As hurricanes go, it certainly could have been a whole lot worse. Make no mistake; there have been bigger and badder storms than Hurricane Ike. But hurricanes, even relatively small ones like Ike, are why the English language needs words like, “awesome.”

Ike, the ninth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, came ashore in Southeastern Texas between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula Sept. 13 as a Category 2 storm (winds ranging between 96- and 110 MPH.)

While serious damage wasn’t particularly widespread as the storm lost energy over land, the city of Galveston bore the brunt of the meteorological assault—there was a mandatory evacuation before the storm hit, and residents were kept off the island and away from their homes until Sept. 24. Returning residents were faced with widespread power, telephone and gas outages along with flattened and water-damaged buildings and a daunting cleanup job because of all the debris typically left in a hurricane’s wake.

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