Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[NautiNurse]

Forgive me if this has already been posted...

September 13, 2008

Stolen Seawall sign finds its way back to Geraldo

You know you've got yourself a good storm when Fox News' Geraldo Rivera and his rain slicker show up.

Rivera's broadcasting crew has set up three sets along Seawall Boulevard for the correspondent. One of the sets is a pile of debris that didn't look quite cool enough. So one of Rivera's crew members found a battered "Seawall Boulevard" street sign and stuck it in the pile, so viewers will know exactly where he is.

Some passing Galveston residents must have also thought the sign was cool, so they plucked it from the pile while Rivera was stationed in front of one of his other backdrops. When Rivera's producers realized what happened, they and two law officers chased down the sign-stealers and retrieved Rivera's prop, returning it to the rubble pile.
Houston Chronicle blog

[STARWISE]

Weather is pretty bad in the video.
Poor visibility thru most of it,
until they got down closer.

[SE Mom]

I didn’t hear Cantore- been out of the loop most of the day.

It did strike me as odd when I heard the number of SAR being deployed.

I also discounted my worries when i heard the media start critisizing the “certain death” warning. If the death toll will be small- that would be the first thing they’d pounce on..

[AFPhys]

( I just can’t help myself -— blame it on my “community organizer”* gene )

*”community organizer” == “rabble rouser”

[Spktyr]

The weather and environment in Texas is in fact actively trying to kill the inhabitants. There’s no point in hiding it from the people that live there, so you teach everyone about it and let them know that if something goes wrong that they will be on their own. Heck, just having a flat tire in West Texas can be a life-threatening incident. In the summer, you can be dead within 30 minutes of getting out of the car, if you are not prepared.

New Orleans is what happens when you make everyone depend on the government for everything and try to isolate them from cold hard reality that’s out there. Well, it’s also what happens when you’re stupid enough to build in a below sea-level bowl.

[pax_et_bonum]

Thank you.

[metmom]

You know, if we weren’t paying all those taxes for *free* stuff for everyone else, we’d have enough money saved up on our own to pay for our own repairs. We’d be coming out the same in the end.

[NautiNurse]

I really, really hope you are correct.

[shield]

We had local news helicopters up today and there was truly fog...they were up higher than normal because of rescue helicopters at a lower altitude...fog or thin clouds...geezzz...they aren’t trying to hide anything...

[arkady_renko]

OK. The fog being the reason for turning away was given by the KHOU TV studio talking heads. Here is the raw video segment of that where the chopper is told to turn away. At 55 seconds into it the guy who is talking in the chopper tells the station that Galveston is a no-go. He gives a reason, not being a pilot I can't understand it. Maybe someone else can give it a go?

Video here - 55 seconds in

The TV audience could not hear the chopper conversation.

[deport]

It’d really surprise me if people stayed on West Beach without a sea wall. Those people leave when a hurricane is coming in.

---

In general I agree with your assessment about the west end. However the one factor that could change this equation a bit is that I think the ones on Bolivar Peninsular got caught with rising water blocking their way out much earlier than they though it would happen. So I don’t know if that could have happened to those on the West end of Galveston Island.

[STARWISE]

Same in FL. I think we come
together and help each other
in such devastating crises.
Hopefully, most neighborhoods
do likewise.

[penelopesire]

How embarrasing...LOL! I almost feel sorry for him.

[pax_et_bonum]

Maybe it really was just bad weather they were referring to.

[youturn]

OK... I didn’t realize that such grills are quite that ubiquitous in Texas.

I don't think I know anyone without a BBQ grill. Pretty much everyone here (WV) has one too. I grill at least 3 times a week.

[Spktyr]

It’s not me speculating. From what I saw, visibility at the altitudes above the SAR choppers was pretty awful. I’m sure it was fog/rain/whatever.

Others were speculating because they thought “the government is hiding something”.

[pax_et_bonum]

I hope it really was fog.

There is usually an extreme amount of humidity after a hurricane.

[shield]

I watched the folks leaving and saw interviews of these people leaving knowing how unsafe west beach is...

Now we have a poster on these hurricane threads especially when it's coming our way...he has a place in San Luis Pass along with a beer joint...did he leave? He's the one I'm concerned about...

[LA Woman3]

Bolivar couple 'floated on staircases' to keep from drowning

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.”

[STARWISE]

I thought so ... good info. Thanks.
Glad you’re OK ... (SNL is doing their
hatchet job on Sarah)