"Yesterday, the Guard was very confident that they were doing a very solid “grid” search. They seemed to be working with FEMA, for sure. No idea of the others. It seems possible to me that though the game wardens interviewed were out of the loop, that they were unusual in being left out. So, this may have been a slip up, but not necessarily a big one."
There maybe some organization starting to come around, but from a conversation with a friend whose son is down there, it sounds like the game wardens took it upon themselves to start looking for survivors rather than waiting around for the bureaucrats to decide on a few things since time was becoming very critical (from the article below, sounds like FEMA and whoever else was involved weren't very organized if they were threatening to take the guys pickup - he was able to get the truck running with very few resources and then drive out while they had all the resources in the world and yet somehow had a hard time coming up with vehicles, even though there were tons of high-water vehicles around):
AP article:
"
GILCHRIST, Texas (AP) — Shell-shocked, hungry and still reeling from the loss of a woman who'd clung to rafters with him against the full fury of Hurricane Ike, Bobby Anderson limped off ravaged Bolivar Peninsula in a pickup truck reclaimed from the gulf.
"I'm hoping they find her alive or well," a dazed Anderson said Monday night after emerging from the darkness across the debris-littered road that led past rows of beach houses scoured clean by the storm.
Anderson refused to identify the woman swept away before his eyes when Ike raked this barrier island Saturday, except to say she was the girlfriend of a former employee. But he showed no such restraint when it came to his bitterness over a rescue that never happened and post-storm help that never came.
"What assistance?" the 56-year-old home designer and builder said from the cab of his battered black Chevy. "I mean, there's helicopters landing there every day. They don't bring food OR water. I mean, you know, old Gov. Rick (Perry) dropped the ball on this one."
For the past three days, Anderson and about 20 others "scattered here, there and yonder" in the communities of Crystal Beach and Port Bolivar have been sharing food and comfort, holding fast to what remains of their lives."
"During the next two days, he and others found refuge in wrecked homes, a school and even a Baptist church. They subsisted on whatever they found lying around: boiled shrimp from a freezer, uncooked hot dogs, leftover pizza and cashews.
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Anderson lost two vehicles in the storm, but he thought he could get an old pickup running.
"We had to take the starter off and get all the seashells and sand and everything out of it, and basically rebuild it the best we could," he said. Fortunately, one holdout had a battery charger and another had a generator to power it.
As he worked on the truck, he said he watched as search teams broke into storage sheds and "hot-wired" whatever equipment they could find. He said a man came up to him and threatened to commandeer the truck.
"They said they had the authority from President Bush to do what they want to do, to take anything they needed to get the job done," he said. "I didn't think it was supposed to be like this."
Anderson said he was able to keep the truck by telling searchers it wouldn't run.
At dusk Monday, Anderson hopped in the truck and set out for the mainland. Around 9 p.m., he encountered a state wildlife official escorting a group of reporters through Gilchrist's ruins.
Aaron Reed, a spokesman for Texas Parks and Wildlife, had seen the tearful Anderson the day after the storm. He gave the grizzled, disheveled survivor a case of water Monday night and told him of a place on nearby High Island where fellow holdouts were grilling food."
Resourceful guy, getting that truck up and running, and keeping it from being confiscated. Obviously he tried to leave a little too late, but not much you can do at that point.
Wow, that’s an amazing story! I’ve been wondering why we haven’t seen any video of rescues (aside from the footage of Friday’s rescues). Perhaps the rescues aren’t or weren’t happening? The media blackout makes it look like no one is being rescued. JMHO.