ATL: IKE Discussion

[Mattie]

Not trying to be sensational here or keep the macabre element going, but being pretty familar with the area between Galveston and Orange (I've hunted waterfowl there), I would think that rescuers might have difficulty in finding some of the potential fatalities.

Here's why - once the storm surge rolled over Bolivar Peninsula, there was basically nothing but marshland, lightly inhabited ranches, and national wildlife refuge lands for it to continue across unimpeded for miles. And that area is infested with alligators.

That being said, at this point, I don't believe there will be the massive Katrina-esque death tolls that some on this thread were speculating about earlier. That might have very well happened if Ike had come ashore 30 miles west of his landfall point though.

Even so, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the death toll on the Texas coastline itself eventually tops the century mark. But as alluded to above, I suspect that some victims may never be found.

I totally agree with you and have speculated all weekend about that scenario. The only way that the town can get an accurate count would be to use the Department of Motor Vehicle information for all drivers license issued to Galveston and track them down. If the voter records are available, that would be another source. It wouldn't be hard in the coming weeks/months to set up a check in point for all Galveston residents via computer sign in - compare the two lists and go for process of elimination after issuing "we show these people missing in Galveston" and ask that they contact the designated person. It's not perfect, but at least they would have some good idea. Just my 2 cents.

[Texas Snowman]

From the Houston Chronicle, a harrowing account for sure...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chr ... 02965.html


CRYSTAL BEACH — A retired U.S. Coast Guard diver told a Chambers County official that Hurricane Ike swept him from his home into the raging Gulf of Mexico, where he survived for more than 17 hours.

Mark Davidson found a kayak, a child's life preserver and a bottle of Gatorade during his ordeal, said Chambers County Clerk Heather Hawthorne. He was released from Bayside Memorial Hospital in Anahuac. His wife said he was fine except for a few scratches and bruises.

Davidson recounted his story to Hawthorne, who is compiling a historical account of the hurricane. He declined to speak to the Chronicle except to say the story he told Hawthorne was accurate.

According to Hawthorne, Davidson, 48, opted to remain in his home on Crystal Beach while his wife evacuated.

As the house began to collapse, Hawthorne said, water was coming in through the floor and he knew he wouldn't last there much longer.


Here's some more of that story...

According to Hawthorne, Davidson clung to a board as he was swept into the surf in the midst of 100-mph winds, a 25-foot storm surge and huge waves. At daylight he saw a debris field, which his wife described as the town of Crystal Beach washed into the Gulf.

Amid the debris, Hawthorne said, Davidson found a kayak, which he floated in, and a child's life jacket that he hung around his neck as he paddled.

As he was paddling toward Smith Point, Hawthorne said, he waved the life jacket at a helicopter passing overhead about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The pilot saw the signal and rescued him.

[Frank P]

For those who seemed to have forgotten some facts about Katrina, Rita and Wilma, here is a good link which summarizes the three storms and their devastating affects on the coast of MS, LA and FL...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/cont ... /atlantic/

Ike will rank right up there with these three no doubt...

[Shoshana]

Another Gilchrist Tx picture from wunderground blog

[HURAKAN]

Wow, my heart fell to the ground when I saw the picture.

[Shoshana]

:uarrow: Wow, my heart fell to the ground when I saw the picture.

Yeah. I posted a different one a few pages back and it's from farther away but it also had just this one house in it. This one really gets me.

