Ike was designated a tropical storm as it travelled inland. (BBC News) "Post-Ike analysis today presented one happy fact: The hurricane could have been a lot worse."(Houston Chronicle)
Bush has declared 29 counties of Texas a disaster area. (BBC News) Rescuers are going door to door to check on 20,000+ who refused to evacuate. (CNN) Now we just pray for the minimum loss of life.
Michael Chertoff earlier said that he has had reports of deaths but they have not been confirmed. (BBC News) ""We hope it's a small number," Chertoff said regarding possible hurricane deaths. "But we're going to have to wait and see."" (Houston Chronicle)
The Houston Chronicle reports on rescue efforts currently under way.
In a grimmer aspect of post-hurricane activity, rescue workers by midafternoon had launched searches for the more than 100,000 area residents who ignored evacuation orders and attempted to ride out the storm in their homes.
In Chambers County officials launched boats to hunt survivors in Oak Island and Smith Point, communities that were submerged in 15 to 17 feet over water when Ike smashed ashore earlier today.
In Galveston County, where fire personnel received 100 calls for help after they had shut down operations Thursday, city officials pleaded with the media not to photograph corpses. About 23,000 island residents are thought to have ignored the evacuation call.
Earlier today, Gov. Rick Perry announced that Galveston Island has been closed to all but emergency personnel to allow the search to take place. He said he had no information regarding possible island fatalities.
In Harris County, where 250,000 people were advised to evacuate their homes in neighborhoods vulnerable to storm surge, the list of living, injured and — possibly — dead has yet to be compiled. (HC)
CNN reports that so far there have been no casualties discovered, but rescue efforts have been seriously hampered. (CNN) Apparently officials are surprised by the resistance of the population to being evacuated. (Houston Chronicle)
I'm guessing a lot of them remembered being stalled on the interstate during Rita? Yep. "Chambers County spokesman Mike Kubik said many residents of the coastal county east of Houston ignored the calls to evacuate because of sour memories of Hurricane Rita's 2005 gridlocked evacuation."(Houston Chronicle)
In the meantime, Galveston is "in a recovery mode," according to Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas. "This eye came right over us, stayed a while and went on, but it brought a lot of damage to our city."(CNN)
Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said the island would be closed while authorities assess damages, including to the causeway, which was in "bad shape" because of debris and road damage.
"The road buckled in a number of places," LeBlanc said. "Even if we opened it up you couldn't get through."
LeBlanc said 17 buildings on the island had been destroyed, including ten homes that caught fire and a boat storage warehouse that was set ablaze as Ike approached.
The other buildings fell because their structures were battered by winds and storm surge, LeBlanc said....floods filled the historic district with 7 feet of water at the storm's peak, said Galveston County official Margaret Bunch. (CNN)
Other parts of Texas suffered damage as well and nearly 2.6 million Texas and Louisiana customers have no power.
Houston Mayor Bill White said his city appears to have avoided loss of life, but streets blocked by floodwaters, downed trees and power lines hampered efforts to determine the full extent of the damage.
Authorities shut down downtown Houston, where the streets were littered with debris, including traffic lights and glass, for cleanup and damage assessment. The city's tallest skyscraper, the 75-story JP Morgan Chase Tower, was missing many of its windows (CNN)
Apparently, officials were surprised at the resistance of the citizens to evacuation.
RECENT POSTINGS:
Catastrophic Hurricane Ike Rips into Galveston
Check:
scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2008/09/why_would_any_sane_person_put.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=channellink
We may not yet have seen the worst.
Posted by: Charles | September 13, 2008 at 09:43 PM