Posted on 09/12/2008 11:29:13 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Well, I just tried to buy raywilkinson.com, but someone beat me to it.
I liked the quote from yesterday, something along the lines “we don’t have looters in Texas.” It might have been the Galveston city manager. Looters won’t go where armed people are. :-)
I watched a little of that too, up until he started ranting about the 127 mph gust.
He did get tagged with something a time or two, don’t know if it was a starfish or not. LOL
The problem is, with the unpredictability of the storm, how are you to know whether or not YOU’LL end up being one of the people who REALLY needed to get out instead?
Thanks for the update. Gosh things must be really up in the air still. I had a feeling about Crystal Beach & Bolivar. Will still hope for the best until we hear otherwise officially.
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"Lots of people are wanting to see aerial fly-over video of Galveston Island, particularly the West end, West beach part of Galveston. Hurricane Ike wrought much destruction up and down coastal Texas.
There has been a no-fly for media helicopters over the coast side of Galveston island, due to search and rescue efforts.
This video is from the Coast Guard, and the contrast isn’t the greatest. There are clearer videos from the bay side.
This is a fly over of Galveston Island from a HU-25 Falcon Jet from the Aviation Training Center in Alabama. Scenes include flooded neighborhoods, hotels, highways, an airport and flightline as well as a burning building.
This video shows massive flooding and devastation on Galveston Island, Texas, and the beach side. Reports coming out of Houston are saying that much of the Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach and Orange are gone, or heavily damaged. All of our prayers are with those who have been in the path of Hurricane Ike."
Coast Guard Fly-Over Of Galveston Island Texas
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Prayers, indeed.
Ditto.
Besides, they're not really free. We pay for them through taxes.
Well, we don’t. They’re an elusive and rare unprotected endangered species in Texas that only appear after a disaster and just as quickly disappear. Little else is known of their habits, but the occasional looter season is always a time of great anticipation among hunters. :D
I agree.
My libbie sister still bemoans all the people ‘still living in Fema trailers’ and thinks our government and ‘big insurance’ is to blame for everything..(eye roll) I love her, but tire of talking to her about such things very quickly...LOL.
Please forgive my ignorance. Will these coastal areas that are flooded and under water be able to recover? Will the waters recede back into the gulf or will the gulf claim these areas?
from video I saw today of Galveston - everything west of 11 mile road is under water... the farther west you go on the island the deeper the water. The most populated area of the island (the east end) suffered flooding during the storm but looks like it has receded now.
If you niece’s home is on the east end of the island (not the far east end) then her home should be ok.
Jeffers posted a picture of the island on this thread that shows what areas on the island are reachable and what areas are not.
I’ll bet those rescued who watched their neighbors get washed away didn’t think it was hype.
Gilchrist????
I think it is time for a national discussion about this, too.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind something like “We’ll help you ONE time in a century to build in that spot. It will be kept track of, and every insurance company in the world will be aware of it and every realtor will be aware of it and every surveyor will be aware, etc. After that ONE time, ALL the cost of rebuilding is up to you, buddy. And if you hide that from someone you sell to, you are committing a 10yr felony - grand larceny equivalent.”
NOLA should not have been rebuilt by the US govt. Neither should so many of the homes destroyed by hurricanes and floods.
If you want to rebuild there, you get insurance or kiss your money goodbye if it has another problem and when you sell, that would certainly be reflected in the price you get. This goes for anywhere in the whole country, and would apply to any disaster at all - bar none - including fire, terrorism, snow storms, flooding, forest fires, planes crashing into them, polar bear attacks, mosquitoes carrying it away, ANY reason.
“free” stuff :’)
In a nutshell, nobody was forced to shelter in place in Houston, just as nobody was stopped from remaining on fragile barrier islands. I'm getting very concerned about the nanny state explosion replacing common sense.
I believe the week of tv drama watching airlifts following Katrina has blossomed into an expectation of spectacular rescues for everyone. It has become a basic right. As someone said on another thread when Ike was looming large..."Rescue workers are paid with my tax dollars and they are trained for these situations."
Incredible.
I recall reading that the west end of Galveston Island didn’t have a sea wall and that’s the end that got the worst of the storm for the island and they are not allowing anything but search and rescue helicopters.
That is not good, IMO.
The west end is mostly weekenders, retirees and vacation homes. People who pay for the public schools through taxation and never use them. We have neighbors on the west end in Pirates Beach that we have seen twice in ten years. Every year the property taxes go up. In ten years our assessed value has gone from $130,000 to $350,000. Every year we make the trek to protest our taxes. The last time we went to try to get our taxes reduced there was a group of people dressed up and reenacting the Boston Tea Party in the tax assessors office. After hurricane Rita we got $40 off our tax bill because we needed some minor roof repairs. If there is anything left of my house I will take pictures and take them with me to the assessors office next spring.
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