Texans Players' Houses Damaged; Owner Bob McNair Optimistic About Reliant Stadium

Reliant Stadium is one of many buildings in the Houston-Galveston area that received damaged from Hurricane Ike. This HoustonTexans.com video above shows some of the damage and interviews with the players about going through the storm.

Eric Berger from the Houston Chronicle states that because of the odd configuration of Ike, forecasters believe Reliant received Category 4 strength winds because of the height of the roof. The higher the building, the more significant the winds.

According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, Texans owner Bob McNair is optimistic that they will have the stadium ready for the Texans-Colts game on October 5. If not, they may end up using the nearby Rice University stadium as an alternative.

According to today's presser, Coach Gary Kubiak says that a number of players are living in hotels because of damage to their homes. DT Travis Johnson isn't sure his house is even salvageable because of damage to his roof. TE Owen Daniels has roof damage as well.

I hope they are right that they will be able to have a home game. I took the picture to the right about a hour ago. It's an older home in a nice area of town near where DE Mario Williams lives. He says a tree hit his home, and his mother has a missing roof at hers.

Trees are down all over the city like this. This storm was widespread and lasted a long time, and hit all the major population centers from Galveston to Houston to The Woodlands to Conroe up through Huntsville and beyond.

I had to drive across town to mail something (the close-by post office was only selling stamps), and the city is a mess. Most of the street lights aren't working. There's huge lines at gas stations and grocery stores (and the few Whataburgers that are open. mmmm taquito). Some grocery stores will only let 10 people in at a time, and there are few perishables available. Power lines are down everywhere and most people still have no power.

Home-cooked football would be a lovely thing to see after this mess. Whether or not the stadium has a functioning roof, a lot of residents of the gulf coast do not. Can't encourage people enough to donate to the American Red Cross.

Below is a statement from Texans owner Bob McNair about Hurricane Ike's effects on the area and the damage to the stadium: