Four days after that Ike shook his apartment and those of its neighbors, Jorge Perez still has good fresh in his mind the horrific noise in the morning last Saturday, the wind hits on brick walls as if King Kong was playing door. The desperate cries of their neighbors when the roof and walls of his house fell to the ground will never forget.
"Ike shattered apartments complete and is a miracle that people living in them left alive," said Perez, who works in the maintenance of the Wall Street apartments located in the 1000 block of the street Wayside.
The coup Ike was strong, but the side effects that has left on families of this complex of 217 units have their tenants to the point of despair.
"Since I only have two dollars in his pocket, and I do not have food or gasoline. We call you to Femara but no response because people have answered them say they will arrive as soon as possible but we have not seen anyone of Femara, "said Rene Perales who survived the hurricane with his wife and three children in the closet of his apartment.
Dozens of families in this complex are in distress and they feel abandoned by the authorities.
"We heard on the radio that there are a lot of help and give us phone numbers, but the aid did not see it, we send them to points where they say they will have ice and food and when we got nothing, the Red Cross plane has said no hopefully help us soon, "said Perales.
"The authorities must understand that we are not working, not as we move by the state of gasoline and stores are taking advantage of one because you climb up the price to everything," said Perales.
Rumba platico with several families of this complex and some who managed to communicate with WEF said they received a number of cases and that in the coming days Mandar a representative to assess their situations.
"We can not be many more days in this condition, the roof was wet and while we took the wet carpet smell very ugly and we have no electricity," said Maria Rosales single mother of three children.
When Rumbo told him the possibility of seeking a shelter is not liked the idea very much.
"If we leave here we will be with the slope that we are going to steal what little we stayed and we do not have to go and come as the hostel to see how our house is, I prefer to wait and see if at least turn the electricity and I can soon return to work, "said Rosales, who works at a meat packing.
The owners of the apartments relocated to the families of the destroyed units to other inside the compound, but almost all have damage that complicate daily life.
"I'm washing clothes in the tub because there is no fence and doing laundry eating charcoal stove does not work because, I think that broke a gas line or something," added Rosales.
It is not the only one: the handrails of the apartments are converted into tendederos.
Cases like these are asomando around the entire city and even Mayor Bill White had to talk about the situation of the affected people in apartments.
"If the apartments are damaged, if they do not have the minimum conditions, such as whether the roof damaged or have become wet inside, then we tell the owners of these apartments is not so arranged that they can not collect income," said White Tuesday, September 16 at a press conference. "We ask people who call us so that we can bring the points of distribution to areas where they are most needed."
The aid of FEM
The situation of PODS (outlets) in its third day of operation was still troubled by lack of coordination, admitted White. In point Texas Southern University for several hours there was no food, water or ice after it was announced that there would be in this location.
"This is unacceptable and we will take necessary action to ensure that does not happen again," added White.
However, people who are doing the ranks where sometimes have to wait up to two hours to get a box of food ready to eat, an ice pack and a box of water, are not very happy with the way it is being distributed aid.
One of the complaints is that it is not known in advance distribution points, as they are announcing the same day by the radios, are moving from place and at worst not even exist or are ready to operate.
"They say that there will be help every day while improving the thing, yet we are saying that [outlets] can move from one day to another, then you sleep with concern that the next day not going to be, "said Josefina Herrera, mother of four children.
Energy supply and
The restoration of electricity supply had advanced to just over 500 thousand customers, but 1.5 million were still without electricity on the roads although it was clear that aid from other states had already arrived in Houston, the number of trucks with electric service plates of other states that andaban working to remove trees and lift poles.
The positive side is that the weather on Saturday that had no mercy Houston is now in favour of its inhabitants: temperatures have been pleasant and the air conditioning is not a greater need. But four days without electricity continues to complicate matters in other respects.
"It drove me to lose a lot of food because even though I have cooler ice is not easy to find in stores," said Perales.
Patience in shops and petrol stations was minimal and prompted the authorities to put police officers in some of them to avoid fights among customers, which in some cases have to wait up to three hours to get petrol.
"I've seen people mourn because after waiting hours when arriving at the head of the line is that gasoline is over, what they are feeling well but unfortunately things stand," said I. Garza, Houston police.
"People are upset when you say that there is a limit of 20 dollars and we had to arrest some people who have wanted to assaulting the owners of the shops," added Garza.
The opinion of people in different parts of the city was sour and many voices have exalted level especially when they relate to work they are doing the authorities.
"They tell us that we have patience but they [the authorities] do not have to sleep in the dark with the fear that they will come to steal or who every day have to go out and pelearte for a gallon of gasoline or a bag of ice "Said one listeners who called the radio station 740 KTRH.
A few good news
In the northwest of the city and several factories were operating and many workers could return to their jobs.
"Finally something good in all this tragedy, my house I am very wrong, I do not have electricity but at least I already have my job and I will be able to have income that is crucial for us who live from check to check," said Ramon Escobar , An employee of National Oilwell Varco.
The Metro public transportation system is already operating in some parts of the city and is expected to next week is already the vast majority of routes operating normally. The airports are already operating on a limited basis and a curfew was reduced: in effect between midnight and 6 am.
