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With short reprieve in OTC, natives survive Ike
Published Tuesday, September 23, 2008
When Hurricane Ike struck Texas on Saturday, Sept. 13, Otter Tail County natives Jim and Staci Korkowski found themselves without electricity at Conroe, 40 miles north of Houston. Both are teachers and on Tuesday Sept. 16, they received a call that school would be canceled through Friday.
They decided that a trip home to Minnesota, for a few days, would be a good idea.
“My mom (Stephi O’Brien of Pickerel Lake) looked at airfare online,” said Staci. “When I called to make the reservation with Continental Airlines they said because of Ike they were having low fares and waiving fees. Early Wednesday morning we arrived at the airport and three hours later we landed in Minneapolis.”
They enjoyed the respite with Staci’s parents, Stephi and Tom, spending time at the lake, golfing and appreciating the 80-degree weather in Otter Tail County. Staci is a 1989 graduate of Battle Lake High School and Jim is a 1987 graduate of Brandon High School.
“Aside from the power outage here in Texas, we felt fortunate to have running water and no damage to our home,” she said. “We did drive 65 miles to get gasoline, have a hot lunch and do laundry. It was nice to have electricity again when we arrived back home Sunday evening.”
At about 3 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, they moved to the front of their house as the strong winds and rain were hitting the community of Conroe, north of Houston.
“We lost power shortly after that,” Staci said. “Once daylight came, we were able to use our landline telephone to get updates from my parents (Tom and Stephi O’Brien) back in Minnesota. We learned through them where the eye of the storm was and what was coming in our direction.”
By mid morning on Sept. 13 the wind was coming from the west and the rain was coming down almost horizontally.
“We estimate that we received about 11 inches of rain total,” Staci said. “The wind speed at the Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe measured over 90 mph before the wind gauge was damaged.”
She and Jim awoke Sunday to more rain. The refrigerator and freezer were still keeping food cold.
“We spent all day helping friends clean up a fallen tree and they treated us to a great dinner on the grill,” Staci said. “On Monday there were reports that power would not be restored until September 29. We kept ourselves busy by listening to news reports, reading and playing board games.”
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