IKE: "Missing & Presumed Dead-Will Become Very, Very Familiar."

[kpete]

Missing and Presumed Dead



By: Peterr Friday September 19, 2008 2:45 pm

One week after Ike, electricity is returning, water and sewage is still a problem, and authorities are worried about disease if people try to return too soon. But one question is nagging at me more and more each day: where are the folks who tried to ride it out in the towns that disappeared?

A clergy friend of mine in the Houston area told me that he and other pastors are holding their breath, expecting the death toll to be big -- eventually. After Katrina, the searchers found plenty of death waiting for them in the Lower 9th Ward from the flooding and destruction. After Ike, however, the dead are going to be very hard to find, if they get found at all.

In the brutally blunt words of one of his native Texan friends, "many of the folks who tried to ride it out are probably either feeding sharks in the Gulf or gators in the bayous."

.........................

But prepare yourselves now: if my friend and his clergy buddies are right, the words "Missing and Presumed Dead" will become very, very familiar.

more at:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09/19/missing-and-presumed-dead/
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/259987
Missing Persons Hotline:
http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/missing/

[KittyWampus]

1. From a source on a forum that had nothing to do with politics- about 60 people gone who stayed

in one area. Word came from people who are still there to tend to their animals/livestock. They don't want to leave as there's no way to bring all animals out. About 60 people in area stayed and were lost.

Total hearsay, but again, the person posting had nothing to gain and didn't embellish the info in any way.

IMO, we will never know how many. Like Katrina.

[readmoreoften]

4. There are also areas outside cities which are simply difficult to evacuate from.

How do you leave your 20 acre farm, 4 hours east of Houston? How do you get your caravan out in time? Especially if you don't have a satellite internet connection and don't much watch the news on your DishTV. My partner was saying that there are areas that people would've needed to be flown out of 24 hours before the storm hit because the roads are so low along the bayous. She had a friend who was eaten by an alligator when his car broke down.

[lapfog_1]

2. Are there any estimates yet on how many are missing?

has someone set up a web site (like they did after Katrina) where people could check in and either announce they are alright or post names of missing?

[Subdivisions]

3. Could be as many as 14,000 from what little information we've gotten. n/t

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. And then there are those

whose death was hastened by the storm and the circumstances surrounding it.

I have an elderly extended family member who lived in an assisted living home in the Houston area. She and other occupants were evacuated before the storm. But in her somewhat fragile state she did not do well with the stress and confusion of the move and her new living situation. Her funeral is early next week. After her passing her body was initially sent to a funeral home without electricity.

May they all rest in peace.

[tnlefty]

6. I am so sorry to read that.

My thoughts are with you and your family. :hug:

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Thank You

:hug:

[MadrasT]

7. My sympathies.

:hug:

[Coyote_Bandit]

9. Thank You

:hug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I am sorry for your loss

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Thank You

The funeral has now been rescheduled to some future date currently unknown to me. Not sure of all the details but it is related to the hurrican aftermath. Just as well I guess with the travel and lodging challenges facing those traveling to the Houston area for the funeral.