Riding Out IKE, My Perspective From Galveston, PART 2...

[JeffreyWilliamson]

Hello Everyone,

I'm posting from my cell phone so hope this works.

My last thread from Galveston seemed to be widely read so thought I would give an update.

I evacuated Friday to Hitchcock about 10 minutes north of Galveston. Rode out the storm and awoke to 4 feet of water in the yard (it did not get in the house). My car went under and I lost it. The water went down by evening.

We have a generator and supplies here, but the area is devastated. It's like a nuclear bomb went off. We are waiting to get onto the island and the news is not giving us any insight into conditions there. Rumors are swirling that the city was flooded, burned, and generally destroyed.

I'm sure there are updates getting though the blackout here on DU but this phone is too slow to check for them. If anyone can post any updates in this thread, I plan on bookmarking it to read later today.

Also, if anyone is on the island in the vacinity of 50 and Ave O 1/2, would appreciate if they can post if this block took on water and how much. That's where I live(d).

More later,

Jeffy

[villager]

1. Thanks for updating, and take care. And again, the imposed blackout on real news from Galveston

...becomes creepier and creepier...

[slackmaster]

2. Bummer about your car!

Stay safe.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Glad you made it out alive nt

[Gman]

4. In general the news is not good out of Galveston

from what I've seen (and I watched all 4 Houston TV stations on Saturday) the damage is severe from flooding. It looks like "generally destroyed" is a pretty good description. However there were only a handful of fires. But it appears the absolute destruction was over toward Bolivar. They took the brunt of it. I'm not in Galveston or even Houston but this is what I've gathered so far.

I'll cross-post this in Texas so that maybe someone in the area will have more and better information.

[MiniMe]

5. Glad to hear you are OK

From what I've seen, the forums on the www.khou.com site are giving the most information. Some people have been over to the island by boat. If I see anything on there, I'll let you know. What subdivision are/were you in? A lot of the forum information is divided by community. Take care.

[amitten]

6. I'm sorry for your loss, but glad you are safe. n/t

[Lorien]

7. Hang in there Jeffy

there seems to be a media blackout, being enforced by your local officials and FEMA. We're not hearing very much either. It's as if the Kremlin is at work here. I have a friend whose parents are in Beaumont, and I don't think she has heard from them yet. I've been trying to find out how their area managed, but so far I've only seem a few photos of downed phone lines. I know how awful it is to be without services in the South after a hurricane, but at least we didn't have the same flooding problems you do. Sounds downright scary, but I'm so glad that you are OK. Hopefully someone here can get a report on your neighborhood. We'll be thinking of you and sending good thoughts your way!

[Gman]

8. Jeff, I cross-posted this to the Texas forum

and asking replies to be posted to this thread so you don't have to go over there to get info. Hope this helps.

[Generic Other]

9. Your house survived! And so did you!

I think you used up one of your nine lives. Hope your animals are safe and that the people in your neighborhood that you worried about are all okay.

What a night you endured!

[itsrobert]

25. I don't know if it was his house that survive

His post seems to indicated he fled his house to one in Hitchcock. Looks like the house he's staying at survived and he doesn't know about his own home.

[tandot]

10. Great to hear from you.

Following the news I always wondered if you made it out in time and how you are doing. I am sorry that you lost your car.

They (FEMA/Government) seem to be blocking out any bad news.

Good luck and keep us informed.

:hug:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Can someone in this thread check the Google Earth satellite images?

I don't have an install of it on this computer. As quoted in the OP, 50th and Ave O 1/2 (yes, the street is actually named O 1/2.)

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/09/aftermath-of-hurricane-ike.html

[Lorien]

12. I'm on a Mac, so I don't think I can use it

what is the actual name of that area/ community? I'll do some news searches to find what I can.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. You can get Google Earth for Macs these days.

All I know about the area is what was quoted in the OP. I was able to find it on google maps using the intersection, but google maps doesn't have the updated images - google Earth does.

[MadrasT]

14. self delete

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Did you download the .kml in the blog I linked?

I think you have to do that to get the images to show up.

[MadrasT]

16. That's why I deleted my last message

Which said that I was seeing pre-flood images in Google earth when I just typed in the intersection in Galveston.

But yes, if you click the link from the blog here: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/09/aftermath-of-hurricane-ike.html you do get post flood images. I'm looking now. :hi:

[MadrasT]

17. OK, I have a screen shot of that area, I'm uploading it

and I will post a link. There are still structures there. It's hard to ascertain the extent of damage. It doesn't look awful from the air. Give me a minute...

[MadrasT]

18. Google Earth screenshot post flood

[tandot]

19. Wow. Is that really post-flood? Looks like the area has been spared.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

20. Impossible to tell how much flood damage...

...but at least the houses are still there!

[MadrasT]

22. You can see some roof damage to a house

under the word "Galveston"... but it's way better overall than some of the pictures we've seen of nearby areas.

[GardeningGal]

21. Are you sure that's post Ike?

There's an awful lot of green grass that I haven't seen in other pictures.

