Hurricane Ike: The Untold Story

[barbtries]

Source: digital journal.com

Thousands of Texans watched TV all day Saturday in quiet desperation hoping for just one word about their loved ones and their homes on Bolivar Peninsula, Texas.
...

By early Sunday morning stories and photos were trickling out over the internet through message boards and blogs.

Here are three unconfirmed stories about the fate of Bolivar:

This afternoon, my mother called with a report. I could tell she had been crying, or at least very depressed. She called to tell me that her neighbor had called, and their friend had flown his plane over the peninsula. He said it was so flooded he couldn’t find anything. He finally found the school, a two-story building on very high stilts, which helped him get his bearings. He used the school to find his way to my mother’s street, and all he saw was one of the two palm trees that used to stand next to the neighbor’s house. The house was higher than the palm tree, yet all that remained was the tree. All of the houses on the street were gone, including my parents’ dream house.



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/259812/Hurricane_Ike_The_Untold_Story

---

more at the link. it appears that msm may be blacking out news from the bolivar peninsula.

[mike_c]

1. interesting-- I was looking for news about the damage this morning...

...and didn't find much. The absence was conspicuous, actually. Made me go hmmmmm....

[barbtries]

4. me, too

that's how i found this. the silence is deafening, disheartening, and downright eery.

[phantom power]

13. Total damage is estimated at $27 billion.

In it's wake, Ike has left a Texas-sized disaster. AIR Worldwide, Inc, is estimating that total insured damage in Texas and Louisiana will be $10 billion. An additional $3.4 billion in damage was likely done in the Gulf of Mexico, due to wind and wave damage to oil platforms and the indirect loss of revenue attributable to reductions in oil and gas production. Using the usual rule of thumb that total hurricane damages are double the insured damages, the price tag for Ike will be about $27 billion. That would make Ike the third costliest hurricane in history. Only Hurricane Katrina of 2005 and Hurricane Andrew of 1992 did more damage than Ike has. So far, the death toll from Ike has been remarkably low, considering the level of damage this storm inflicted. Let's hope it stays this way.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1085&tstamp=200809

[ensho]

2. early this a.m. I heard one CNN reporter mention that the news from

Bolivar was not good and they would expand on the story later in the day.

from that I figured it must be very bad news.

[barbtries]

6. i had heard probably two days ago

that the mayor requested that the media not share pictures of all the devastation. yesterday while watching one of the local streams a reporter on the ground expressed concern about bolivar and the anchor responded that they had pictures and couldn't show them. i fear the news from the peninsula is catastrophic both to persons and to property. it pisses me off that i'm stuck here speculating about it though.

i don't know why really, the people have the right and in the case of family and home/business owners, the need to know what's going on. i think it's related to how the administration won't allow pictures of returning dead soldiers to be shown on tv. i think it's called censorship, an essential aspect of propagandizing. personally i'd appreciate just hearing the news. i do know how to think for myself. i think. :think:

[zeemike]

15. There is an election coming up

They don't want to get the country too concerned.

[JeanGrey]

16. I think they should show them. With a line running

beneath that says "this is what can happen to you if you stay". Maybe it will wise up others for the future.

[Two Americas]

30. what would wise up the blame the victim crowd?

That is the bigger and much more important challenge, I think.

[Warpy]

3. I did see an aerial photo of it yesterday

and everything was erased. You could see where the streets were laid out in a nice grid pattern, but there was nothing standing.

If anyone stayed there, they're likely dead.

[fedsron2us]

21. Link to picture from this UK based weather site

nb - You have to down load it.

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/get-attachment.asp?action=view&attachmentid=40216


They had a storm chase team in Galveston (British and Dutch meteorologists have their own reasons dating back to 1953 for being interested in the impact of storm surges). Their report stated

Crystal Beach and Gilchrist on the Bolivar Penisular (Spit or Land to the East of Galveston) has been totally destroyed - nothing left - swept clean.

[malaise]

23. Jim Cantore was hinting at this yesterday

then later on McCain said he expected a large number of deaths. Remember he was briefed by Chertoff and Perry. Truth will out.

[pleah]

33. I just tried to use your link and it said it was restricted with a big red dot

on the page.

[Mari3333]

5. heres some more

http://www.swedesrealestate.com/News/tabid/86/ctl/ArticleView/mid/832/articleId/770/Default.aspx

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/bolivar-peninsula-tx/THABTFA1IJMVCT80I

[barbtries]

8. thank you

i will check these out right now

[geomon666]

7. There is no doubt that there is a media blackout going on.

At least on the television. It's absolutely fucking disgusting.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Crystal Beach is Gone

I have another theory. The national media are idiots. It's just a theory, mind you.

The problem is as it always is. The Heads can't get into Crystal Beach. They're all on Galveston Island or points inward. They make the story focus there because that's where they are; that's where they get "face time" coupled with actual pictures of devastation. It's good for the portfolio, you understand.

