Good Advice From Houston Chronicle

Houston’s largest newspaper offers some answers to many thousands of displaced residents who want to go home as badly as a homing pigeon.

There are no easy answers and the situation in Galveston is probably worse than Houston. Search and rescue still underway.

Here is the Houston Monday Morning column:
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September 14, 2008
Got questions? We’ll try to answer them here

[Editor’s note: This entry was so successful, we’ve turned it into its own blog. Visit Ike Answers and leave your comment in the first entry. We’ll do our best to answer them, and we invite you to provide answers as well.

Comments on this entry have been closed, but you can still read the earlier questions and answers.]

As the Houston area wakes up to power outages, downed trees and impassable roads, we’re rounding up answers to your questions. We’ll start with five. Please comment with your own and we’ll answer what we can.

Question: When is it safe to travel?
Answer: Not now. Houston Mayor Bill White and other officials have asked people to stay home, calling 911 if they need emergency rescue. Houston police and firefighters, along with about 1,000 other city employees in heavy trucks, began rolling through the city by mid-morning to determine street safety. The threat of tornadoes also remains while the storm moves through.

Question: Is the city going to remove downed trees and other debris?
Answer: White said city workers will begin removing debris later today.

Question: If I’ve evacuated, how will I know when it’s safe to return home?
Answer: Do not call 911 to find out whether it’s safe to go home. Contact your city officials, either by phone or the city Web site. So far, no evacuation areas have been reopened.

Question: When should I contact my insurance agent?
Answer: The Texas Department of Insurance suggests contacting your agent immediately. Note that many coastal homeowners have insurance for different structural perils like wind and flood covered by separate policies with different insurance carriers.

You’ll need your insurance policy numbers. Here’s a list of company claims hot lines. For cars, comprehensive (other than collision) coverage will pay to repair or replace your car if its damaged or destroyed by a storm, fire or flood. Liability coverage won’t.

Document everything. Take pictures or videotape damage right away to prove it happened, especially if you make repairs before a claims adjuster can check out the damage. Your adjuster will need evidence of the damage and damaged items.

Question: When will the power come back on?
Answer: It could take weeks. CenterPoint Energy reports virtually all its customers – 2.1 million of its 2.26 million – are without power as of 10 a.m. Saturday. Restoration has begun in some areas, but CenterPoinit spokesman Floyd LeBlanc says it isn’t safe for trucks to roll to most neighborhoods at this time.

Update:
DEAR READERS: We’re working as quickly as we can to answer your questions. Check back here as we continually add responses and update those responses. And please feel free to respond with your own answers or insights.

Thanks for your patience — these are great questions.

Second update:

There are some questions we are getting that we hope you can answer. Many want to know how a particular neighborhood or block within Greater Houston fared. Can you help?

These areas include:

— Pasadena, especially Burke and Southmore or Strawberry and Southmore.
— Hobby Airport neighborhoods (including Gulfmeadows subdivision).
— Todville Road in Seabrook.
— Eastern Galveston County, including Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach.
— Sandalwood/Lakeview subdivision near Buffalo Bayou.
— Lake Livingston

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