Mother Nature can be brutal... (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

I know you East Coast guys dodged a scare this week...

I have a couple of friends up there that I talk to regularly...

I'm really glad it turned out to be nothing much...

Mother Nature can be brutal and she should not be taken for granted...

I live in Galveston...and we still have not fully recovered since Hurricane Ike...

Hurricane Ike was the third costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States...

It was a massive system... almost as big as the state of Texas...

Hurricane-force winds extended 120 miles from the center...

As it neared landfall, Ike became the largest Atlantic tropical cyclone in recorded history on September 11, 2008 - measuring 900 miles in diameter...

Due to its immense size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to Corpus Christi, Texas...

In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida Panhandle...

Damages from Ike in U.S. coastal and inland areas are estimated at $29.6 billion...

Ike was blamed for at least 195 deaths...

Ike made its final landfall near Galveston, Texas as a strong Category 2 hurricane, with Category 5 equivalent storm surge, on Sept. 13, 2008, at 2:10 a.m. CDT...

Here are some radar pictures of it...this was an unreal monstrous system...I'm going to post some pictures of the damage Hurricane Ike did to my home and my city...they are pretty interesting...

look at the size of this system compared to the state of Texas...

I currently live on Galveston Island...I have lived here for 54 years...

 

[mikemiller1955]

THE 1900 STORM...

Galveston Island is no stranger to hurricanes...

long before hurricanes were named...

in 1900, the island was struck by a devastating hurricane...

simply dubbed by locals...the 1900 Storm (even post-Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans), this event holds the record as the United States' deadliest natural disaster...

The city was devastated, causing great loss of life with the estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 individuals, the number most cited in official reports is 8,000...

The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900.

It had estimated winds of 135 miles per hour at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

At the time of the 1900 storm the highest point in the city of Galveston was only 8.7 feet above sea level.
The hurricane had brought with it a storm surge of over 15 feet, which washed over the entire island.

The surge knocked buildings off their foundations and the surf pounded them to pieces. Over 3,600 homes were destroyed and a wall of debris faced the ocean. The few buildings which survived, mostly solidly built mansions and houses along the Strand District, are today maintained as tourist attractions.

Here are some pictures I found on the Internet...

 

[mikemiller1955]

Here's a few more...

As severe as the damage to the city’s buildings was, the human toll was even greater. Because of the destruction of the bridges to the mainland and the telegraph lines, Galveston was cut off to the world...no word of the city’s destruction was able to reach the mainland...the Island was isolated and devastated...in dire need of help...

Galveston is an Island...approximately 32 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide off the coast of Texas...50 miles south of Houston...

The citizens of Houston knew a powerful storm had blown through and had made ready to provide assistance. Workers set out by rail and ship for the island almost immediately...

Rescuers arrived to find the city completely destroyed...

It is believed 8,000 people—20% of the island’s population—had lost their lives. Estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000...

Most had drowned or been crushed as the waves pounded the debris that had been their homes hours earlier. Many survived the storm itself but died after several days trapped under the wreckage of the city, with rescuers unable to reach them...

The rescuers could hear the screams of the survivors as they walked on the debris trying to rescue those they could. A further 30,000 were left homeless...

So many died...that corpses were piled onto carts for burial at sea. The dead bodies were so numerous that burying them all was not possible...

The dead were initially dumped at sea, but a grizzly sight appeared when the gulf currents washed the bodies back onto the beach, a new solution was needed...

Funeral pyres were set up wherever the dead were found and burned for weeks after the storm...

To deal with this "untasty" work of the now severely decomposed bodies...the authorities passed out free bottles of whiskey to most of the men in the salvage work crews that were having to throw the bodies of their wives and children or other friends and relatives on the burn piles. I have read numerous accounts of "blacks" being forced at gunpoint to do this work...

More people were killed in this single storm than the total of those killed in all the tropical cyclones that have struck the United States since. This count is greater than 300 cyclones, as of 2009. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history...

 

[mikemiller1955]

PROTECTION...THE SEAWALL

To prevent future storms from causing destruction and loss of life like that of the 1900 Storm, many improvements to the island were started immediately...

