Before we forget and this slides off the front page...
First-hand account of the destruction of Galveston Island by Hurricane Ike
The following is a first-hand account of the destruction of Galveston Island by Hurricane Ike by Mark Collette, former Tyler Paper reporter, who lives there with his wife, Rhiannon Meyers, also a former Tyler Paper reporter and now a reporter for the Galveston County Daily News.
Collette sent an e-mail, from which this information was included, to let friends and family know they are doing fine.
"The island, as a whole, looks like a war zone. The structures that weren’t destroyed have been ruined by water. Fire destroyed at least 17 buildings. One entire apartment building collapsed."
"Every structure built over the water in front of the Seawall was destroyed and left little trace, except for the Flagship Hotel, which was severely damaged and separated from the island."
"Some people are believed to still be inside but cannot be reached immediately because the pilings on the building were damaged, so a helicopter can’t land on top."
"Much if not most of the property on the Bolivar Peninsula is now debris. Homes on the West End of Galveston Island that used to be behind the dunes are now over open water. The Seawall was covered in chunks of concrete that weigh hundreds of pounds."
"Authorities are still in search-and-rescue mode. About 24,000 people didn’t heed evacuation orders. Rescuers are leaving the dead in houses and moving on to look for the living.
"Unlike in New Orleans after Katrina, they are not spray painting a giant "X" on a building when they find bodies. Instead, they are putting discrete stickers on the buildings. On the one hand, government officials seem to be trying to keep the media from portraying the true extent of the disaster, but on the other hand officers are tipping off reporters about deaths and rescues."
Rhiannon said the amount of buildings reduced to rubble suggests that more bodies will be found and the magnitude of the disaster will become clearer in the coming days. A couple thousand have probably been rescued, a couple thousand have left the island on buses since the storm. Thankfully, for those who remain, the government has arrived with food, water and ice, and the weather has cooled so that people can stay comfortable just with open windows.
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The walls in our apartment that are parallel to the Seawall had watermarks as high as three feet, suggesting that waves rolled through the building somehow, even though the windows didn’t break. Rhiannon said the smell is awful. But we have renter’s insurance, and I took all the photos and most of the other keepsakes with me when I evacuated.
