Sending out thoughts and prayers to everyone in Puerto Rico tonight. Another tragic storm to disrupt the lives of so many following on the footsteps of the earthquake in Mexico City! Let's hope better days are ahead for all!

Amen to that Lynartist. Too many natural disasters recently. Praying for those in Puerto Rico.

Somebody's trying to tell us something! Praying for all. Our Fort Bend County sheriff had a townhall meeting tonight in Sienna and he hit it out of the park. What a man! Answered dozens of questions and just is such a amazing person. He and his staff did an amazing job in this county, which btw is humungous. He was in a boat rescuing people while he was directing action of officers helping others. He also kept the peace as well and there was almost no looting. I think they caught 4 people and he posts on his Facebook page and that was the end of that! I think Fort Bend County is bigger than some of the states in the East!! It is 885 square miles and runs from way northwest of Houston all the way down to South Sienna Plantation (above 40 miles south, east to Pearland and west beyond Sugar Land. Big. But then everything's BIG in Texas! Wonderful people. I am hoping the folks in Puerto Rico can survive until help can get in there. No power anywhere on the island. Hoping the Ports and airports can get generators going to be able to receive help. Many poised any ready to go. Former great baseball player Curt Shilling has a big group amassed ready to go as soon as they can get clearance to land with vital items like food and water and meds. They have equipment to be completely self sufficient which will be needed. Horrible situations on those islands. My hubby and I honeymooned on St. Croix and I fear awfully for that beautiful island and the surrounding areas. Well, going to go say some prayers for all. Nite all.

Kudos to your sheriff, Flo. What a monumental task our officials have undertaken. In Florida our Collier County sheriff is on top of things also but his "territory" is a lot smaller! The curfew was lifted a couple of days ago. Isn't it sad that we have to have one? Sign of the times I guess.

Our " Marco Patriots " have received so many donations/ literally truckloads of items are arriving via UPS daily that they are galvanizing efforts to take the surplus to Puerto Rico. They asked via Facebook if those who sent items to florida would agree to this and received a resounding YES! The donations have already helped & continue to help more communities than I can name in south Florida. Time to also help others. There's so much good in the world amongst all the negative stuff swirling about. Makes my heart glad.

Wonderful to hear in our negative world. Too bad it takes tragedy to get people to be kind to one another. Puerto Rico along with all the islands hit by Irma and Maria are going to need a ton of assistance.

I went down to the Hilton Head beach today to see this 13,000 pound buoy that was torn loose from its moorings and washed up on the beach during Irma. A military helicopter will be needed to lift it and put it back in the ocean.

Wow- the awesome power of the wind and water.

Amazing....

Great stories about the sheriff and the powers that be. I am completely heartbroken for the people all over that have lost their homes and loved ones through all this. Dominica has special meaning to me and the people there. They are so poor but so humble.. I fell in love with them!!! They have more centurions than any other country and there is research going on there to find out why.. I can tell you why!!!! No stress and living in the rain forest!! There's a magic about it. Praying for all!!! Seajaygerns that is unreal!!!!! The power that had to be!!!!

We are still have a lot of wind up here in RI from Jose! I guess we can expect more from Maria this coming week! Hoping a friend of ours in Puerto Rico is ok. No real communications there just yet!

Oh Puerto Rico has such a challenge. But, Puerto Rico is less than the size of Houston. Believe it or not, most of us had power throughout the Harvey event! So, we will be sending electrical crews and in fact many are already staged to go get them up and operating. I heard Dr. Graham say that Samaritans Purse has 1,000 generators ready to go in all donated by Lowe's! They are beginning to let a few flights into these islands so praying for the best. But a real mess for sure. Not sure we will know the extent for several weeks really. All the agencies know they have to be fully able to be completely self sustaining, so you can imagine what kind of logistics that takes. Pray Pray Pray! Hoping your friend is OK, lynartist. So hard not knowing. Also, terrible tragedies in Central Mexico as well. Last time we were there, our friend educated us on the "soil" around Mexico City and how vulnerable they were to earthquakes. Sure was right on that. The City is built in the middle of mountains and on a old lake bed that is basically unstable when wet! Not good. I forget know what they call that, but same thing on the west banks of the Mississippi down through Vicksburg and on through that border between Mississippi and Louisiana. Not many people know there is a fault that runs I think from St. Louis Missouri, all the way down in that direction. It is called the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The soil becomes liquefied and you can imagine what that means. Anyway, time for bed for Flo! Nite everyone and take care. Keep us posted Lynartist as soon as you hear, but that could be a while for sure! I predict all the major cell phone companies will be helping people communicate with loved ones.

Yes let us know Lynartist when you hear from your friend!! Praying for everyone!!

