After spending two days trying to empty her island, Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas abruptly reversed herself and told residents, “Ya’ll come on home.” Well, she meant for only six hours, to “look and leave” but predictably, since she didn’t have the brains to establish a rotation or any other type of control, everyone tried to head home at once. There is now a two-mile long traffic jam on on I-45 (as of an hour ago) with residents trying to get to Galveston. TxDoT is not happy.

Our resources are not able to get through,” said TxDOT spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis. “We have National Guard sitting in traffic, we have our crews sitting in traffic, we have FEMA resources sitting in traffic.”

I’ve (mostly) been restraining myself from being overly negative about glitches and problems, because this is a huge, huge disaster and it’s not like we get to rehearse for things of this magnitude. I do not want to be “stuck on stupid” like certain members of the press. But this is just damn idiotic political fear–she’s probably afraid of the backlash from disgruntled homeowners.

But how many of the people who get home will refuse to leave? She was just getting her city emptied out, and now it’s going to fill right back up with people needing ice, water, and food. She’s going to end up forcing Governor Perry to declare martial law and send in the National Guard to remove people by force, if she’s not careful.

Update: And the comments are even stupider:

Lmaris wrote:
Why did it take 2+ days after the storm for these “emergency” vehicles/personnel to attempt to enter Galveston island?
why weren’t these items/people stationed closer to the area so it wouldn’t take days to arrive? How long are people expected to stay away from their homes in shelters that don’t have food or beds?

SomeDude713 wrote:
us dang helicopters!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not enough money to own? RENT!

You remember the good ol’ days where everyone helped themselves and didn’t sit around squalling that the gubbermint should have had food, water, and debit cards in their hands within hours?

EDIT: the remainder of this update really didn’t fit the original thrust of the article, so I’ve broken it off into the next post.

At this link. Pics are hard to understand because they haven’t been rotated to orient properly. Actually, top is north, but I think on closer look, these are satellite pics, not aerial. (Edited for spelling. Photography, not fonts…) (Edited again for spelling. Photography, not X-men characters.)

It does put that pile of rubble that used to be the Balinese Room (which every local and network reporter stands in front of for their stand-ups) into perspective, doesn’t it?

From Dr. Jeff Masters:

If you take a ferry from Galveston northeast across the Galveston Bay inlet, you arrive at the small town of Port Bolivar, which sits at the end of the 25 mile-long Bolivar Peninsula. Since the peninsula was situated on the right front side of Ike’s eye, it took the worst of the storm. The Hurricane Hunters measured 110 mph winds at the shore when Ike made landfall, and Ike’s highest storm surge hit the peninsula. The exact height of the storm surge is unknown, since there were no tide gauges there. Based on reports of a storm surge of 11 feet at Galveston Island and 13.5 feet at the Louisiana/Texas border, it is likely that storm surge heights along the Bolivar Peninsula were 15 feet or higher. Photos taken by the Coast Guard yesterday (Figure 2) of the Bolivar Peninsula show damage characteristic of a 15+ foot high storm surge–homes washed off their foundations and completely destroyed. The hurricane probably cut new channels through the peninsula, and it will be difficult for rescuers to reach the area.

Some have criticized the National Weather Service for overwarning, with their pronouncement of “certain death” for those who ignored evacuation orders. Well, I don’t think anyone in the Bolivar Peninsula will complain that they were overwarned. While death was not certain among those who weathered the storm in houses pulverized by the storm surge, it was probable. According to the New York Times, one Bolivar Peninsula resident was washed all the way across across Galveston Bay to the mainland after the storm surge destroyed his house and threw him into the water. A helicopter picked him up. So far, there are two confimed deaths on the peninsula, from the town of Port Bolivar. The peninsula had a population of 3,800, of which 500 did not evacuate. As many as 90 people were rescued from the peninsula in the hours leading up to the storm, but at least 400 people remained. Most of these people are as yet unaccounted for. According to news reports, 80% of the buildings on the peninsula were destroyed.

I’ve seen pictures taken by the Channel 11 and 13 helicopters flying by… assuming they were trying to find the worst areas to show, 80% is probably about right. And if that 15+ feet had been crammed into Galveston Bay, it would have been 18-22 feet, as predicted. In other words, neither the NWS, Brendan Loy, Eric Berger, myself, or anyone else who cried “wolf” was wrong. Ike went over the north end of the island, which as Eric pointed out, put the worst surge onto the Bolivar Peninsula-High Island area. Houston dodged the bullet, but Gilchrist and Crystal Beach were caught in front of a loaded cannon.

From the Chronicle:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged on Sunday that his team was “working feverishly” to get the centers open, even as Mayor Bill White expressed concern over how long the process was taking.

“If they fulfill these commitments in the coming week, on a reasonable timetable and not a bureaucratic timetable, then they’ll get high marks,” White said. “And if they don’t, they’ll get low marks.”

FEMA officials responded that setting up the centers was contingent on assurances that city workers would be on hand to staff them.

They just went around my office looking for volunteers to work 6-8 hour shifts handing out food and water, meaning the city is trying to find the people to staff those centers. Probably a third of our staff is missing; many of those here today do not have electricity at home yet. Not finding many takers. (No word on whether it’s paid city time or a true volunteer work. For reasons of physical limitations, I declined. I’m one of the lucky ones, and we are taking care of friends/family who need to wash clothes etc.)