[inda_iwall]

I saw someone tried to compare their experience with Hurricane Wilma to Hurricane Ike, until you have lost your home and community completely to storm surge, you have no idea what it is like. You lost some power and trees to Wilma, I mean come on. You still had a HOME, you had a dry bed, and in a few weeks all was pretty much back to normal. Comparing Wilma to storms like Ike, or Katrina, or Ivan, what a joke!! Do not ever tell that to someone who lost their whole way of life to a hurricane, that you can relate because one night you lost a tree and were without power for a day or so. If you do, do not be surprised if they take a swing at you. The ignorance of people to others feelings and tragedy can be mind-boggling to me.

there wer eonly tens of thousands of structures uninhabitable from Wilma. Just because the media focused on the center of Miami/lauderdale does not mean that others did not lose everything. Trust me, I saw it with my own eyes. Please think before you post

Point taken, my bad. Sorry. But looking at the pics from Ike and Katrina, you have to admit, they are worse off. Just hard to compare grieving stories. Although I do know, they dont want to hear about how bad it is in Cincinnati because they had 35 mph winds for a few hours. You gotta admit, that one was a little mis-placed...

[CajunMama]

The gilcrest picture reminded me of cameron parish after rita hit. Nothing left.

[CharleySurvivor]

Another Gilchrist Tx picture from wunderground blog

Is the house still standing for real?
Looks like someone just pasted it on the pic as it looks in perfect condition.

[Shoshana]

I think it's really there. It was in another photo. I don't know if that's the lot it started out on though!

[cycloneye]

This pic is from Ohio,where ex Ike moved thru with hurricane force gusts.

[HURAKAN]

[O Town]

Yeah he started out as such a tiny little unit, I would have never imagined he would have turned into the giant he did.

That picture of Gilchrist is heart wrenching. I am also curious about the house thats still standing, not if it is real, but why its the only one still there. ???

[jenmrk]

I am not sure where to post this so if it is in the wrong forum I am sorry.
I am very hesitant to post this afriad that it may cause undo panic, but I am hoping that someone here may know something about this also.
I can not confirm this, but a deputy that my husband works with told him this afternoon that his mother is a manager for a Shell Gas station and when she called to order gas she was told to bag the pumps indefinitely, that Shell along with Tom Thumb and Walmart were boycotting the gas companies due to the fact that they were going to haft to pay .80 more per gallon , they are hoping this strike will force the Gas Industry to back off. They are not buying gas until they can buy it at a fair price.
Once more I can not confirm that this is true- I can say that here in Pensacola it has been very hard to find gas for the past few days, the Tom Thumb by my house has not had gas since Friday night.
I am not trying to cause a panic, I hardly ever post here but this seemed like it may be something that someone here can maybe verify. I know there was a post a while back of someone who's son worked for one of the oil co's.
Also- my thoughts and prayer go out to all IKE victims. I wish I could do more.

[CrazyC83]

LG&E: 10-14 Days Until Power Fully Restored
City, State Agencies Updating Storm Cleanup Situation

POSTED: 1:33 pm EDT September 15, 2008
UPDATED: 2:25 pm EDT September 15, 2008


LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- About 301,000 LG&E customers are without power after the remnants of Hurricane Ike blasted through the region Sunday. Tens of thousands more are without power in southern Indiana, and it's going to be a while before things return to normal.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson and LG&E representatives held a news conference in Louisville Monday morning to address the situation.

Beshear called the outage the largest on record in Kentucky.

LG&E President Vic Staffieri said those without electricity could wait anywhere from 10 days to two weeks until power is restored.

Staffieri said 450 to 500 workers are on the ground, trying to help the Metro area recover from what he characterized as the worst storm this area has seen in 30 years.

He said LG&E was tracking the storm after it hit Texas, but its path changed, sending winds twice as powerful as those predicted through the Metro.

At the height of the storm, more than 300,000 LG&E customers were without service, and another 75,000 were out in the Kentucky Utility service territory.

Add to that 130 to 140 broken utility poles and more than 3,000 wires down around Louisville, and you begin to get an idea of the challenges crews face.

Staffieri said part of the problem in restoring service is the fact that the Metro area sent assistance to the Gulf region for Hurricane Gustav, and the assistance from other power companies promised to the Louisville area in return just isn't coming.

Staffieri said crews in the Gulf region have been called to come back immediately. He expects they'll be back by Wednesday, bringing the number of power workers on the ground locally to about 1,000.

