CenTex GuyIke's gone, but is the mess?
September 14th 2008 10:06
The last 24 hours have been wild. The next 24 will be crucial.
As Hurricane Ike came and left the shores of Texas it left in its wake a very big mess, and a gloomy picture.
As the storm closed in on Galveston officials become fearful, warning that anyone who ignored evacuation orders faced “certain death.” People who study these things warned that water would be 22 feet above Galveston’s sea wall. Stop and picture that for a second. 22 feet.
And people didn’t budge. Several reports said 40 percent of Galveston stayed to weather the storm.
Then it hit. And as I left and headed north, it seemed like maybe Galveston was lucky. No 22 foot water…only about 14 feet, and as of this post only four deaths related to Ike in the states…none in Galveston and there was slight rejoicing that the “certain death” was averted.
Only problem was, there were no reports of death because quite simply, no one had been able to go into Galveston to search for people. Now as the boats and rescue workers move in, the focus is on helping stranded survivors. Death is still coming.
Here’s a telling stat right now: Officials estimate 140,000 people stayed behind, ignoring mandatory evacuation orders. Governor Rick Perry said only 940 had been rescued by nightfall Saturday (basically when the rescue mission stops) and several more are accounted for, but thousands upon thousands are still unaccounted for. Galveston is flooded…everywhere. And officials said most of the day Saturday they were having major issues getting to the people. And that’s just getting to the people they know are there. Some of those they may not be able to get to.
And again, that’s just the rescue effort. Hopefully the death toll won’t go above four, but it likely will. And it won’t be pretty. The focus now is on rescue, not recovery. They will find some dead trying to recover, but they not even start trying to find the dead for days.
The Associated Press had one story about a man named Ray Wilkinson. Ray lived on Surfside Beach on Galveston Island. He was going to evacuate and a friend was going to pick him up. Only problem was the friend ran to the store and couldn’t get back to Ray because the flood water was already blocking the path to Ray. Ray rode out the hurricane on his front porch, watching “cars, stairs and refrigerators” float down the road in front of him.
He made it through, drunk. And when asked if he felt lucky to make it he replied simply “I feel stupid.”
There thousands more waiting for rescue who also feel stupid. But there’s thousand more who have no feelings at all now.
As Hurricane Ike came and left the shores of Texas it left in its wake a very big mess, and a gloomy picture.
As the storm closed in on Galveston officials become fearful, warning that anyone who ignored evacuation orders faced “certain death.” People who study these things warned that water would be 22 feet above Galveston’s sea wall. Stop and picture that for a second. 22 feet.
And people didn’t budge. Several reports said 40 percent of Galveston stayed to weather the storm.
Then it hit. And as I left and headed north, it seemed like maybe Galveston was lucky. No 22 foot water…only about 14 feet, and as of this post only four deaths related to Ike in the states…none in Galveston and there was slight rejoicing that the “certain death” was averted.
Only problem was, there were no reports of death because quite simply, no one had been able to go into Galveston to search for people. Now as the boats and rescue workers move in, the focus is on helping stranded survivors. Death is still coming.
This was Galveston Island, the day before the eye of Hurricane Ike hit
Here’s a telling stat right now: Officials estimate 140,000 people stayed behind, ignoring mandatory evacuation orders. Governor Rick Perry said only 940 had been rescued by nightfall Saturday (basically when the rescue mission stops) and several more are accounted for, but thousands upon thousands are still unaccounted for. Galveston is flooded…everywhere. And officials said most of the day Saturday they were having major issues getting to the people. And that’s just getting to the people they know are there. Some of those they may not be able to get to.
The Associated Press had one story about a man named Ray Wilkinson. Ray lived on Surfside Beach on Galveston Island. He was going to evacuate and a friend was going to pick him up. Only problem was the friend ran to the store and couldn’t get back to Ray because the flood water was already blocking the path to Ray. Ray rode out the hurricane on his front porch, watching “cars, stairs and refrigerators” float down the road in front of him.
He made it through, drunk. And when asked if he felt lucky to make it he replied simply “I feel stupid.”
There thousands more waiting for rescue who also feel stupid. But there’s thousand more who have no feelings at all now.
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