FEMA, as was repeated endlessely after Katrina, is a managment agency. It’s j0b is to coordinate everyone else; it’s not a primary responder itself. In other words, by the intent of the design, it’s the city that has fallen through here. Given that city employees are among the lowest paid, and therefore have fewer personal resources to meet this great of a challenge (I’m a major exception in terms of preparedness, but then, I have no expensive children), they are natrually more likely to be among those needing help and support rather than those able to give it.

Just another way that shortchanging city employees shortchanges their city.

The city’s 311 service line this morning was back in operation, with at least 40 lines up and running.

Not exactly. The truth is, 311 calls been diverted to Utility Customer Service, whose employees are not trained (or were, once for a few hours, two years ag0) in the software used by 311. It’s not easy or intuitive, and they have no experience in it. Expect problems — and why the hell isn’t the actual 311 center up? It was supposed to be disaster-hardened.

I notice a trend in the viewer comments at the Chronicle: whiners get voted down, positive and sensible messages are getting voted up. Bush-bashing is only 40-60 thumbs-down, but then BDS is a chronic disease…

The press is going out of it’s way to pick fights with Centerpoint, Governor Perry, FEMA, and whomever else they can over the most trivial stuff. And what’s with Lampson bloviating over random glitches? Get real, people. There’s probably 20 or 30 agencies out there; the Army, Navy, Air Force recon, Coast Guard, FEMA, EPA, Tx DPS, other state agencies, local agencies, groups on loan from other states… you know, I might be a little conservative with that count if I toss in Centerpoint/utilities, Red Cross…

Glitches? It’s a miracle of organization that anyone even knows who all the players are. The press is trying to dig themselves a hole…or pander to the useless drones who just want to sit around and whine… but what the hey, we elected those drones. 🙂

Then there’s the people wanting to know when they’re going to get an express delivery of ice or water to their door.

Praise Centerpoint and press the power switch! Electricity restored about 9:30 am at my house. Still the odd million or so without power out there so I’m very lucky. No damage to the house, everyone’s fine, Redneck Guy & family came through too.

Exhausted. Fixing lunch, more thoughts and recap of experiences later.

Update: Hurricanes are exhausting. Centerpoint just become my favorite company ever by getting power back on here this morning. I’m fortunate, in that this area was first built out about 35 years ago, and then underwent a recent growth spurt; it has mostly underground power and communications lines. The older neighborhoods in town are not so fortunate; they’ll be a long time getting power.

Random impressions and what not: All of Galveston island went under water from what I’ve heard. Several historic buildings damaged or demolished. The Strand; a historic district with 1890’s era buildings (and a tourist site), went under several feet of water. Heard some tales of harrowing escapes from flooded houses; there is no doubt bodies will be found. (SAR people working on rescue now, recovery later.) Across the bay to the north, the Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach, and High Island…. everythings gone. Not damaged, gone. There were once dozens of beach houses on stilts there, and the area had several canals dug so that even houses 3 and 4 rows back from the beach could have docks for their boats. The occasional lonely piling is still sticking up, plus one very incongruous house that somehow survived. Other than that, water and the occasional bit of greenery. It appears that a historic “iron lighthouse” is gone; the media chopper couldn’t find it.

Memorial Hermman hospital system had 9 of 12 hospitals on generators. Downtown is closed; there doesn’t appear to be a building left with windows (well, if there were, the media choppers didn’t show them, but then they wouldn’t, would they?). Before the hurricane hit, the word was “oh, all the damage from Alicia was due to gravel roofs, but we changed the building codes there, so it’s not a problem this time.” I just laughed. Sure, the new buildings didn’t have gravel roofs. City employees working for the 311 system were supposed to report at 6am this morning. As of 11 a.m, the system still wasn’t up; supposedly a hardware system. The mayor foolishly said for emergency out of water situations, call 911. He didn’t make that clear enough, so of course the 911 system then got jammed. At least one lady called in to a local TV station to report flooding in her neighborhood and ask for help, since she couldn’t get through to 911. Later Mayor White came back on and explained that only assisted living facilities that had no water should use 911; everyone else wait on 311 to come up. Note that there are 1200 OTHER water districts in Harris County — so what happened was that residents from all those districts were calling the city’s 911. People’s grasp of the basics, or lack thereof, never ceases to amaze me. And the mayor’s grasp of people is about the same, it seems.

8-10″ of rain from Ike’s long tail this morning; a few bayous came out of bank and some freeways flooded, catching people unexpectedly. Very, very, very few stores open, all had long lines of people wanting ice or water. Few reports of fatalities yet, but 30+ people treated for carbon monoxide poisoning due to lack of common sense with their generators. One fatality from a fire started from a candle. Some looting; an HISD officer was quoted as saying some of the schools were suffering break-ins; thieves going after computers. Several hundred rescues since yesterday, but nothing like the thousands after Katrina.

Lots of roof damage (shingles & tar paper) to all the new condo’s near downtown. Why does a major city sitting on a hurricane-prone coast NOT have better building codes for roofing? This stuff often pulls loose with nails, which then become hazards in the street.

Football on TV? It’s Sunday? Weird. I remember Thursday, and sorta Friday, then it gets kinda blurry.

Clear Creek at I-45, out of bank.

Can’t stay up long enough to post much info. Should have gotten a UPS.