He also said Kentucky Utility crews will be pitching in once they're finished in their own service area.

Between LG&E and Kentucky Utilities, power has been restored to about 100,000 customers. But for now, everyone else will have to be patient through the 10 to 14 day timeframe.

http://www.wlky.com/news/17477318/detail.html

[THead]

:uarrow: Yeah he started out as such a tiny little unit, I would have never imagined he would have turned into the giant he did.

That picture of Gilchrist is heart wrenching. I am also curious about the house thats still standing, not if it is real, but why its the only one still there. ???

I have been pondering that question myself, and the answers I come up with have nothing to do with construction or storm science.........so I'm just going to keep them to myself.....

Speechless...

[CajunMama]

A thread has been started in Hurricane Recovery and Aftermath on hurricane ike recovery.

Hurricane Ike Recovery

[stormy1970al]

I am not sure where to post this so if it is in the wrong forum I am sorry.
I am very hesitant to post this afriad that it may cause undo panic, but I am hoping that someone here may know something about this also.
I can not confirm this, but a deputy that my husband works with told him this afternoon that his mother is a manager for a Shell Gas station and when she called to order gas she was told to bag the pumps indefinitely, that Shell along with Tom Thumb and Walmart were boycotting the gas companies due to the fact that they were going to haft to pay .80 more per gallon , they are hoping this strike will force the Gas Industry to back off. They are not buying gas until they can buy it at a fair price.
Once more I can not confirm that this is true- I can say that here in Pensacola it has been very hard to find gas for the past few days, the Tom Thumb by my house has not had gas since Friday night.
I am not trying to cause a panic, I hardly ever post here but this seemed like it may be something that someone here can maybe verify. I know there was a post a while back of someone who's son worked for one of the oil co's.
Also- my thoughts and prayer go out to all IKE victims. I wish I could do more.

I don't know if this is true about the gas but I do know we have had gas over here in the Spanish Fort, Daphne, etc. area.

[HURAKAN]

Ike's remains!

[HURAKAN]

Dead fish stuck in fence after Ike
By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
Sept. 15, 2008, 5:47PM

WEST ORANGE, Texas — Forget hooks.
The storm surge from Hurricane Ike through East Texas left behind a grotesque display of fish caught in an unusual manner.
Dozens of fish ended up dead, stuck headfirst from a chain-link fence in West Orange.
The fish, 8-10 inches long, appeared too large to get through the fence around a flooded home.
Some of the dead fish were suspended in the apparent act of swimming and were still hanging Monday from the 4-foot-high fence.
Ike slammed the Gulf coast along Galveston early Saturday.
Dead fish continued to litter residential streets and grassy areas of West Orange, a town of 3,800 located 110 miles northeast of Houston.
Sarah Blohm of Orange, who was at a hurricane aid distribution point Monday, said there is a lot of debris and "there are fish everywhere."
Texas National Guard Sgt. Albert Ramirez, based in Dallas, looked at the fish stuck in the fence and described it to The Associated Press as "kind of different."
Orange Mayor Brown Claybar, 57, says he's lived in the community his whole life and has never seen anything like all the dead fish scattered in the area.
"I've always told folks we have good fishing around here," said Claybar, with a chuckle.
He noted that the area is on the rebound from 2005's Hurricane Rita.
"Who would have thought in three years — we would have two 100-year storms," the mayor said. "We've never had a storm surge like this."
A couple of miles from the fence, at an intersection in an industrial area near Adams Bayou, the road was covered with thousands of dead fish.
Some of the decaying creatures were large, including 3-foot-long redfish.
Jarvis Buckley, who rode out Ike in his house, lives down the road from where the fish uncharacteristically coated the intersection.
Buckley says he had to remove an eel and an alligator from his yard. He has lived in the Orange area since 1959 and has never seen anything like it.
"I've lived here and I love to live here. I've got friends here, but I'm seriously considering relocating," Buckley told AP, as he and a friend used a golf cart to check out the fish in the road.