A 17 foot high concrete seawall was constructed to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico...covering the south side of the Island...this Seawall would protect the citizens from waves and surge from the Gulf itself...

beginning in the most populated residential and commercial areas first...it was extended to cover 10 miles of the south side of Galveston Island which faced the Gulf of Mexico...

Also...a team of engineers designed the plan to raise much of the existing city to a sufficient elevation behind the seawall so that confidence in the city could be maintained...

This was accomplished by dredging dirt from the Gulf of Mexico onto the Island...to raise the elevation of the Island itself...

The dredged sand was used to raise the city of Galveston by as much as 17 feet above its previous elevation. Over 2,100 buildings were raised in the process, including the 3,000-ton St. Patrick’s Church.

In 1915, a storm similar in strength and track to the 1900 Storm struck Galveston again. The 1915 storm brought a 12-foot storm surge which tested the new seawall. Although 275 people on Galveston Island lost their lives in the 1915 storm, this was a great reduction from the thousands that died in 1900...

Historiographically...the hurricane and the rebuilding afterward divide what is known as the Golden Era (1875–1900) from the Open Era (1920–1957) of Galveston.

The most important long-term impact of the hurricane was to confirm fears that Galveston was a dangerous place to make major investments in shipping and manufacturing operations; the economy of the Golden Era was no longer possible as investors fled.

In 1920, Prohibition and lax law enforcement opened up new opportunities for criminal enterprises related to gambling and bootlegging in the city.

Galveston rapidly became a prime resort destination enabled by the open vice businesses on the island.

This new entertainment-based economy brought decades long prosperity to the island.

Here are some past and current pictures of the Seawall and beaches...today the open beaches are a major tourist draw...Galveston has not been affected by the recent oil spill on our beaches...

 

[marco55]

That was really something.Those poor people didn't know what hit them.Mike did you have any relatives living there at that time?
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

In my lifetime...I have been through a few storms and hurricanes...

I have learned...it is better to board up and leave...than to get stuck...

I owned a restaurant for 27 years...it was our policy to close at the first sign and employees were given instructions to return afterwards...if they could...

in any mildly destructive storm...the wind is what eventually gets you...sustained winds and gusts...Mother Nature is brutal...

during or in the aftermath...you usually lose your power...potable water may become scarce...gasoline runs out quickly...food outlets may not reopen immediately...long lines everywhere...your icebox food will spoil quickly...

hurricane season is always in the heat of the summer...and you can be sure your air conditioner will have no power...

the simple things you take for granted... like a telephone...they disappear when your land line is down and your cell phone loses it's charge...

ice cubes are a luxury...just to mention a few inconveniences...

I have grown a very healthy respect for storms...

I installed electric shutters on three sides of my house...very expensive...but also for burglars too...I sleep very well at night...

when it's time to go...I electrically close all my blinds...and board up the 4 arched windows in front of my house with pre-cut sheets of plywood that sits and waits in my garage waiting for their call...

I treat serious hurricanes like a vacation and pray my house escapes any serious damage...

we rode out a couple of small ones as kids...but I don't recommend it...anything over 90 miles an hour and I'm leaving...

I was 6 years old when Carla hit...we went to Temple, Texas...

Hurricane Carla, September 10. 1961:

Carla was the largest and most intense Gulf Coast hurricane in decades. On September 8, Carla's center took aim at the Texas coast. By the 9th, Carla's circulation enveloped the entire Gulf of Mexico with fringe effects along all Gulf Coast states. On the 9th, the largest mass evacuation to that date occurred, as an estimated one-half million residents of low coastal areas and islands off Texas and Louisiana were evacuated to higher ground. As the center approached Texas on the 10th, winds near the center were estimated at 150 mph. Reconnaissance aircraft indicated a central pressure of 931 mb just prior to its striking the coast. Only 46 lost their lives because of early warnings. Severe damage along a wide expanse of the Texas coast was caused by unusually prolonged winds, high tides and flooding from torrential rains. Damage was about $2 billion in 1990 dollars.