Local news has as much information as can be gathered coming out. It's been non-stop coverage since Friday. It's bad there.

Here's a video from KHOU : Crystal Beach is Gone ...

Link to video of Aerial Photos ...

[UK populist]

10. some limited video of Galveston and Houston

www.weather.com go to tv channel tab

It looks pretty bad and there are area with up to 40,000 non-evacuated people in Galveston who the authorities can't get to yet.

[merh]

11. Imagine the toxins in the water and the muds

Bolivar isn't too far from Baytown, is it?

We had hell dealing with the toxins after Katrina, that was one of the many things not discussed by the MSM, the illinesses caused by those toxins.

God help these people, their lifes will not be easy.

[merh]

12. glitch dupe

:blush:

[uppityperson]

14. Checking DU to see if any coverage of rest of coastline.

Noticing that it is basically focused on Galveston, but knowing there was a lot more impacted. Thanks. Off to read.

[uppityperson]

17. Pict of Crystal Beach, article about Bolivar...

http://blogs.fayobserver.com/weather/2008/09/14/the-day-after-ike/



http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080913_mh_.72b5bca9.html

Bolivar couple 'floated on staircases' to keep from drowning

06:46 PM CDT on Saturday, September 13, 2008

By Chris Paschenko / The Daily News

TEXAS CITY ­— Bolivar Peninsula communities were covered by the storm surge from Hurricane Ike’s early Saturday landfall, and residents told harrowing stories of how they survived by floating until the waters receded.
(clip)
”We got a late start to get out Friday, and there was two feet of water,” Kathi Norton said. “There was no way we could get out, because rollover pass was flooded.” As the waves pounded on the Nortons’ home standing on 14-foot stilts, they felt the floors buckle. About midnight, the couple left the home and they watched as it rolled over onto their flagpole. ”We floated on staircases, anything we could get a hold of,” Kathi Norton said. “We floated until about 4 a.m. Roofs were coming at us. It was not a pretty picture.”

As the water receded, the Nortons, who lived on Gulf Shores Drive, waded in waist-deep surf to the Crystal Beach post office. They said few homes and none of the businesses withstood the storm. ”My husband made me wear a life jacket inside our house,” Norton said. “Thank God for that or I couldn’t be here.” The Nortons boarded Texas National Guard helicopters, which flew them to the Brazoria County airport, but there were no evacuation buses set up there, Paul Norton said. ”Then they flew us to Texas City,” he said. “They did a great job.”

Nigel Heinrich, one of the evacuees, said he endured the storm from his Gilchrist home on the peninsula. ”It’s all gone,” he said. “We lived on the bay side, and we walked to High Island. There are only about two or three houses left. Everything’s totally wiped out. High Island’s in pretty bad shape, too.”

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

18. Ya, I'm sure the MSM sat around in their fucking batcave...

...and decided not to report on this.

[barbtries]

29. watching the feed

http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html

Department of Homeland Security won't let the local news fly over the area.

[JeanGrey]

34. It should be reported so that FUTURE PEOPLE WILL

GET THE HELL OUT. Geesh.

[uppityperson]

19. I think they are just getting out to places, going to take a while for info to get out, people to

get in. Searching for more, will past as find it. Thanks for posting these. I put them in GD also, with a link to your OP. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3997458&mesg_id=3997458

[AnOhioan]

20. Overflight of Crystal Beach - video

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2008/09/14/vo.crystal.beach.cnn

[WA98296]

22. I am so sorry for your parents loss. What a tragedy.

[riverdeep]

24. Dare I say it,

Insert crass con opinion here: They shouldn't be asking for Federal monies, they just need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I don't want to pay for these people's houses! They chose to live there. Why didn't they leave? Suck it up, life is tough, and all that. No one hands you any guarantees. That's just how these people are.

:sarcasm:

Did I miss any?

[Ilsa]

26. I don't know about the "these people" comment. Fairly well-to-do

people tend to build on islands with the lovely sea views. I'm not arguing with your assistance premise.

Here is another approach: should we be building in some places? Should some of these areas be left off limits? I wonder if some areas would drain better if they were less developed, left in their natural state, etc.

I wonder if we shouldn't be more practical about where we live. As developed as Padre Island is, I wouldn't live on a barrier island like that or Galveston Island.

Send in the relief money. FEMA is trying to get there. They are announcing their financial assistance hotline.

[riverdeep]

32. I was just doing a rehash of the compassion some

people showed Katrina victims.

[kaygore]

25. My heart goes out to those who have been devastated by the storm BUT

having been raised in Virginia Beach, VA, "at the Beach," and having experienced some pretty powerful hurricanes, if I were told to evacuate, I would because to do otherwise except in EXTREME cases, I feel, is very selfish as my staying could risk the lives of those who might have to attempt to rescue me and such rescue costs are born by the whole community.

