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I went to bed around 11:30 after listening to the forecast for no more than 5" rain and winds around 45 mph. I woke around 3:30 am listening to the howling wind thinking "If this is a tropical storm, I'd hate to sleep through a hurricane". ....

Phone rang at 5:30 am with one of my employees wanting to know if I knew how much damage we had incurred at work from the HURRICANE and if he should try to come in to work?

Oh well, we never know what may befall us at what hour. In our case some rain, some wind, not much damage in our end of town (west end Beaumont), electricity stayed on the whole time both at the office and home. We were fortunate. Everyone showed up at work,albeit a little late. We then decided today was a good day to:

I am in Lumberton and we just got rain.

But, my office is in Beaumont ane we are still without power or phones. I am constantly having to argue with my state agency about when we can reopen. As of right now, only 42.8% of Jefferson County has power. Most will get power this weekend but some will not have it until Tuesday of next week. Beaumont ISD was closed yesterday and today and will not reopen until Monday.

I will leave my home in a few minutes to go sit in the dark in Beaumont so that I can justify the state allowing my employees to stay home.

Everyone was surprised by this one as it was just going to be a little rain when we went to bed. We woke up to a hurricane. Surprisingly, very little permanent damage was done.

Nazrat,

Just curious, if you don't mind answering, but which state agency do you have to argue with. Mine has an official policy that we follow the school district where the office is located. If schools are closed due to weather or conditions, the office is closed.

BTW, I did mention that they closed from June through August for heat, but no one bought into that one.

I work for the AG's office, Child Support Division. They took away the local unit's ability to make the call. Instead, I have to negotiate with regional HQ in Tyler and state office in Austin.

Usually, school closings and/or courthouse closings are sufficient. In this case, they allowed us to close for both Thursday and Friday even though the power was restored on Friday at 11:30 am. They just made the process entirely too difficult.

My employees have no child care as the schools are closed. They have no power so they can't cook or get dressed in the light. We had no power or telephones at the office. Why did we have to negotiate?

All in all, everything worked out. The furniture store next to my office was without power for the same amount of time and their store was looted. A couch, love seat, table and four chairs were stolen. The owner is a bit miffed. :)

I am convinced that there is a running bet in Austin regarding who can reopen their agency's offices first. Our agency heads keep trying to win the bet. :)