Texas officials: It's too late to get out (20000+ still on island)

Texas officials: It's too late to get out (20000+ still on island)

www.kxan.com

Galveston had ordered evacuation of the island, but LeBlanc said about 40 percent of the city's 57,523 residents chose to stay. "It's unfortunate that the warnings that we sent out were not heeded," he said.

-- As Galveston's west end was deluged Friday, Houston officials warned residents to stay put because it was no longer safe to try to escape Hurricane Ike.

Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc warned that the worst was still to come.

"The island is flooding pretty severely right now," he said. "The west end is being torn up, pretty severely."

The Category 2 storm had 105 mph winds as of 5 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday near Galveston, and by that time may have strengthened to a Category 3, forecasters say

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
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No one has specifically said this.. but if the whole island is going to go under water and the warnings are that you will face certain death if you stay... then with 20000 plus people on the island and a history.. the worst US weather related disaster ever with between 6000 and 8000 people dying in 1900.. is anyone else not thinking that the death toll will be in the thousands... I hope I am wrong.. but I just think it is going to be bad.. This worst part is the parents that have kids staying there...

www.kxan.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by ats1629


No one has specifically said this.. but if the whole island is going to go under water and the warnings are that you will face certain death if you stay... then with 20000 plus people on the island and a history.. the worst US weather related disaster ever with between 6000 and 8000 people dying in 1900.. is anyone else not thinking that the death toll will be in the thousands... I hope I am wrong..

That is something I was thinking about too. Hopefully it wont be that bad. The hurricane of 1900 was a category 4 and last I heard Ike is still at category 2 so mabye it wont be that bad.

Staying there is absolutley stupid though, imo. But in all fairness I suppose alot of people have some personal reasons for staying.

Im from north Texas and my local news stations are covering the hurricane. They interviewed this old man who refused to leave because his wife just died recently and I got the feeling that he just didnt really care that much anymore. The guy lives right on the beach too...very sad.



on a side note, The news just said that the eye is 70 miles off the coast and there are numerous tornado warnings for south texas. Power is apparently out in most if not all of galveston. The sea wall out there was built after the 1900 hurricane. It is 17 feet above sea level. The water has been level with the top of the sea wall all day. Now its even higher.

[edit on 12-9-2008 by gimme_some_truth]

For anyone who is curious here are a few websites tracking hurricane Ike.

cbs11tv.com...

www.goes.noaa.gov...

www.stormpulse.com...

Well they had plenty of warning. I know if something like this was coming at me, I'd get the hell out of town.

The Ike discussion is over here guys


www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am scared that many of the 1 million plus that did choose to evacuate will be killed if the highways flood over, too.

Originally posted by mrwupy
Well they had plenty of warning. I know if something like this was coming at me, I'd get the hell out of town.

Yeah thats another thing. In 1900 they had almost no warning at all. They had heard the day before some incorrect info stating that it was curving away.

They didnt have sophisticated tracking equipment at all and were 100% unprepared.

You are right. The people who stayed behind this time around had plenty of warning.

Originally posted by Tuebor
The Ike discussion is over here guys


www.abovetopsecret.com...

Im going to make the arguement that this thread is not about Hurricane Ike. Its about the people who are now trapped in galveston BECAUSE of hurricane Ike.

Of course thats more up for the mods to decide. Yeah mods!

Blame Galveston officials.

We've known Ike was going to jack up Galveston for days now. 48 hours ago Galveston mayor Lyda Ann Thomas refused to issue a mandatory evacuation for anything but the lightly populated west side of the island.
She downplayed the storm and said evacuation would be "impossible."

Because of her blase attitude, residents didn't then and haven't until the last few hours understood the destruction that will take place tonight.

It wasn't too late to evacuate the Island first thing Thursday AM, but right now it sure is. The whole island will be underwater in less than 8 hours.

Originally posted by ats1629


No one has specifically said this.. but if the whole island is going to go under water and the warnings are that you will face certain death if you stay... then with 20000 plus people on the island and a history.. the worst US weather related disaster ever with between 6000 and 8000 people dying in 1900.. is anyone else not thinking that the death toll will be in the thousands... I hope I am wrong.. but I just think it is going to be bad.. This worst part is the parents that have kids staying there...

www.kxan.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah, I'm expecting the death toll to be in the thousands. 5$ says the democrats try to pin it on Bush/Republicans to try and capitalize off of it politically in November.

Some of the people that remained behind did so because they had no way to get out such as the elderly and disabled. I feel sorry for them and that God will take care of them. But for those that stayed simply because they were stubborn...to hell with them indeed! They obviously had no concern for the lives of the rescuers that are going to be expected to go save their hides so let them fend for themselves.

reply to post by anachryon
I'm sorry, but blaming gov officials isn't the proper response here. These folks have had plenty of time and notice of the storm to come. Individual responsibility here is the story. Folks choose to stay, so be it. If they meet their maker it will be their fault and their fault alone.

Originally posted by anachryon
Blame Galveston officials.

We've known Ike was going to jack up Galveston for days now. 48 hours ago Galveston mayor Lyda Ann Thomas refused to issue a mandatory evacuation for anything but the lightly populated west side of the island.
She downplayed the storm and said evacuation would be "impossible."

Because of her blase attitude, residents didn't then and haven't until the last few hours understood the destruction that will take place tonight.

It wasn't too late to evacuate the Island first thing Thursday AM, but right now it sure is. The whole island will be underwater in less than 8 hours.