Here's a few pictures of Galveston, Island when Carla hit...Carla was bad...but not as bad as the next two big ones...

also here's a map of Galveston Island if you don't know where it is...I live around the red circle...about 3 blocks from the Seawall...

Oooooooh yea...

lots of wildlife gets displaced when a hurricane hits...never know where it will end up...we got a lot of Cottonmouth in Galveston...some rattlesnake too...

 

[mikemiller1955]

That was really something.Those poor people didn't know what hit them.Mike did you have any relatives living there at that time?
Mark

Mark...no...not through the 1900 Storm...my father was born in 1932...as a kid...he does remember the Island being raised 17 feet in elevation and all the homes being raised...

he used to tell me it was a big muddy mess for several years...

the sand was dredged from the Gulf of Mexico...so of course the sand was loaded with salt water...

to elevate an island 17 feet higher (that's 32 miles wide) is a monumental effort...if you've ever seen them dredge sand...a lot of water comes though those hoses...

you kind of wonder why anybody in their right mind would stay...

Galveston people are really peculiar...

in the past...long ago...the question was always asked...

"We're you born here"?

if you're not a BOI (born on Island)...you're kind of frowned on...

if you're an IBC (Islander by choice)...you're almost never really accepted and a little distrusted...

this tradition has mostly faded...heck...I'm an IBC...we moved here when I was 1 year old...

still the "old timers"...they seem to watch you little bit if you're not a BOI...

 

[mikemiller1955]

My first big hurricane that I rode out was Hurricane Alicia...1983...

why we didn't leave...I have no idea...

I stayed at my Dad's house...one of the most solid houses I have ever seen...

that night was a nightmare...I still have vivid memories of the copper gutters being half ripped off and the wind whipping them against the roor and shutters...

it sounded like the Devil trying to get in...

as shingles blew off...leaks popped up everywhere...

NEVER AGAIN!!!!

it really passed 25 miles southwest of Galveston Island...but it was a Category 3 hurricane with maximum gusts of 125 mph winds...

it was a small to medium hurricane...but was ungodly destructive...

there were 23 tornadoes reported in this hurricane...I guess one hit the restaurant...I don't know...

so.....as I was in business at the time...and we lost most of the roof to the restaurant for starters...

then all the outside freezers lost their ceilings and the food spoiled quickly in the heat...

city services were down for a long time and if you can imagine what about a 1,000 pounds of shrimp, crab, scallops, fish and craw fish smell like in that heat after a couple of day...

the day after the storm...when I surveyed the damage at the restaurant...I was giving away partially still frozen filet mignons to anybody that wanted one...I was happy to get rid of it...

This was recorded as the first billion dollar damage hurricane...coming in at $2.6 billion in 1983 pricing...

as always...refuge centers were opened by the city...

 

[mikemiller1955]

HURRICANE IKE...

okay...

current date...or close to it...

Sept 13th, 2008...

this MONSTER HURRICANE is coming...look at the radar picture on the first post...this system was as big as the state of Texas...

I left...all I could think about was New Orleans and Katrina...

the city ordered a mandatory evacuation...

those who chose to stay were told...they could expect no help whatsoever...

I stayed with a friend in Cypress, Texas...

I brought 1 pair of short and 1 extra shirt...

expecting to be there two days at most...all I brought was cash...

CASH IS KING in a crisis...

I had no idea the city of Galveston was going to get pounded so hard and would not allow us to come back for 13 days...

I stayed glued to the tv set and what I saw floored me...the destruction was 10 times worse than I could have imagined...

my host was gracious (ex-girlfriend)...as I know I over extended my stay...she never complained once...every hotel within a couple of hundred miles was packed once I learned the hurricane had passed but we were not allowed to return...

you cannot imagine the feeling of not being allowed to survey possible damage to your house and all your worldly possessions as the city would not allow us to return...

rumors of widespread deaths...total city failure...unsafe conditions circulated...

nobody knew why we were not allowed to return...or when we could...

after several threats of lawsuits by residential citizens...the city finally agreed to a "look and leave" day...

we were allowed til 5PM curfew to survey our homes...then martial law took effect and anybody on the streets was going to be arrested...

