Hurricane Claudette looms over Matagorda

[chadtm80]

Hurricane Claudette looms over Matagorda


After picking up speed and spinning into a hurricane overnight, Claudette's eye is looming over Matagorda this morning and threatening to throw its worst at Port O'Connor and Palacios.

The storm may have exacted a toll already: This morning rescue workers are digging frantically through the rubble of a collapsed Surfside house in Brazoria County, looking for a man and a small boy neighbors say may have been in the home. The house fell under heavy rains and high winds around 5:30 a.m.

The Coast Guard is also starting to receive calls from beach residents asking to be evacuated as far north as the Bolivar Peninsula this morning.

Galveston Coast Guard Chief Steven Hamala said many people who decided to ride out the storm in their homes found themselves surrounded by water.

"A lot of people didn't take preacautions, and they got caught," he said.

The callers were not believed to be in immediate peril, and the Coast Guard has asked local law enforcement to help check on the callers.

The National Weather Service's hurricane warning continues to stretch 200 miles this morning from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to High Island, north of the Bolivar Peninsula. By 10 a.m., Claudette's center had brought a calm to Matagorda, but as the winds shift, the back end of the storm -- the powerful side -- is expected to hit Palacios and Port O'Connor. The weather service predicts the dead center of the hurricane's eye will come ashore before noon, and the real damage could hit around 2 p.m.

The hurricane is expected to pose substantial dangers along the coast and as far inland as the Hill Country in the coming days. A tornado watch is in effect from Palacios to Port Arthur today, and a flood watch is in effect for parts of Houston south of I-10, along with coastal areas.

Although Claudette's packing winds of 75 mph -- barely reaching hurricane status -- the ferocity of the storm is taking many north of the main strike zone by surprise, and officials up and down the coast are saying it's too late to evacuate safely.

This morning some of the biggest waves seen in years crashed over Galveston's seawall, sending awesome arcs of water 30 to 40 feet into the air and scattering debris across the road. Wind gusts of up to 55 mph were frequently reported, along with tides 7 feet above normal. Power is out on the island's west end, trees are down, and FM 3005 is flooded and blocked off near 8-Mile Road, below the west end of seawall.

The water has begun dropping away from the seawall and FM 3005, but residents are also reporting alarming erosion on the west side of Galveston Island.

People who stayed in a first-row beachfront home in Bermuda Beach, about 5 miles west of the seawall's end, found themselves in real peril, said Rene Mondejar, a six-year resident who lives three rows back from the gulf.

"My whole house is shaking right now," Mondejar said at about 7:30 am. "I'm looking at the pictures on the wall and they're moving. The antenna on my TV is bouncing back and forth. It's crazy."

It was worse outside, said Mondejar, from whose home the wind was ripping shingles.

"The palm tree right beside my house snapped in two, and it's on my deck,'" Mondejar.

Firefighters from nearby Jamaica Beach had to rescue some people from a home in the first row of beach homes in Bermuda Beach and their vehicles were about to be overwelmed by surf, Mondejar said.

"It looks like they're going to lose both their cars," Mondejar said. "The truck is pointing up to the sky right now and those cars look like they're about to fall into the drink."

To the north of Galveston, the Bolivar Ferry has suspended operations because of high winds, and to the south, Surfside police officers have closed Texas 332 to incoming traffic, although island residents are being allowed to leave. Surfside volunteer firefighters have battled a half-dozen house fires this morning, as Claudette's high winds bowled over power lines. Just inland at Seabrook, power poles and trucks were spotted flowing away from Toddville Road.

Many coastal residents were caught off guard because predictions over the weekend had the storm striking much farther down the coast near Brownsville.

Port O'Connor residents, who learned only Monday morning that they were in the path of Claudette's swirling center, continued to mobilize today to minimize the dangers to themselves and property.

Carroll McDougal, whose home is near Port O'Connor, said he began securing his home since 5 a.m. Winds were strong, and rain was starting and stopping as the outer bands of Hurricane Claudette pass over the area.

Port O'Connor, a town of vacation homes and shrimpers that found itself in Claudette's sights, was destroyed by a strong hurricane in 1919 and again by the Category 4 monster Carla in 1961.

"It's not too bad right now," McDougal said, noting the worst is yet to come in the next few hours. "We're just going to hide and watch. If it starts to look bad, we're gone."

Residents of Wadsworth, in south Matagorda County, reported awnings and shingles torn off houses and trees and power lines toppled as the storm passed over, said a Sheriff's Department dispatcher.

Judy Triplett, of the Bay City Tribune, said as Hurricane Claudette began passing over the Matagorda area Tuesday morning, it caused minimal damage - so far.

"It hasn't been real rainy," Triplett said. "The winds picked up ... but I drove over to get our pictures, and had no trouble."

Triplett, who has been through every Texas coast storm since Carla, said, "I've seen worse."

Her main concerns today: The paper has a reporter who did not evacuate Sargent last night when it was recommended, and who could not be reached this morning. Triplett also was keeping a close eye on flooding and power outages that might affect Lake Jackson in Brazoria County, where the Tribune will be taken to be printed tonight.

Closer to Houston in Kemah, waves were crashing over the boardwalk this morning, and operators of the restaurant and amusement park complex were keeping a wary eye on tied-down rides today.

On Galveston Island, hoteliers and restaurateurs took down awnings and brought in patio furniture overnight.

Buzz Elton, manager of the beachfront Victorian Condominium Hotel.Elton, said business was not suffering greatly.

"We don't have that many people leaving," he said. "Those people who have made reservations are putting them off until the storm passes. We're going to weather the storm."

[mf_dolphin]

It always gets me how unaware some people are of the danger. It's not like this storm just sprung up yesterday!

[Lindaloo]

I believe some of it was the uncertainty Marshall. I am sure alot of people have now learned their lessons and will be more cautious. Since Camille, and we all know how some took that storm, veterans of that storm are boarded up and gone even in a CAT 1. I am very serious about that too. Some even board up, gas up, stock up as soon as it hits the gulf even though they do not know where it is going yet.