[MadrasT]

23. If I pan over to the east in Google Earth

from the screen shot I posted, Crystal Beach is definitely wiped out. So I'm as certain as I can be.

Everything looks really soggy in that picture (wet streets), and you can see some roof damage.

Here's a shot of Crystal Beach from the same Google Earth session that I grabbed the 50th street picture from:



(Edit to reduce picture size a bit.)

[intheflow]

27. From what I saw on Google Earth after Katrina,

they update their images somewhat sporadically. I remember looking up and down the Mississippi coastline and it would be total destruction for a long time in one grid, and then it would be pre-Katrina in the next. So just because it's from the same Google Earth session doesn't necessarily mean the images were taken on the same day. :(

[MadrasT]

32. Here is a "zoomed out" view.

It looks to be clearly marked where the post-Ike updates were overlaid, using the HurricaneIke_nl.kmz Google Earth kmz file.

What do you think? :shrug:

Edited to add link to kmz file: http://mw2.google.com/mw-earth-vectordb/disaster/ike/HurricaneIke_nl.kmz



Edited to add: I removed the closeups in my other posts because I don't want to debate with people all day if they are pre- or post-Ike and since I didn't take the pictures, I can't be 100% certain. I was 99% certain, but that's not good enough.

The important thing is I am SO HAPPY they Jeffrey is OK, I was thinking about him throughout the storm. Even though I don't know him personally, it made it much more real to read his pre-storm report. Big hug :hug:.

[intheflow]

40. I was thinking about it and

it could be that the photos are post-Ike. Katrina stalled out on the coast, scouring the coast for almost 8 hours w/o moving, and Katrina's winds were much stronger than Ike's. So who knows? Probably just as good that you removed the photos. And you're right, the important thing is that JW is safe.

[MadrasT]

37. Picture in #23 deleted.

[MiniMe]

24. And a lot of big trees standing

[intheflow]

26. Particularly on the trees.

Trees were stripped bare after Katrina, and a high percentage of trees were knocked down. It took up to six months to get all the downed trees cleared out of Biloxi. I find the presence of so many leaves still on the trees, lack of any discernible debris, and no trees down pretty suspicious for this to be a post-Ike photo.

[MadrasT]

29. Here's the before and after

Before


After


If you look at the top of the vertical street in the "After" picture, you can see a tree down. Plus roof damage under the word "Galveston".

Here's another Crystal Beach that I got to just by panning a little bit east from the "After" shot above:



Maybe I should just delete them. I don't want to get the OP's hopes up or start a big debate.

Edit: pictures deleted.

[jus_the_facts]

33. I really think you should delete them....because of this report.....

.....from readin' this...it would seem that those pictures haven't been updated. :(

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080915/NEWS01/809150284

This means water at street level was at least waist deep, and it also means there wasn’t any part of the island’s surface that didn’t get submerged.

The walls in our apartment that are parallel to the Seawall had watermarks as high as three feet, suggesting that waves rolled through the building somehow, even though the windows didn’t break. Rhiannon said the smell is awful. But we have renter’s insurance, and I took all the photos and most of the other keepsakes with me when I evacuated.

At the top of a fence at a school near our apartment, Rhiannon saw debris that got caught when the water was at or above the fence. That means that area was under at least 8 feet of water.

[MadrasT]

34. OK, then I will take them away.

If it is too late to edit my posts, I will delete them from where they are hosted and they will show up as broken links.

[jus_the_facts]

39. It would be nice to think there could possibly be anything green left anywhere...

....just rings false after reading that first hand account that there is...maybe I'm wrong and hope for the people who live there that I am...but..I just don't see how that much green could still be there. :shrug:

[nickyt]

38. Madras, thank you anyway for your efforts!

Jeff, you take good care, we are sending love from all around the nation, and quite possibly the world!! Glad you made it out, sir!

[MadrasT]

36. Picture in #18 deleted.

[intheflow]

28. I'm glad you're safe, JeffreyW.

Cars and other "stuff" can be replaced, by you are unique in your existence. :hug:

[Festivito]

30. Worse damage seems to be northeast of you.

Try
1200 Galveston ave, Bolivar peninsula, TX

The houses are rubble.

[Mari3333]

31. here is a first hand report from galveston reporters

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080915/NEWS01/809150284

"Authorities are still in search-and-rescue mode. About 24,000 people didn’t heed evacuation orders. Rescuers are leaving the dead in houses and moving on to look for the living.

Unlike in New Orleans after Katrina, they are not spray painting a giant "X" on a building when they find bodies. Instead, they are putting discrete stickers on the buildings. On the one hand, government officials seem to be trying to keep the media from portraying the true extent of the disaster, but on the other hand officers are tipping off reporters about deaths and rescues."

pretty interesting information from 2 galveston reporters who stayed and what is going on now...

[malaise]

35. Glad you're OK

You'll get another car.

[Dem_4_Life]

41. Glad to hear you are OK...

I am sorry to hear about your car, however I am glad that you were able to give an update and that you are physically doing okay. I wish I had more information to share with you.

:hug: