14 September 2008
Warning: What follows is a long-winded commentary having nothing whatsoever to do with the above photo. For those dear friends who just don’t feel like reading another rant by MaritaBeth, please know that I forgive you. 
Feel free to skip to the very end of this post and just read the last paragraph. But, if you take the time to read the whole thing, I’d love to hear your points of view! Please comment!
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Yesterday, I wrote that the storm (Hurricane Ike) didn’t seem to have been as bad as we’d feared it would be. That may be true. And, since most of our friends were far enough north and/or west, or had evacuated to even safer spots, our friends seem to be fine. Many without power, some downed limbs, and one house now in need of new shingles, but the people are fine. Even at TRF, all seems to be well. I will continue to check in on folks I haven’t heard from yet, but so far we are thankful.
Our beloved Galveston Island itself, however, does not seem to have fared so well. I have been trying to find everything I can possibly read regarding the damage there, and the current conditions. It seems that more than two thousand people defied evacuation orders and are now needing to be removed from the island. Most of those no longer have transportation of their own, so it falls to the Red Cross, FEMA, and other volunteer organizations and emergency services to help these folks. It is good that such organizations exist to help. It seems ridiculous to me, however, that they must use their energies and resources to now help those who didn’t bother to help themselves last Thursday and Friday. <sigh>
I read that over forty structures in Galveston are no more. We know of the loss of restaurants, shoppes and at least one hotel out on the seawall. Kyle saw one heartwrenching photo of the remaining corner of an older home—the corner where the 1900 Storm Survivor placque was mounted. One Flickr photographer has a couple of photos of the historic Strand about four feet under water, and that was from Friday! I’m still trying to track down information about other parts of Historic Galveston, and of course, the Tremont Hotel in particular.
What we do know, is that it will be quite some time before things can return to any semblance of normal, there. Storm damage to city infrastructure is severe—there is no power, no water, no sewage. That means, of course, that the area is basically uninhabitable. Those crazy enough to try to stay have already and will continue to place themselves and those who will eventually have to rescue them, in danger of injury and disease.
I don’t get it.
Many who know me well, will remember that I have always had a very healthy fear of earthquakes. (I know, this seems non-sequitor, but bear with me.) Earthquakes petrify me, mostly because with our current technology, we are almost helpless to forecast them. I know the experts are working on this, but basically, if you live in a zone where fault lines and seismic activity are commonplace, you simply never know when it’s going to happen. And for all of my lifetime, we’ve been half expecting “the big one” that causes most of California to fall into the ocean. That scares me to death—no warning, just instant ocean-front property in Arizona!
In the process of explaining (or justifying) my fear, I’ve always pointed to hurricanes as natural disasters you can “live with.” I grew up in the northeast, where although fewer than here near the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes were a potential part of summer. You learned how to put away lawn ornaments and furniture, take down awnings, even board up windows. You knew “what to do.” And here in Texas, where almost every season seems to bring a good scare or two, its even more accepted that we get warning, and we can prepare. Sure, we never know exactly what Mother Nature is going to throw at us, but we have a pretty good idea, thanks to the folks at NOAA, and decades worth of experience. We know sometimes weeks in advance that there’s a potential threat. We can watch the tropical storm via satellite, see what it does in the Caribbean, and mentally prepare. Then, the experts create charts and graphs and maps that tell us what the storm will likely do. We have time to board up windows, move furniture to higher ground, and make travel plans! Then, ultimately, we have time to save ourselves, if not our property.
How ignorant does a person have to be, to ignore all those warnings? How selfish does a human have to be to place the lives of his pets and even his children in danger due to his own stubbornness? Nowhere to go? That’s what the Red Cross would rather do—provide shelters and food and clothing for those displaced. If they could concentrate their energies there, and not have to spend as much time and money rescuing those who didn’t bother to heed the warnings . . . . GRRRR! It makes me crazy!
I read one article this morning, where someone who was just now leaving Galveston, was quoted as saying, “next time they should warn us about this, not about the storm.” She was referring to the lack of city services, the sewage in the streets, the decaying food, the smell . . . where has she been? I saw and heard and read many a warning, that the aftermath of the storm would be just as bad or worse for people, than the storm itself. And really, how much intelligence does it take to know what’s at stake?
Did I mention, I don’t get it?
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Addendum: I know I’m not alone. Here is a very nice article on an MSNBC Blog by journalist Mark Potter. In case my link isn’t permanent and you later have to search archives: the name of the article is “Hard Lessons in Hurricane’s Aftermath.”
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My photo today is of Kyle at the Scarborough Renaissance Festival site. He’s sketching the back of our East Wind Games booth, so that we can get serious about our plans to do some needed booth improvements. We took a bunch of measurements, and now have an updated picture in our heads on which to base our plans.
~MB
I found this story, it has a rundown of the damage (or lack of damage) to several historical buildings:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6003355.html
I agree with you MaritaBeth. I was far enough north and west that I decided to stay to help Gary. We were well out of the mandatory evac area but I still did all the necessary things, Filled the tub with water we had about 6 gallons of drinking water for us and the pets, secured the windows and one or the other of us stayed up to listen for Tornadoes. However had I been in the mandatory evac I would have been gone. Items aren’t worth my life or that of my loved ones(that includes the four legged ones). I guess the lady you spoke of was less than 3 years old as everything she is experiencing, they talked about after Katrina. *HUG* you have at least one more on your side of the argument.
