Posted on 09/24/2005 2:58:37 PM PDT by anymouse
As Galveston dug its way out from Rita on Saturday, the damage was much less than originally feared. However, with downed power lines and other hazards make the island too dangerous to return to, officials said.
"The island isn't safe," Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said.
Hurricane Rita did cause two major disasters:
• A blaze as winds reached hurricane-force Friday night quickly leveled two buildings at 19th and Postoffice streets.
• A 30-year-old woman received severe burns in the blaze and two fire fighters suffered minor injuries. The woman, who lived above a bail-bond business that burned, was taken to a burns center in Lubbock for treatment, officials said. They are not releasing her name.
City leaders had planned to keep emergency workers in the San Luis Hotel no matter what happened. But as 70-90 mph winds threw flames and burning embers hundreds off feet from the buildings, the fire department feared that it might spread in a storm that dropped relatively little rain.
At the height of the blaze, the heat was intense and the soot blinding even blocks away. Howling, swirling winds threw a plume of smoke that dwarfed even the massive American National Insurance Company building a few blocks away.
Police SWAT teams swept the buildings nearby to make sure nobody was in them.
Not long after the fire, the entire east wall of the Greenleve, Block and Co. Building that houses Yaga's on the Strand. There were no injuries when the 113-year-old structure fell, but it left Saengerfest Park buried in rubble.
A sign in front of the building said that it lost a cornice that was a sort of a fifth floor in the 1900 Storm. Then it lost its fourth floor in Hurricane Carla in 1961. Now the sign will have to be amended. All over the East End, there were downed limbs, but damage seemed to be relatively minor.
Newspaper boxes, street signs, garbage cans, fences and billboards were scattered all over the area behind the Seawall.
The docks at Washington Park on Offat's Bayou along 61st Street appeared to be heavily damaged.
On the low-lying West End, Rita's north winds proved to be the homeowner's friend. The winds initially knocked down the tops of wave and as they grew, they eventually helped drive the storm surge bask out to sea.
Even so, the waters ate away at the beach. In the Bermuda Beach subdivision, at least a dozen houses were almost completely on the beach Saturday morning.
The downed utility poles, wires and dangling traffic lights that could be found all over town posed more of a problem. Thomas said that until Centerpoint Energy crews are able get power lines up off of the street, residents would not be allowed to return.
Power was out in 75 percent of the city Saturday, with those between 25th and 37th streets enjoying service.
Thomas said crews were working first to restore service to hospitals at the University of Texas Medical Branch. That job had been about 60 percent complete by Saturday afternoon.
The wait for residents to get back appeared to pose something of a problem Saturday.
After an excruciatingly long evacuation, vehicles full of residents eager to get back to the island were were being turned back from the northern terminus of the causeway. For those running low on gas, it had to cause problems.
Mayor Pro-Tem Joe Jaworski said the city hoped to have the hazards fixed enough to give the all-clear Sunday morning.
"There is no one who wants our citizens back on this island like this mayor," Thomas said.
Officials said that for those who find themselves sheltering in comfortable circumstances, there's no need to rush back to Galveston County.
Even though all cities except Galveston and Tiki Island are allowing residents to return, County Judge Jim Yarbrough recommended they wait anyway.
He said that if Houston-area residents are given a few days to return first, it would greatly relieve congestion on regional highways. Galveston residents have a further reason to wait.
The Galveston Independent School District on Saturday announced that teachers did not need to report until Wednesday and that classes would not start until Thursday.
KHOU TV earlier today did a live copter flyover of the Texas coastline from Surfside east through Galveston. Very little damage, if any, to beach and houses. Only major damage in that stretch was from the fire.
Links here, below photo on KHOU Web page. Look for "Aerial Tour of Coastline."
http://www.khou.com/
"Hold tight folks, well be able to return soon, just not right now."I agree thank you"anymouse"
Good news.
They're evac'ing people from Lake Livingstone to Galveston Bay along the Trinity River. They had to release water to alleviate pressure on the dam. Flood warnings out on the Trinity.
Live copter shots of dam on http://khou.com/perl/common/video/yahooPlayer.pl
Somebody tell FoxNews. There might be one or two things happening in the world worth occasionally covering outside of Rita.
I wonder if they had looting. It was already being reported in Houston as of last night.
If it's not safe to return, there must be significant damage.
So far no reported looting in Galveston. I am a bit amazed, but since 90%+ of Galveston residents bugged out, it reduced the opportunity for the lower forms of life on the island to loot in Galveston since they weren't there. I'm sure they are causing problems wherever they were evacuated to though. :)
Crap! Does this mean we aren't going to have a second wave of those wacky, CD-promoting "George Bush Doesn't Like Black People Concerts?"
It is going to be a major logistical challenge to get so many people back through Houston.
They do need to secure the downed power lines and get emergency services back up and running before letting the general population back on the island. This isn't New Orleans, you know! ;)
Press conference on KHOU now. Residents will be able to return to Galveston at 6 AM Sunday. Also announced lack of services and boil water orders. Garbage pickup resumes Tuesday!
Was watching the UW v ND football game on ABC, and Terry Moron gave a "special" halftime report on H Rita. Moron was disgusting bloodthirsty--just like Osama bin Laden "reporting" on the destruction of 9/11.
Any news of flagman and his nephew?
Don't know flagman. Does he live in Galveston?
Anybody know how Friendswood fared? We just got power back at 9:30 pm on Saturday night - lost it about 2:30 am when the high winds hit here on the north side of Houston. I've not heard anything about Friendswood in Galveston County.
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