Something you may have forgotten is that this is a free country and the citizens of Galveston were free to leave anytime. Even without a mandaory evacuation order. It seems that 60 % did leave. Most of the 40% stayed because they wanted too.

If I was afraid for my life I wouldnt wait for the government to tell me to leave. If I did I would die for sure

You can blame the government but its pointless if you ask me. My own personal safety is up to no one else but me. I would have left along time ago with or without a mandatory evacuation.

On a side note, in a mandatory evacuation your still not forced to leave. it just meants that your on your own if you dont.

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
You can blame the government but its pointless if you ask me. My own personal safety is up to no one else but me. I would have left along time ago with or without a mandatory evacuation.

On a side note, in a mandatory evacuation your still not forced to leave. it just meants that your on your own if you dont.

In a mandatory evacuation, these people would not be at risk of losing their jobs for evacuating. Prior to Lyda getting her butt in gear, UTMB was refusing to allow employees to take time off work to evacuate under threat of termination. Many other smaller employers in the area held the same Sword of Damocles over their employees' heads. I heard from a construction worker in a surge zone who was panicking because he desperately wanted to leave, but could not afford to be fired from his job for doing so.

Yeah, you can be legally fired for evacuating in the face of a hurricane, unless a mandatory evacuation has been called.

Combine being faced with losing your job with the local emergency officials you're supposed to trust (I don't care if YOU don't trust the gov't or if I don't trust the gov't, we're talking average Joes with average jobs living average lives here) downplaying the storm two days before landfall and it's no surprise so many people stayed.

Yeah, I blame Lyda and her incompetent crew for what will happen in Galveston just as much as I blame the idiots who are choosing to ride it out. Some know what's coming, but many don't know any better.

Only in Amerca!

This has the potential to be the biggest Darwin Award candidacy in history.

You have got to admire their courage, we will say as they slip beneath the waves.


I find it hard to believe that many people can fail to comprehend that the power of nature can be beyond the capacity of any human being to withstand.

Originally posted by anachryon

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
You can blame the government but its pointless if you ask me. My own personal safety is up to no one else but me. I would have left along time ago with or without a mandatory evacuation.

On a side note, in a mandatory evacuation your still not forced to leave. it just meants that your on your own if you dont.

In a mandatory evacuation, these people would not be at risk of losing their jobs for evacuating. Prior to Lyda getting her butt in gear, UTMB was refusing to allow employees to take time off work to evacuate under threat of termination. Many other smaller employers in the area held the same Sword of Damocles over their employees' heads. I heard from a construction worker in a surge zone who was panicking because he desperately wanted to leave, but could not afford to be fired from his job for doing so.

Yeah, you can be legally fired for evacuating in the face of a hurricane, unless a mandatory evacuation has been called.

Combine being faced with losing your job with the local emergency officials you're supposed to trust (I don't care if YOU don't trust the gov't or if I don't trust the gov't, we're talking average Joes with average jobs living average lives here) downplaying the storm two days before landfall and it's no surprise so many people stayed.

Yeah, I blame Lyda and her incompetent crew for what will happen in Galveston just as much as I blame the idiots who are choosing to ride it out. Some know what's coming, but many don't know any better.

I cant speak for everyone but Id rather be alive and fired than dead and employed....To be honest if I was faced with that choice I would just quit. They can do their own thing. Like I said, my own personal safety is up to noone but me. If saving my life means losing my job than so be it.

I have a feeling numbers and sources of data are confusing Galeston Island with Galveston City. One is obviously an island the the other is a inland. I think the 20,000 hardcores are probably inland and the island has been deserted. These are Texans who aren't stupid. Maybe I'm wrong. But I find it really hard to believe tens of thousands of local islanders and hunkered down after media has been reporting this for over a week.

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
I cant speak for everyone but Id rather be alive and fired than dead and employed....To be honest if I was faced with that choice I would just quit. They can do their own thing. Like I said, my own personal safety is up to noone but me. If saving my life means losing my job than so be it.

The Galveston mayor told her constituents that their lives were not at risk 2 days ago.
Try and put yourself in the shoes of the average Joe. If your emergency officials tell you you're not in danger because Ike is "only" a category 2 storm, the average Joe is going to believe them. Couple that with the threat of losing your job, and people will follow the Mayor's initial advice to "shelter in place."

I don't know how I can make this any more clear to you. The mayor has a responsibility to the people of Galveston and she has failed them.

lets all hope thay all are ok! people can decide to go or stay but thare kids dont have that choice.thay have to stay if thare parents chose so. being a parent it really saddens me to even think about how many kids are in harms way my heart is out to them all!

Originally posted by Tuebor
I have a feeling numbers and sources of data are confusing Galeston Island with Galveston City. One is obviously an island the the other is a inland. I think the 20,000 hardcores are probably inland and the island has been deserted. These are Texans who aren't stupid. Maybe I'm wrong. But I find it really hard to believe tens of thousands of local islanders and hunkered down after media has been reporting this for over a week.

I must be misreading what your saying. galveston city is on galveston island last time I checked. Here is a link to google maps that will show you where galveston is. Feel free to check it out. zoom in so you can see it the island.

maps.google.com...

unless for some odd reason you are reffering to Gavleston, cass, Indiana

maps.google.com...


Like I said, I must be misreading your post. If you dont mind could you please carify what you mean?

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