And I am Scared to death of Tornados, for the very reason you state for Earthquakes you can’t predict them. You can be given slight warning but some you get none. Hurricanes you can get out of the way of.
Thank you, Starr, for the Chronicle article regarding the Galveston Historical Foundation property losses from Hurricane Ike. I hadn’t found that one, yet. I have now copied it into a Word doc in case the link goes away and anyone wants the info later.
And, thank you, Angie, for sharing your thoughts on my post. I realize my opinions might be a bit, um . . . controversial, and I was getting a little worried that I’d offended folks.
I am a lover of conversation and debate, so I am sincerely interested in the opinions of others, whether they differ from mine, or not.
Thanks for tossing into the mix!
~MB
MB, Please forgive my rant here. I think mostly you are correct but I think there is a few things that perhaps only those involved can realized. But before that, let me address Galveston and area.
It will live on! It will rebuild! It will be better! It will NEVER be the same!
That is a group of very strange feelings for me considering I grew up on Bolivar and my Mom is BOI (born on island). The fact is that Galveston and Bolivar are very special places (just like a lot of places) and people love living and visiting there. As long as folks like you and I and millions of others are willing, it will remain a special place.
As for the Island. Local news is reporting that it will be at least a month before power is restored completely. They have even evacuated UTMB and there are NO services of any kind. They attempted a “look and leave” today but were so overwhelmed that they have decided that they cannot do that again.
As for the strand and area there was a lot of water damage but it appears that the surge was broken up enough that most of the buildings are OK. I wouldn’t count on Dickens this year, however. Bolivar is another thing…
Now for the rant…
As for why people didn’t leave… I’m with you that it frustrates me beyond belief that people don’t heed the warnings. I think most of those that didn’t were not around for Alicia or even some of the other “minor” storms . If they were, I think they would have at least been prepared, if not evacuated. I think a lot of people listened to the fact that it was “just” a category 2, which have blown through here plenty of times with minor damage— but this was an odd storm. It was a category 4 surge which the experts didn’t think was possible with only category 2 winds. In a lot of ways it was a perfect storm. It was the storm that they have warned about here ever since I can remember. They did warn folks about 15+ foot storm surge but I honestly don’t think folks understood what that meant. That does not mean these folks are not fools for ignoring the mandatory evacuation order, but I can see their mentality. These folks LOVE where they live and wanted to protect it above all else. Unfortunately in the past when folks have left they have come back to houses that have been robbed and they didn’t want that to happen again. Foolish yes, but understandable. Does that mean they have to pay the ultimate price? This is where people live, this is their memories, this is their entire lives. Some would rather die than leave and some did. Imagine if someone knocked on your door right now and told you that you must leave and that you may never be able to come back.
As for further inland, my parents for example, were told NOT to evacuate, even though their neighborhood bordered the mandatory evacuation area. They were told this in order to keep the roads and resources available for those that needed to get out. Why am I telling you this, because I have seen many articles and comments on blogs wondering why anyone would even live in a hurricane zone much less stay when they know one is headed there. Folks were downright mad because the refineries had to shut down for a few days and their gas prices went up.
I know that this is a bit much and I’m sure it is just the emotion of everything that I have seen and felt over the last 4 days, but I can only say what I feel and I was absolutely sick for not being here during the storm just because I thought I might be able to help the place of my birth and the place of all my memories growing up. I’m glad more people did not stay and are alive to help the recovery, but I can certainly understand why some folks did.
My good friend, Terrill, who wrote the above comment, lost his family beach house on Bolivar.
This page shows some of the remarkable damage sustained on Bolivar peninsula during Ike in a before & after series of photos. I am sorry for the loss of property that everyone sustained, but thankful beyond belief that lives lost was minimal.
~KR
My sincerest thanks to Terrill for his insightful comments above. I had already written my post for Monday, clarifying my thoughts on a lot of this, when Terrill’s comments came through. I hope I’ve made my frustrations more understandable. My beef isn’t with the responsible folks who were prepared to stay—-it was with those who were clueless and then after staying, simultaneously want the system to both rescue them, and take the blame! I never meant to show a lack of compassion for those in a position to have to struggle with a very difficult decision. I know I cannot truly imagine what it would be like to have to leave my home, possibly forever, with only what would fit in the truck! I know it would put even my expert packing skills to the test! And it would be heartbreaking, to say the least.
But, staying and putting my life in danger, would not save the library, or the CD collection, or the decades of family photos, or the irreplaceable collectibles and art pieces that make our house our home. Theft and looting are real dangers, I know, but are they dangers worse than the threat of an untimely and tragic death? I guess that’s a personal choice each individual person must make.
What I do know is that Terrill is right—the devastated areas will recover, will rebuild and will live on. And they will never really be the same. And, I know that I’m glad Terrill *wasn’t* there during the storm. He was safe, instead, and he was able to gather supplies and make the trip back down there to help with clean-up and recovery. Under these circumstances, I think no matter what choices folks make, they will second guess themselves and play “what if” games. If he’d stayed, he’d likely be just one more person wishing for water or ice or gasoline or dry towels or clean clothes. Or worse.
Terrill, I’m so sorry for your family’s loss—and so grateful that you and all your people are safe.
~MB