GALVESTON — Despite a mandatory evacuation and ominous forecasts of a killer storm, police, firefighters and the Galveston Beach Patrol rescued dozens of residents Friday from the rising tides brought on by Hurricane Ike as it bears down on Galveston Island. Many had stayed on the island through numerous other hurricanes and were surprised by the height of the tidal surge. City officials estimated that as many as 40 percent of the island’s about 60,000 residents remained in their homes.
Good Lord. That’s twice what I expected. If that proportion is the same for for zones A and B (areas that “never flood”)…
US Census: Galveston county popuation, 283,551, for both island and mainland. Clear lake is 65k. Power’s getting iffy again, can’t research more.
Toss in southern Harris county near the bay, Chambers county and so on, if that % holds true, there could be 300,000-500,000 people at risk.