Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for help

Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for help

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5998693.html

Power outage totals across region approaching 1.5 million

By DALE LEZON and LINDSAY WISE Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

As Hurricane Ike surged onto Galveston Island this morning, many of the estimated 23,000 residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order phoned for rescues to no avail because emergency workers were called off the streets, officials said.

Help wasn't expected until after dangerous storm conditions subsided.

The center officially landed at 2:10 a.m. and whipped the barrier island with sustained winds as strong as 110 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm surge was expected to be as high as 14 feet to 17 feet at Galveston and possibly greater in Chambers County to the northeast.

Ike also waylaid the regional power grid. CenterPoint Energy spokesman Floyd LeBlanc said the number of customers in the dark was approaching 2 million, which is approximately the total. Downtown and the Medical Center, which have underground lines, were the only large areas to retain reliable power, and it could take several weeks to get everyone back on the grid, he said.

The center was over eastern Houston and Harris County at 4 a.m., heading northwest. It still packed the same winds it came ashore with and was doing damage to building exteriors and windows in downtown Houston.

It also continued to whip Galveston as it pulled away, leaving what officials feared would be a grim day ahead even after storm subsides.

"We don't know what we're going to find tomorrow," said the city's mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas. "We hope we'll find that the people who didn't leave here are alive and well."

City Manager Steve LeBlanc went so far as to ask the media not to photograph "certain things" in the aftermath, referring to the possibility of dead bodies.

In Austin, state emergency officials said water was encroaching from both ends of the island as well as over the seawall. The University of Texas Medical Branch was taking on water, officials said.

Officials in Brazoria County said as many as 35 percent of residents in mandatory evacuation zones stayed behind, or about 67,000. That would put about 90,000 Texans in potentially surge-susceptible areas in the two counties.

Power was out all across Galveston Island, much of which already had flooded. Two house fires were burning, as did a boat warehouse that was widely photographed earlier Friday.

Power lines are down, he said, and it may be weeks before it can be restored. Assessment teams will get out this morning after the storm. Fifty people were rescued from high water and about 260 are in a shelter at Ball High School.

LeBlanc said he didn't know how long it would take before evacuated residents could return. The city may briefly allow them back in to check on their homes, but will then ask them to leave again until the city is safe.

"We feel the city of Galveston will have suffered from this storm," she said.

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and get down to the second floor. Apparently the building was shaking badly. One reporter said that water they were storing in the bathtub was sloshing around due to the rocking.

Texas and IKE are all over all my TV channels up here in MA....

And these are local channels... I don't have cable TV.

Looks like the people who failed to heed the warnings are screwed!

The San Louis hotel can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html

Top center window.

edited to say that it has passed but they keep going back to the people in the hotel.

That is nuts that it's shaking that building. I've stayed there before and it's a huge ass, very well-built hotel. Fancy too. And it's also built up quite a bit. It has one of those fancy driveways with valet service, and the driveway from the Seawall road goes up probably 20-30 feet to the hotel entrance.

If anyone knows what the Fred Hartman Bridge is, you'll understand what I'm about to say. It's amazing that bridge can withstand a hurricane. It shakes like crazy during tropical storms, never mind hurricanes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hartman_Bridge

crazy.

If not for that seawall, this storm would have wiped out the city just like the 1900 one did. And even then, probably half the city is underwater right now because the West End is unprotected and so is the back end of the city (the second wave of the eyewall after the eye passed the city sent the wind/storm surge in a southeast direction towards Galveston).

no building is infallible.

That from a reporter? Ever heard of bottled watter? WTH? was that all about? Sorry just worried about the people down there and cant help but point out stupid comments.

I have tablets that will purify it. You can live without food a lot longer than you can live without water.

It never hurts to have as much water on hand as possible. It isn't stupid!

When I lived in an area prone to ice storms, I routinely filled the washing machine and at least one tub for extra water before a storm was due. If purified, this would serve in a pinch just in case I ran out of bottled water, but the main reason was to deal with nonfunctional plumbing. When the electricity went out, this meant my well pump was no longer running. Without extra water to bail into the toilet tank, I would have no facilities; also, I would have no other resources for bathing/washing up water for days on end.

I don't what their situation is plumbing-wise, but there are good reasons for storing oodles of extra water when you know you're going to be stuck somewhere for days with iffy utilities. If you've never been in that situation, I can see how it might seem odd to store water in the tub, but it does make sense. I hope you never need this info, but file it away because it could come in handy some day. :)

edit: typo

you can use it for washing/etc. Yes, if you can get bottled water, if the stores haven't sold out, of course have some. But also store water anywhere you can, even the tub and don't flush the toilet since the water in the storage tank there is clean water also.

