UPDATE: Wednesday, September 17, 2008.
In the shadow of the thrashed JP Morgan Chase Tower, Houston gets its post-hurricane priorities straight.
A tree limb at least 25-feet long fell from a mature oak tree. The limb has three major sections: one on the ground, one arching over the deck and another over the car out of frame. This picture doesn't do justice to how little damage 2,000 lbs of flying wood did.
Literally hundreds of pounds of outer limbs and debris cover the BMW... which was 99% unscathed. We'll see about the other Bavaria that was stored in a heavily flooded area north of downtown.
Branches from the driver's side.
How big can a tree limb really be? Check out the diameter compared to a 30-gallon trash can lid.
Normally you can see the deck.
Lots of limbs just kissing the glass.
The pool was a nice blue color the day before, and the deck was spotless.
No trees fell on our end of the block, but across Hazard there were three that fell right here. The chainsaws come out and the neighbors had cleared one of the three trees by the time I shot this.
The red brick path is barely visible one block south on North Boulevard. One of the massive oaks has fallen.
Smaller trees fell on almost every block toward the Museum District.
Destination reached! Ernie's, the neighborhood pub, dodged an oak. The owners had a generator and cooked steaks with cold drinks until the ice ran out.
Back toward West U., National Guardsmen are using the Beer Bike Track (Hackerman Field) at Rice University to stage - there was a row of eight ambulances in the background.