In fact, those who choose to stay when told to evacuate, specially in such unambiguous language as certain zip codes in Houston were told to evacuate, should be charged for their evacuation costs unless they were provided no means of evacuation (as in Katrina).

It is very exciting to sit out a storm, but if these people want excitement, they should pay the price, either at the adventure/amusement park or to the government agencies that rescue them.

The irony is that many of these people are against BIG GOVERNMENT, the very agencies that take the risks and spend the money to rescue them and then house them in safe shelters.

[pitohui]

28. "but" you would like to cook them and eat them anyway

where is this hateful meme coming from that people should pay the cost of their own rescues if they don't evacuate, what the hell is wrong with democrats that they are repeating this crap

people EDUCATE YOURSELF

good article (w. bad title) on nola.com today on this topic -- to make a long story short people in terrebonne could NOT evacuate for ike because they had already spent all the money they had on the bullshit evacuation for gustav, which was also a mandatory evacuation

poor working families struggle with the estimated $1,000-plus cost of fuel, food, hotel rooms, etc. to evacuate ONCE, when asked to evacuate TWICE in quick succession the money simply isn't there

now maybe everybody who has lived a lifetime at galveston is some fabulously rich developer but i am suspicious that people who were "born on island" are not the developers but rather the working people just hanging on

there is no permalink but here is the nola.story:

http://www.nola.com/hurricane-ike/index.ssf/2008/09/lack_of_cooperation_vexes_resc.html

scroll down to the section "in a financial bind" --

The go-it-alone attitude is widespread throughout the bayou. After spending large sums of money evacuating for Hurricane Gustav a few days earlier and finding little damage upon their return, few in the fishing communities even thought of leaving when Ike headed for Galveston, Texas....I'm a commercial fisherman, and I spent all my money going to Arcadia in the last storm," he says. "I guess I'll have to start all over and hope the shrimp season gets better....

when everyone is young and rich forever, and evacuation is not a financial hardship to poor working people with families, get back to me with this shitty hateful idea that people should be billed for the cost of their rescues

i realize that, in america, we are not allowed any ability to change our lives, if we are poor, we are to be kept down, uneducated, and to have our head bashed in forever, imagine a poor person who has already lost everything now being charged also for their rescue (how? i suppose their wages are to be garnished if they have a job -- in other words, you propose to make them a defacto slave?)

but that's a hateful hateful hateful dare i say it REPUBLICAN concept that should not be any part of the democratic or progressive platform

just stop already w. this hateful concept, stop it now, not just you but all of you unthinking parrots who are mimicking this horrible and unfair idea

if you really believe this kind of hateful nonsense, at least, please keep it to yourself, there is nothing useful and everything cruel in promoting this bullshit

despite the self-congratulatory republican lies in the self-congratulatory republican owned media, the working poor at least in louisiana weren't provided with shit, and there has been a local scandal just with returning evacuees at least trying to get food stamps so they can eat -- this in america! -- because ALL of their disposable income went to gas, hotel costs, etc. for gustav evacuation

only the poorest of the poor got anything and it was shit too -- a bus to a shelter

the working poor are totally fucked under this system and your ideas just fuck them again

[kaygore]

35. My post was directed at those who refused evacuation services

In Texas, buses were available for those without transportation.

I don't think anyone means that those without the transportation means to evacuate should be charged, but I have been through too many hurricanes when people said that if they were told to evacuate they would not. In fact, many of these people hold hurricane parties!!!!

I referenced the thrill seekers, and believe me, from my first-hand experience, too many of those who refuse to evacuate are thrill seekers.

Others may fear for their property, believing that if they are on the premises, then they can prevent further damage. Even these people with these rational concerns put the lives of rescuers at risk as the lives of the homeowners are much more valuable than their possessions.

Again, few if any DUers advocate making the poor and the helpless, who are without the means or the intellectual or physical capacity to evacuate, pay for their rescue. The anger is aimed at those individuals who put the lives of others at risk because of their bravado or desire to protect their financial interests.

[alarimer]

31. I agree with you.

Barrier islands are bad news. It's one thing not to be able to leave; it's quite another to willfully ignore evacuation orders. In the future we need have a national discussion about these barrier islands. I know too much about these places to ever live on them myself or anywhere less than 10 miles from the coast. These storms will get stronger and more frequent with global warming and that is just reality. Yes, for the time being let's get everyone out but in the future we need to be scaling back (or eliminating) development in these place.

[uppityperson]

27. gathering articles/picts too. Will post cross link to here there also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3997458&mesg_id=3997458

[TornadoTN]

36. ABC13 has a chopper on the scene

It's complete devastation - absolutely nothing is left untouched. Roads have disappeared, debris is non-existent in area, there's simply nothing left. No word on any fatalities, although it is known that many people stayed behind.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/livenow?id=6384042