GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A Galveston boat and yacht repair warehouse has been destroyed by flames because the streets were too flooded by Hurricane Ike for fire trucks to reach it.
Galveston Fire Chief Michael Varela said Friday he doesn't think anyone was inside the warehouse. The area was under a mandatory evacuation order, and the hurricane already was slamming the coast with wind and rain.
Early storm surge flooded the streets with at least 8 feet of water. Varela said firefighters got to within two blocks of the blaze before having to turn around.
What do you think?
I’ve been using my WeatherBug travel forecast option to track wind speed. I just typed in 77550 (for the zip of Seawall Boulevard in Galveston) and you can keep clicking through a range of local weather stations between there and Houston. Wind gusts are up around 90 mph at several of these locations, most notably the observatory at the University of Houston. Wow, this is awful...thankfully, our area’s locations are reporting only 38 mph at the moment.