-505-8

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I originally wrote and self-published the first edition of this book, Saga After the Surge, in 2009 after I wanted to share my experiences of Hurricane Ike. With no promotion or marketing I sold over 150 printed copies and never really wanted to make money off of this story and eventually broke even. Over time , many have asked if they could purchase the book online or download digitally. I had intentions of converting it digitally but never had any motivation to sell my story.

In August 2017 Hurricane Harvey affected many close to me. During that journey I collected thought s and some notes on my phone with a just in case mentality of writing another book. I didnt really see the point of writing a book about Hurricane Harvey because it did not physica lly affect me the way it did to many others that I knew.

In February 2018, I was in Los Angeles, CA for business, and I was having dinner with my cousin Amanda Clauson and her husband Sanjay. While we were eating I was telling them about how the catastrophe of Hurricane Harvey had on close friends and family. I went on to tell them about how Hurricane Ike affected my wife, Julie, and I me and how I wrote a book about it and carried on about other hurricane talk. There was a moment when Sanjay said Hurricanes really seem to fascinate you. Embarrassed by his observation, I agreed with him.

From there I knew this was the time to put together a revised 2nd Edition of Saga After The Surge, available for digital download with my story of Hurricane Harvey added . With completion of this story, I hope it will bring some closure to the fascination that destroyed my hometown. I edited the book and combined it into two parts - Part 1: Hurricane Ike 2008 with the original manuscript and the new Part 2: Hurricane Harvey 2017.

This is my story and perspective about Hurricane Ike and the weeks following the landfall that changed my life, and the emotional toll Hurricane Harvey did on me while watching helplessly from afar. I hope one who reads this can reflect on those days and can maybe relate. The aftershocks Ike and Harvey had on me are not comparable to the many problems that people, including close friends and family members, experienced during those hard, tro ubling times.

D. Baxter Smith

Part 1

Hurricane Ike

2008

CHAPTER 1: The Fascination

Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by hurricanes. My first experience of the so-called great storm came in August 1983 when Hurricane Alicia came ashore on the western edge of Galveston at the San Luis Pass. I was weeks away from turning three. This memory is so important to me because it is my first memory. I dont remember much from that time, but I do remember staying at my grandmother Nannys house in Dickinson, TX. My dad was working, so my mother evacuated with my sister, Linley, and me to my beloved Nannys house. I recall eating Fruit Loops in the dark, late at night . To this day I can still see that vintage Fruit Loops box. When we woke up from a restless night, we went back to our house on Hughes Road in Dickinson. Trees were down everywhere . One huge pine tree blocked the road on Nannys street in front of the Henrys and Coors homes. After maneuvering around the trees we arrived at our house I remember seeing my A-Team truck, which had been left in the yard, damaged. I dont remember what happened to that toy, but I should have kept it as a keepsake because, after all, this is my first memory.

The last thing I remember about Hurricane Alicia was seeing several neighbors walking down the street to a nearby street, Casa Grande. Everyone was walking to go to see this thing, and my family and I were fascinated with the commotion. We followed the others to see this highly anticipated object. When we arrived, there it was the Hairy Cane, lying in our friends yard, the Kettlers. Years later, my parents told me the highly anticipated object was just an enormous tree knocked down. That first hurricane experience began my life-long fascination of hurricanes.

Linley and me in my grandmothers backyard after Hurricane Alicia in 1983

Galveston is known for the infamous 1900 Storm which wiped out the city on September 8, 1900. At the time, Galveston was the most populated city in Texas and a financial epicenter for the entire South. The 1900 Storm is the deadliest natural disaster in the United States history because more than 6,000 people were killed, and the great city was left in ruins. Galvestonians rebuilt their city and erected a seawall to protect the island from future storms. The incident is still discussed today, and its legacy leaves a reminder of what could happen again.

Since 1983, when hurricane season approaches each year, people from the Houston/Galveston area make repetitive comments like, Were due or This is the year. Weve had close calls. Tropical storms have snuck upon us year after year, and each time anxiety builds when a storm enters the Gulf of Mexico. The locals track every dot of the hurricanes path until once again they say, We dodged another bullet.

In 1988 we evacuated to avoid another hurricane, Hurricane Gilbert, and for me it was fun. We took a family trip to my grandmothers house in East Texas. Gilbert didnt make landfall near us, but its category 5 winds made us run for the red dirt roads of Grapeland, TX.

Then in 1989, on another ordinary summer day, the very under-sized Hurricane Chantal flooded our house with five or six inches of water. In 1992, as a 6th grader, my school was cancelled for an extended Labor Day weekend. We were glued to the television as we watched Hurricane Andrew make its highly anticipated second landfall in the middle of Louisiana. Andrews second punch wasnt as hard as his first that hit south Florida, but once again the locals said, We dodged another bullet.

In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison crept up like a thief in the night. Allison made landfall on Tuesday and flooded many bayous around the Houston area but made most of its damage later in the week on Friday. I left work early that day in College Station, came home for the weekend and decided to venture out with some friends for some fun in Galveston. When it reached the bars closing time, everyones phone started ringing at once. Instantly, we knew something terrible had gone wrong. We quickly discovered that it was raining tremendously on the mainland and we needed to get home. We should have stayed in Galveston because when we got over the causeway, the rain was coming down so hard. I was driving 5 mph in order to see the road. To this day, I have never experienced worse driving conditions than I did that night. When we finally made it to Dickinson, we stayed at my friend Jeremy Magruders house. Turns out, I should have driven home. On my way back to my parents house at 4 am, I drove in high water when all of a sudden the lights on my truck started to flicker. I knew this was bad, so I tried to reach higher ground and landed on somebodys front yard. The night was dark and my fear of snakes overcame me, so I decided to just ride out the night in my truck until daylight. Suddenly, local fireman rescued me and took me back to Jeremys.