Tammy. I got such a chuckle out of what spellcheck did to your post. Centenarians live for 100 years. Centurions guarded Rome back in the day . . . way way back. LOL. But a beautiful, heartfelt message.

Hahaha Seajaygerns didn't notice that!!!! Definitely meant Centenarians!!! My niece worked in the Centenarian program when she went to college and there were a lot of people in South Georgia over 100 also. She got to stay with us while doing her research. On man she was working with was on Joe third wife!!! The other two had already died and he was still going. Haha

HIS third wife!!! not Joe!!!! Good gracious spellcheck!! Really???

Heard from a mutual friend this morning that our friend in Puerto Rico is ok. She says thugs there are dire! No one is in charge; there is no food, no water , no power and little hope! A total devastation and disaster! Her family is luckily getting her out this week . Can't imagine what it will be like in the weeks and months to come....

Not thugs! I meant things:(!

I am very glad your friend is okay, Lyn. You probably weren't that wrong, with 'thugs'. When things are dire, it's often an irrisistible opportunity for thugs. Heartbreaking awfulness.

Please, could everyone spare a prayer for Bali, which is being threatened by a possibly major volcano eruption? More than 20 000 people have already been evacuated from their homes. Perhaps we all need to be in a permanent state of prayer, for so many reasons.

Lynartist glad your friend is ok and is going to get out from down there. Things are going to get even worse there before it gets better I'm afraid. Rina I agree about the constant prayer being needed.

Lynartist, so glad to hear your friends are safe and sound. I can only imagine what they are going through though.

Agree about all the tragedies at the moment just horrific. Not to mention those 500,000 fleeing to Bangladesh with nothing and nowhere to go! I think all of the charity organizations are just stretched to the limit at the moment. :(

You are so very right. In whatever way we can help them, we must. Sometimes just signing a petition that reaches you can make a difference.

It's a very tough thing! Thank goodness they are getting some phones there with satellite service in the next day or two! Our friend finally was able to reach her daughter and friend outside a hospital! She asked her daughter who is a journalist to contact CNN! These people think that nobody knows what is happening to them. No contact with the outside world. That was several days ago now so I am sure things have improved but I can only imagine how frightening it must be!

What a horrible feeling that must have been thinking no one knows what's happening. Prayers go out to all.

Lynartist - The stories out of Puerto Rico are heartbreaking. I'm happy to hear that your friend is okay, Was she able to get out of PR? I can't even imagine how frightened and isolated they all must feel. I just heard on tv this morning that women who had to give birth at home have shown up at the hospitals carrying their newborns. And some that have had to go to more that one hospital before finding one open. It is heartening (once again) to see the response not only of officials but of volunteers. God Bless them! It's going to be a long while before things are repaired/rebuilt. So sad.

Surely is horrible and makes you feel even more grateful for the infrastructure we have here. Having reliable electricity is vital and most people take it for granted. We actually kept power throughout the whole Harvey event throughout most of Houston. It was the extreme rainfall that was the "event". Some areas measured 50" in 3 days! We measured 39" in our area. Lawsuits popping up all over the place here too, so the countries with nothing left, I really don't know how they will recover. Massive amounts of work will have to be done. And, there is no way to get people to these places easily, no good operating airports. Some flights are getting in, but it is harry to say the least. I read yesterday, that Samaritan's purse is getting supplies in and a few others along with some ships getting to the area. There is also the "panic" mentality that sets in and it becomes a real survival for the fittest situation. Even in the Keys of Florida, Samaritan's purse is flying volunteers in from Fort Lauderdale to the Islands for the day and flying them back at night because there is no place to stay and no services of any kind. Amazing amount of effort for sure. Praying for miracles that is for sure!

I'm not sure if my friend got out! I haven't heard from a mutual friend of ours if she was ably to as the airports are not up and running! There have been huge drives in the cities up here for goods such as water and can goods. Not sure how they will get shipped or when! Such a tragedy; this may be an opportunity to finally get the electrical grid updated. There are many wonderful volunteers there to help but this is a Herculean problem to be sure and there will be so much misery for awhile!

lynartist - so much misery. Sure hoping for a miracle for all those affected not only in Puerto Rico but all the islands. Tourism is their life line and that is over at least for the foreseeable future. Something good will come from all this I am sure. When you are on an island, you can be isolated so fast. Now, no airports working, no ports functioning, it is going to be a very long slog. But, thank God there are so many trying to help! It will take years though to begin to recover.

It is awful, but truly I hope that blessings -- including anything that makes their work easier and more productive -- on the volunteers, and on all the professionals who are cleaving to the real meaning of their jobs. And they are many. Unfortunately from the international perspective the US is generally regarded as more than capable of looking after its own, which is often true. So the country is going to have to show extraordinary strength and compassion.

