Anyone heard from GalvestonDuck?

[LaPlaceFF]

Anyone knows how GalvenstonDuck is doing? I hope they are ok!!

[CajunMama]

She safe according to the hurricane ike check-in list. Check on there for others you may be concerned about.

[george_r_1961]

I got a text message from her tuesday. As of then she wasnt back home yet.

[vbhoutex]

She won't be home anytime soon unless the hospital requests her presence would be my guess. They are still not allowing residents onto the island even for look and leave.

[GalvestonDuck]

Thanks for the concern.

Freaking storm wiped out my downstairs, along with virtually everyone else's who lived on the east end. I knew I was in trouble when I heard UTMB had 4-6 feet of water. I live a block away from the hospital.

Downstairs in my house encompasses everything but the loft bedroom. So, I can't live there (no bathroom, no kitchen). Books, furniture, TV, dishes -- all that stuff wiped out. But it's just stuff. It can be replaced. I had the water, food, flashlights, batteries, TP, bleach, and so forth. Packed my car with valuables and moved it to higher ground (UTMB parking garage). Then evac'd with hurricane supplies, 5-days worth of clothes, and bare necessities with my best friend and her hubby in their cars (in an effort to minimize the number of cars on the street). Sad to say, there weren't many cars on the streets at all. Makes me worry about those who stayed behind (could there really have been that many who didn't leave?). Seriously, it was the smoothest trip through Houston ever. All the stores along I-45 were closed up and empty last Thursday night before Ike hit. It was weird.

It hasn't been easy not being able to go back and survey the damage (and get my car). Cabin fever is setting in fast.

I attempted to go back on Tuesday for the "look and leave." I just wanted to look, clean a little, and get my car. But because of all the freaking sightseers who ruined it for us, I wasn't able to get there. They canceled it early. So I ended up going to Bayou Vista for a short time (yuck!) It wasn't fun being there with only the clothes on my back (because I thought I was getting my car and coming back to Tyler). I helped clean some at my best friend's house. It was a muddy, mucky mess, so I can only imagine what mine looks like. The stench was horrible. Came back to Tyler on Wednesday night after I got a ride.

Rumors abound about damage and death tolls. First, I heard that the 1900 Memorial was gone. Now I hear that the statue remains, but the plaque is gone. I've heard from a few coworkers that the main reason we can't go back is because they keep finding bodies. And yet the death toll doesn't rise. That's fine by me. Maybe they keep finding survivors who need medical help, not "bodies." I'd prefer to let the 1900 Storm keep the record.

Can't go back to work yet. The hospital is slowly recovering with Disaster Medical Assistance Teams coming in to work for the regular employees so they can get lives back in order as best they can. I now work research, so I won't necessarily need to go back immediately, although I have volunteered to fill in where needed in other capacities since I've worked in the ER (I've seen dead people) and other departments previously.

People who lived in Galveston used to say they were either a BOI (born on the island) or an IBC (islander by choice). Now we're all BOI (bummed over Ike).

[KatDaddy]

I am glad you are safe and sorry for your loss. If there is anything I can do let me know. We fared good here in League City. Still no cable or Internet. Thanks goodness for wireless networks.

[GalvestonDuck]

Thanks, Brian!

If anyone has any strings they can pull and knows a FEMA-participating hotel/motel owner who would hold a room that becomes vacant on Wednesday, that might help. I need to have a back-up plan now that they're opening the island and I know my place won't be livable yet. If it was possible, I'd stay in one of my two offices at UTMB (one is an old patient room and has a shower). But I don't know if I could get in there yet. Plus I have friends who would be more comfortable staying at a hotel with privacy and their own "space" rather than sleeping at a friend's house. We've already been at my best friend's aunt's house for nearly a week, but need some place close to work and home once we're allowed back.

Thanks!

[GalvestonDuck]

Alright, let me reword this --

ANY help would be appreciated. I could rough it if I have to when I go down there. But my best friend is distraught now and really needs someplace to feel safe and secure. She just drove down to Bayou Vista today and saw her place for the first time..and that was after a friend and I had cleaned a lot out last week, when I went down, and others stayed to keep cleaning it out. It killed me to hear her cry on the phone and not be able to be there. There's some concern about her flood insurance not paying now because properties built in Bayou Vista were not allowed to have the bottom (ground) levels finished if they were built after a certain year. So now many there in BV are saying insurers won't pay to rebuild the bottom floors because of that. That means their house lost a lot a value, as well as all the possessions they had down there.

Plus, it's going to put a hardship on them (as well as so many others in the Hou/Galv area) to pay to make their homes livable again.

I need to find a place for her and her husband first and foremost.

[GalvestonDuck]

Nevermind....

[Bluefrog]

does that mean you found a place ....... i'm over in mississippi ...wish i was closer to help out

[GalvestonDuck]

Yup, found a place. Thanks, Bluefrog.

Haven't had internet for the past week and a half down here. Too many other things to do...and then a curfew to keep me from doing more things (but understandable, due to safety concerns).

Sign at a local bank -- "We're turning setback into comeback."