KINGWOOD, Texas - As a resident of Kingwood, Texas, for just over a year, it would have been easy for Monroe natives Cara Fields and Sean Shea to listen to longtime residents.
"A lot of people said it wasn't coming," Fields said. "Others said it was going to miss us."
Fields and Shea decided to be prepared for Hurricane Ike, which made landfall early Saturday morning and passed over Kingwood, 20 minutes northeast of Houston, around 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
The couple was ready. They went shopping Friday to stock up on water and bread.
"The store was packed," Fields said. "Everyone was out of ice, batteries, flashlights."
And when Ike came, Fields and Shea were ready, sort of.
They lost power around 11:30 p.m. Friday evening. They didn't get it back until around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
Fields, a teacher of autistic children at a middle school, and Shea, a student at a local college, stayed home. They spent their waking hours playing games and, when the humidity indoors got unbearable, played games outside.
Food was an issue. Fields and Shea bought mostly canned food, but with no way of heating it up, they had to go back to the store and buy less healthy food in the dark.
"We bought $105 of junk, Little Debbies, muffins, stuff like that," Fields said.
Their apartment building suffered no damage, but around 3:30 a.m. Saturday when Fields and Shea were trying to sleep in the hallway for safety, the building rattled, like a structure does in a minor earthquake.
"It was definitely scary," Fields said. "The windows looked like they were going to cave in."
They didn't. While the building escaped damage, many trees in Kingwood, known as the "Livable Forest" came down.
Fields and Shea were glad to have power back on Monday night, and subsequently their cable, but life is still not back to normal.
Residents of Kingwood still are not allowed to use water from the city's supply. Many businesses still are closed.
Fields can't go back to work until Friday.
"Now it's just sitting around waiting for the world to start again," Fields said. She said people are grilling out and kids are playing together. "If anything, this has brought people together."
"A lot of people said it wasn't coming," Fields said. "Others said it was going to miss us."
Fields and Shea decided to be prepared for Hurricane Ike, which made landfall early Saturday morning and passed over Kingwood, 20 minutes northeast of Houston, around 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
The couple was ready. They went shopping Friday to stock up on water and bread.
"The store was packed," Fields said. "Everyone was out of ice, batteries, flashlights."
And when Ike came, Fields and Shea were ready, sort of.
They lost power around 11:30 p.m. Friday evening. They didn't get it back until around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
Fields, a teacher of autistic children at a middle school, and Shea, a student at a local college, stayed home. They spent their waking hours playing games and, when the humidity indoors got unbearable, played games outside.
Food was an issue. Fields and Shea bought mostly canned food, but with no way of heating it up, they had to go back to the store and buy less healthy food in the dark.
"We bought $105 of junk, Little Debbies, muffins, stuff like that," Fields said.
Their apartment building suffered no damage, but around 3:30 a.m. Saturday when Fields and Shea were trying to sleep in the hallway for safety, the building rattled, like a structure does in a minor earthquake.
"It was definitely scary," Fields said. "The windows looked like they were going to cave in."
They didn't. While the building escaped damage, many trees in Kingwood, known as the "Livable Forest" came down.
Fields and Shea were glad to have power back on Monday night, and subsequently their cable, but life is still not back to normal.
Residents of Kingwood still are not allowed to use water from the city's supply. Many businesses still are closed.
Fields can't go back to work until Friday.
"Now it's just sitting around waiting for the world to start again," Fields said. She said people are grilling out and kids are playing together. "If anything, this has brought people together."