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By HOLLY HUFFMAN
It was 8:05 a.m. and Geoff and Julie Horn already had congratulated themselves.
The pair had completed all the appropriate preparations. They trimmed the right trees. They hunkered down in their Navasota home. And then they rode out the arrival of Hurricane Ike early Saturday.
They weathered the 50 and 70 mph wind gusts and made it through what meteorologists had been describing as a potentially catastrophic storm.
"Almost exactly then, we heard it and it shook the entire house," Geoff Horn said Sunday, recalling how the whipping wind snapped three of his more than century-old oak trees.
The first took out his electric meter, detaching it from the weatherhead and knocking out the electricity for his entire neighborhood, he said. The second was blown into the street, while the third fell on the opposite side of his home.
"Thank goodness nobody was hurt," he said. "We're just knee-deep in debris all over the yard."
The Horns were among more than 7,000 Grimes County residents -- and more than 18,000 across the Brazos Valley -- who were still without power Sunday night. It was unclear when electricity might be restored, though one major utility provider suggested it could be several weeks before everyone's lights could be turned back on.
The bleak and uncertain timetable left most emergency management officials encouraging residents to find friends or family members with power and stay with them.
Grimes and Madison counties appeared to be the hardest hit in the Brazos Valley, though significant portions of Robertson and Burleson counties also remained dark Sunday. All four counties have electricity provided primarily by Entergy.
The power company reported Sunday that 99 percent of its customers lost power -- the highest percentage in company history. Electricity was knocked out to more than 392,600 Entergy customers in Texas and company officials reported that it could be several weeks before crews could fully repair the extensive damages causes by the hurricane.
In Grimes County alone, Entergy has 7,607 customers without power, according to its Web page. Another 4,218 customers were from Madison County, 3,475 from Robertson County and 1,907 from Burleson County.
Like Grimes, nearly all of Madison was dark. Outages in Robertson were limited primarily to Bremond, Franklin and Calvert, while outages in Burleson were limited to Caldwell and Somerville. Power had been restored to nearly all of Leon County, though Normangee residents --whose power is provided by Entergy -- remained without electricity.
Navasota spokeswoman Sarah Korpita said city emergency management officials were told Sunday it would be at least five to seven days before power was restored.
Residents were being advised to shelter with family or friends who have power. Meanwhile, school was canceled until the power could be restored, she said. City officials also enacted a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
City administrators will be working Monday and Tuesday from the Navasota Center, which was set up Friday as a temporary storm shelter for local residents seeking refuge. Officials at the center doled out a bag of ice to each household in need on Sunday. Trash collection was expected to resume Monday on a regular schedule.
"We're still asking everyone to please conserve water," Korpita said, explaining that recent water usage had doubled as residents began filling bathtubs in preparation for the storm. "Flush toilets and shower only when necessary. Don't water yards, wash cars or waste water in any way."
Other parts of Grimes County also were experiencing problems. Phone lines were down at the Grimes County Sheriff's Department in Anderson and 12 portable toilets had to be brought in from Brenham for use by jail inmates.
Sheriff Don Sowell said county residents calling 911 were automatically routed to Navasota police, who then passed the information to his office by calling his cell phone.
"I can't get any answer from anybody," the frustrated sheriff said, explaining that he heard power could be down for weeks. "It's not acceptable. It's pitiful."
Sowell expressed ire that some residents -- Mid-South Synergy customers -- living just a couple miles away from the jail already had power restored. In fact, he said, most Mid-South customers didn't even lose power during the storm.
A small generator was powering basic operations at the jail and Sowell said he now was searching for a larger generator that could power his facility long-term. The portable toilets were brought in to prevent a sewage back up at the jail, he said.
"The bottom line is I have a public service, public safety office to run," Sowell said. "Certainly, we can do better than this."
In Burleson County, Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Prescott said he was telling residents they could be without power for several weeks. One shelter was open in the northern end of the county for any local residents without power who have special needs, including those with oxygen tanks.
Ice and water arrived Sunday for residents of Caldwell, while the provisions had been ordered and were on their way for residents of Somerville, Prescott said. Self-contained meals, more commonly known as MREs, were ordered for residents in both cities.
Prescott encouraged local residents with transportation to head to neighboring counties with power to stock up on non-perishable foods and any needed medications. Just two gas stations in the county remained open -- one at the intersection of F.M. 50 and F.M. 60 and another in Cooks Point. All other stations have gas, but no power to operate the pumps, he said.
"Right now, it's day-by-day. We're just trying to have some continuity for service, but we're at a pretty big handicap," Prescott said.
"One thing I would like people to understand -- when they start getting grumpy because they have no power, there's a lot of people that have no homes. A lot of people have suffered a whole lot worse damage than we have."
Caldwell Mayor Bernard Rychlik said ice and water provided by FEMA could be picked up by residents of his city in the Wal-mart parking lot. Extra state troopers have been ordered to patrol the town at night, he said.
Though the city still was without power, the water and waste water systems were operating via generator and were in good shape, the mayor said. A handful of businesses, also powered by generator, were expected to open Monday with limited hours.
He said that outlying areas near Deanville and New Tabor were without power.
Despite the outage, he urged residents to keep their cool and be thankful problems weren't worse.
"A great thing happened," Rychlik said, chuckling. "The good Lord sent us a cool northerner."
