Currents Bring Litter to South Texas Coast (Katrina & Rita)

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 18, 2005

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas -- Gulf currents are dumping litter from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the white beaches of this resort island, one of the most popular destinations for college students on spring break.

Chemical drums, propane tanks and even a boat rescue ring from the Glenda Sue have washed up. The Glenda Sue was docked in Grand Isle, La., some 490 miles to the east-northeast, before Katrina hit Aug. 29.

"It's terrible. It's like a carpet of debris," Ranger J.J. Garcia of the Cameron County Parks Police said in Tuesday's editions of the Valley Morning Star. "It goes for miles and miles and miles. I don't know how long it will take to clean all this mess."

The debris from Katrina and Rita, the hurricane that hit along the Texas-Louisiana border on Sept. 24, has been arriving for several days and more is expected.


http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-hurricane-beach-litter,0,6043549.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines


For anyone wondering what happened to all the debris from the hurricanes, here it comes.

[aquart]

1. No bodies?

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. I would guess

the sharks and crabs ate anything that was organic by now?

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Sh*t Happens!

Gawd is pissed at the red states!

[Bridget Burke]

5. Is he pissed at New England, where rain made 1000 evacuate?

Is he pissed at Central America, where Stan killed so many--mostly the poor?

Is he pissed at Kashmir, where 40,000 have died?

Not to mention: Coastal areas tend to be more liberal than the landlocked areas populated by the cornfed folk. The pattern holds true even in the groovy states that face the Pacific.

[FloridaPat]

4. Who you gonna call? Hallibutron - to clean up.

[pop goes the weasel]

6. Texas had a massive volunteer coastal clean-up effort

Just before Katrina hit.

The Adopt-a-Beach program usually only has two big clean-up days, in April and September. I wonder if the program will do an extra clean-up in November. Think we could get a huge DU volunteer contingent?

[donsu]

7. Ranger Garcia sounded petulent that they had so much debri

arriving to be cleaned up.

[SouthernDem2004]

8. Hey, if you find any of my stuff let me know.

[uppityperson]

9. Call FEMA, they'll come clean it up. Another article here

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051018/NEWS01/510180335/1006

"They said they found a bunch of lumber, refrigerators, propane gas canisters, staircases, a boat and a bunch of other debris," said Greg Gawlikowski, satellite image analyst.
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"The plastic, in addition to all the other stuff, was predominantly water bottle caps -- hundreds of them. Where'd they come from?" McGlen asked. "All the bottled water they've been drinking down there."McGlen also found six hypodermic needles.
<clip>
"We've been out here the last three days, and I haven't seen any poop or anything like we were supposed to," Lee said. "There's been a lot of stuff (on the beach), but the surf's been really rough."...more

Poop would have dissolved by now, but plastic and wood not (trying to not be judgemental here about this person but not doing a very good job).