I have no doubts! Great opportunity for young people to just stop what they are doing and go find a way to help. Could be a better learning opportunity than anything they get from books!

Just heard from our mutual friend. Our friend has not been able to leave PR! They are now hoping that a flight can be arranged some time next week! She had requested batteries be sent but when my other friend went to UPS to send them they couldn't guarantee they would get to the destination or even when they would get there! Hoping these basic necessities are things that are being shipped! We take things for granted because we have such easy access to to everything here! We tend to forget it's not that way everywhere:(!

Lynartist it's a shame what they're having to go through. Hopefully they'll get out soon. It's going to be a very long time before things will get back to normal. Yes, we do take things for granted. Hopefully they will rebuild stronger than ever before.

Amen.

It just sounds like a nightmare there at the moment. Lynartist hope your friends get out soon. I heard this morning that the infrastructure is totally destroyed so oil, goods etc.. are sitting at the docks and no way to reach the people. They are saying this is beyond the local government that was in dire straights before this and even FEMA. So perhaps they will put in some military forces to start rebuilding like they did in a Iraq to allow things to start moving in again. Just heat breaking.

I just listened to the press conference held with the director from homeland security. Apparently they already have the military and a US General there ! It sounds like there has been some progress in terms of getting power via large generators to hospitals that have been brought in. I think there is also a lot of misinformation due to lack of communication so not sure. It did sound like there were lots of ships already there. The US gov. Is making available any necessary funds for the next six months to PR and the US Virgin Islands. We have also sent the army corp of engineers to rebuild the electrical grid.

That sounds very promising for those poor people Lynartist.

Let's hope. It's going to take a very long time nonetheless:(!

He said their first challenge was clearing the roads so the large trucks could get through. The interior of the island is nearly impassable and they may need to drop supplies by air if they can't clear the roads in time!

I just saw a report on TV that showed dozens of containers filled with supplies sitting at the ports because there is no passable roads and no truck drivers to distribute the goods. So, "distribution" is the issue. This is always the case in storm scenarios and I am hoping there are some drivers that are able to get to the island to help. Of course, fuel is being rationed as well so hospitals and key facilities are first to keep going. Just going to take time, and the people in the interior and mountain areas will have to find ways to subsist until further help can get to them. I'm sure there will be air lift campaign as soon as they can set that up. It is always a race against time.

So true Flo! Apparently a god deal of the hospitals and dialysis centers are now operating. There is definitely a problem with a shortage of truck drivers! Hope this distribution problem gets fixed soon!

It is so decimated there!! People
Don't understand the logistics of getting supplies to an island much less distributing once they get there. The gas supply is being replenished as we speak but it takes time. Especially when the lines in many areas were completely demolished. The damage sustained winds of 150-170 mph can do is almost incomprehensible to say the least!! Like a tornado that never goes away. We saw pictures of Dominica last night and the entire island is one big brown blob!!! The rainforests that were destroyed there will NEVER return!!! So so sad!!! The strength & faith of the people on these islands is simply amazing!!! May God be with them all and open our hearts to help fill their needs.

It is going to take a good deal of time, money and patience! I think the public here seems to feel not enough is being done quickly enough. I'm not sure it can be done that quickly. The whole infrastructure of these islands have been decimated! PR didn't have the best infrastructure to begin with! That can't be fixed in a couple weeks! These poor inhabitants can't just move to a neighboring state. Let's hope and pray that things start to improve soon, even if it is slowly.

Yes Lynartist!! Much needed prayers!!

The news cycle has moved on to more grisly news, and the follow up stories on Harvey and Irma have faded away. How are you guys doing?

I'm very busy gutting a house Ladma so haven't had much time to Houzz lately, by doing well, thank you!! Hope you are too!! The news has been one devastating thing after another unfortunately. So heartbreaking about all the people in Vegas!!

It just gets sadder by the day:(((! Dear God! What next. I am very busy packing up my place in RI . We are leaving to go to Fla in a few days and everything has to be shut down and boarded up. I hate doing this...

Im glad to see y’all are keeping this thread going. I love to be able to come over here and vent or just have a conversation that doesn’t hijack an OP.

Tammy. I hope you see this. I was thinking about your farmhouse when I saw this picture. This is the coolest idea for lighting around a free standing tub. . . Just in case you’ll be renovating a bathroom ;=)

My links aren’t posting. Here’s a pic.

Very beautiful bathroom Seajaygerns! I love those little floodlights. I saw those in a more contemporary bathroom a couple years ago in a showcase house and just flipped for them! They add such a wonderful sense of mood lighting!

These are definitely bad times but keep the faith, everyday things are going in the right direction. We all just have to keep our prayers going. Hopefully this next storm that's out there Nate weakens and and just disappates.

Hi everybody it’s been a minute 😳