Storing water in a tub is not a stupid comment at all.

you fill the tub with water so you can flush the toilet later, or use it for cleaning, stuff you wouldn't want to waste DRINKING WATER on. :eyes:

dg

Or do you want to flush evian?

:banghead:

:wtf: is wrong with them? Geesh!!!! UnFuckingBelievable!!!

The mayor of Galveston said in an interview I heard yesterday "We didn't think it would be that bad". Add to the fact that early in the week, the models all pointed to the lower or middle Texas coast. And people forgot that the cone of uncertainty was quite large and in fact the models started moving it up the coast by late Tues. I think it's possible that some people didn't take it seriously enough and officials did not start to act soon enough. That, coupled with the Rita fiasco, meant a lot of people did not leave.

it looked like it was going to hit near here about halfway down the coast. By Thursday, they should have known it was possible for Ike to track further north and they could have tried to leave then. There are problems, though: you have to have money for gas, food, hotels, etc. Evacuating doesn't come cheap, even if you can find a hotel.

Geesh!!!!

Staying in your home, AFTER YOU'VE BEEN TOLD TO EVACUATE, does NOT guarantee that your house and all your possessions will be there after the danger is over.

I know what I'm talking about.

We were ordered to evacuate our house in Oregon. We evaculated but came right back after the cops left. Lucky for us, the disaster was just a little fleabite and not HUGE like they thought.

the most ludicrous statement I'd ever heard in my life. :banghead:

couldn't bring her pets. "They're all I have," she said. Very sad. I don't think I could leave mine either.

Hate to be blunt about it but that's the truth. Michael Phelps couldn't survive dealing with that storm surge, never mind an older person.

is take her pets (and herself obviously) to a shelter where someone can help her. She would stand a lot better chance in that scenario than staying her home all alone.

well find a neighbor who's also "hunkering down." There seemed to be quite a few Galvestonians who thought it was a good idea.

The evacuation orders were mandatory too so they were also breaking state law in ignoring those orders in addition to endangering their own lives and forcing the expenditure of funds in order to rescue them from their own bad decision.

I'm sorry but I can't help but get angry at these people when I think about the people from Katrina who couldn't evacuate and had all that fucking BS happen to them without any relief (some still have no relief).

PS This is mostly directed at those with the means and ability to evacuate and yet chose to just stay. There have already been stories of people who decided to stay and then had to be rescued.

...the media was hyping up a storm hitting New Orleans for a week or two before that thing hit and yet a majority of the city chose to stay there. It was just as much their fault as it was the government's.

:grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

It has been consistently reported that they are CHOOSING to stay despite all efforts by public officials to get them to evacuate. There's a great deal of anecdotal reports of people choosing to stay despite having the ability to leave.

The New Orleans people chose to stay too. Anyone who lives in either of those cities knows damn well that they are the two most vulnerable cities to hurricanes. It's a historical fact that has been passed down through the generations even if you don't study the history books. There were 450,000 people in New Orleans and most of them stayed. Plenty of them CHOSE to stay. There are 60,000 people in Galveston. Around one-third of them stayed. Either way, there were a lot of idiotic civilians involved in both situations. I said it in 2005 and I'll say it again in 2008. No need to sugar coat Katrina. Yeah, Bush is an idiot. Yeah, FEMA fucked up. Yeah, Nagin fucked up. But so did a whole hell of a lot of civilians.

just STFU!!!

The ones who could afford to could easily get in a damn car and drive. As I said, they had PLENTY of warning. There is ZERO reason in today's day and age with hurricane forcasting the way it is that people should choose to try to ride out a storm when they live in a damn city that is under sea level, they have a means to get out (their own damn car), and they have a full WEEK of warnings that the storm will hit their city.

Get help.

You're sitting here making excuses for one brand of idiotic behavior while talking shit about another brand of idiotic behavior. Idiocy is idiocy. I call it like I see it. The people in New Orleans who had money, a car, and a week warning to get the fuck out, but CHOSE to stay, are JUST AS MUCH IDIOTS as the morons in Galveston and other areas on the Texas coast. For some reason it's not acceptable to criticize idiocy in New Orleans but it's just fine to talk shit about Texas? I call a spade a spade. Idiocy is idiocy, period.

What? Are they idiots for being too poor to afford a car?

Read what I said. People who could afford to leave and chose to stay are idiots. These people, in both cases, had a week of warnings in advance. I feel horrible for the people who COULDN'T afford to leave, of course. And there were many of them in New Orleans to be sure. But it wasn't the entire population.

I know they had it figured out in New Orleans last time around, but remember the poor critters left behind to fend for themselves during Katrina? Remember the cops shooting stray pets?

Residents Urged to Bring Personal Supplies to Evacuation Shelters

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=45753

Release Date: September 12, 2008
Release Number: 3294-011

» More Information on Texas Hurricane Ike

AUSTIN, Texas --

The state of Texas and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) urge residents traveling inland ahead of Hurricane Ike to arrive prepared if they are seeking refuge in an evacuation shelter.

Most evacuation shelters open ahead of Hurricane Ike fulfill a critical, immediate purpose: they provide residents with safe, dry places to wait out the storm for 12 to 24 hours. The shelters offer restrooms, meals, disaster information and access to medical and mental health care.

However, at this time shelters will generally not have cots. Nor will they have pillows, blankets, towels and toiletries - so officials urge evacuees to bring these items with them, along with extra clothes and prescription medicine, money, vital documents (IDs, insurance papers) and infant supplies and cleanup products that should be part of disaster supply kits.

They also should pack pet products, including food, leashes, carriers, medications and health records. Although pets will not be sheltered in the same locations as their owners, officials at shelter locations can help connect evacuees with available pet shelters.

Most evacuation shelters will be joint operations among cities, schools and the American Red Cross. More than 100 onsite FEMA community relations specialists - including speakers of Spanish, Korean, Laotian and Vietnamese - will support shelter operations by tracking needs and relaying information to state officials.

For more shelter information, including locations, residents can call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

--------------------------------

"Although pets will not be sheltered in the same locations as their owners, officials at shelter locations can help connect evacuees with available pet shelters."

What happens to pets that arrive with owners after the available pet shelters are full to capacity?

The news reported that the pets are housed in two huge buildings. They are not turning away any pets!

There are many volunteers working at the sites. They showed the areas and they have rows and rows of wire cages lined up full of animals - cats, dogs, bird, rabbits, ferrets, turtles etc...

:grouphug:

after everyone else has already left, in an "Emergency", then I guess you take what you can
get, if you can get it! Sounds like that person made a really bad decision to "ride it out."

I live in northeast Texas. The university where I work took 136 people in a spare dormitory and the middle school took an equal number in the gym. Pets are allowed. Transportation was provided via school buses. Food and clothing was ready for them.All the people had to do was get on the bus!

I don't expect the authorities to drag people kicking and screaming out of their homes and shove them into buses against their will. All that can be done is to make the trip available and make food, clothing, and shelter available.

I just couldn't walk away from my dogs, it would never happen. Of course I would have tossed them in a car and left the area, but thats not a option to everybody.

so, whomever told her that was lying or she waited to long to get out.

Windows have blown out of their hotel and there's a lot of water. If they're facing such damage, I don't want to contemplate what happened to homes. I can't imagine the damage we'll see across Galveston and Houston when the sun rises. I really hope people survived this mess.

"No infrastructure, no electricity, no rescue personal to speak of...... the place is devastated."

:(

Do you mean Lake Jackson?

What a mess.

but Galveston, it's pretty much fucked. If the San Louis is getting torn apart by the storm then houses are being completely destroyed by it.

If you do, than you shouldn't have them in the first place and please don't replace them after you leave your loyal and loving dependents to die horribly. Seriously.

To abandon them to a lonely, terrifying ordeal and likely slow and painful death is a disgrace. It's also unnecessary. I saw multiple pix of pets being handed over to authorities to go to shelters for them. When the waters trapped their owners, the dogs were picked up in dumpster trucks. So there is NO EXCUSE NONE.

They are your responsibility. You chose to take them in and make them your dependents. If you absolutely can't take them with you, then you owe it to them to be a grown up and either

1. find them a shelter or
2. euthanize them so at least they die quickly, without suffering, pain or fear.

If you don't care enough about them to suck it up and do the right thing, then don't get animals to begin with.

response after the hurricane starts until after it had passed. But they want the first response folks to risk their lives because they made an extremely poor decision. I really can't feel sorry for them. I hope they are OK, but they made a big mitake.

I hope they are ok. For those nasty posters who rant about those who "chose to stay", how about these people? And how about the jailkeepers?

and they didn't evacuate the prisoners. I am hoping they're alright and the building was high enough off the ground.

death warnings makes me wonder what will happen next time also. It is difficult to predict what will happen, and I personally would ere on the side of caution, but understand why others might not.

The combination of "evacuate or die" and "we are staying" is bothersome, hypocritical.

They shut down those 311 lines before the storm and gave people a last chance to call if they needed help evacuating. All the reports were telling people to get out or they would die, basically. If they chose to ignore those warning they are essentially on their own for now because it would just put the rescue folks in danger.