I waited in a car line for 4 hours trying to get into Galveston until policemen or soldiers painted an "LL" (Look/Leave) on my windshield...

here's a few pictures...I'm gonna call it a night and finish this tomorrow...

be sure to note the picture of the guy measuring the flood height of the water in his business...

 

[mikemiller1955]

 

[mikemiller1955]

These light posts on the Seawall must be 15 to 20 feet high...these are some huge waves coming over the Seawall...usually there is about 200 yards of a sand beach that is exposed where sunbathers play...

note...error...

the picture in post #8 (of the hotel over the water with the wall ripped out) was not from Hurricane Alicia...it was from Hurricane Ike...I googled it off the Internet and they had it marked incorrectly...

that's enough for tonight...I was just gonna tell you guys on the East Coast how lucky you were this week on your tropical storm and as usual...when I get interested in something...I won't stop...

 

[bearybones]

Wow, that's pretty scarey stuff and it really hits home. I was exhibiting my fine art photography in an art show in Corolla on the Outer Banks of North Carolina this past Wednesday, in what was supposed to be a two day event. Well, thanks to Erin, the show was shut down on Thursday and a mandatory evacuation of all visitors was issued. We left the island, of course, but many did not. I was concerned for our friends there, the other people and property and the wild horses that inhabit the island. I was very glad to see that the storm did not make a direct hit to the area. I grew up in south Florida and well remember going through Hurricanes Donna, Cleo and Betsy as a teenager. I have similarly scarey memories as you of howling winds, objects banging onto our shuttered windows, etc. The eye of one of those three storms went directly over our house, so we opened the front door and looked out. It was very odd. Everything was so very still and peaceful, amid the downed trees, downed telephone polls, etc. Then the wind started to come back, so we quickly shuttered the door back up and went through the second half of that hurricane. Can't remember which one of the three that was. The storm that really changed my mind about hurricanes and gave me a new respect for how destructive and dangerous those storms can be was Andrew. I couldn't believe the destruction I saw the day after that storm. My parents had a seven acre farm in Florida City by Homestead back then. The eye of the storm went over their farm. We went there the day after the storm. All that was left was one wall of the barn, lying over the tractor. Not a single tree was left standing. All four of their neighbors who had two story houses lost the second floor of their homes and barely survived by hiding behind stacked mattresses in the little room between the house and the garage. One neighbor had four cows befor Andrew hit and to this day has no idea what happened to any of them. Never saw any of them again. Luckily, my parents were here in the Fort Lauderdale area with us during the storm, about 40 or so miles north of ground zero. The winds we got from Andrew were less than 100 mph here, so it wasn't all that bad in our area. We were lucky. A few years ago, we were without power for two full weeks after Hurricane Wilma hit us from the west. My wife is from Ohio and that was only the second hurricane she has been through. That was only a category one storm, but we had some very destructive tornadoes and category three gusts. Mid way through the storm, when the winds started to howl and we watched our neighbor's porch blow away, she said to me, "Never again, next time we're out of here!". Yeah Michael, I share your idea of "getting out" when a bad hurricane is approaching. Like you, I've also seen as many of them as I ever care to see. When the next bad one is approaching, we plan to just board up the house and head for the hills. Betsy and I are getting too old for that sort of thing.

 

[bearybones]

OOPS! How could I have called Hurricane Earl......Erin? Could it be that my wife's Godson's name is Erin and he can be a bit "windy" at times?

 

[The Lt.]

Missed the start of this yesterday morning but glad I caught this, this AM. Thanks Michael for sharing it all with us. Hope you've gotten a good night sleep....Joe

 

[Wraith]

Michael,
Thanks for taking the time to post ths. Fascinating, in a scary way.
Simon

 

[Mitch]

Kind of makes you appreciate how lucky we are in the UK. Makes moaning about a wet summer kinda put into perspective.
Mitch

 

[aujj65]

It’s difficult to comprehend the shear scale of misery that nature can inflict upon us sometimes. Unbelievable destruction here but thanks for sharing the photos.

Jeff

 

[marco55]

It's amazing that with all that destruction that humans can start over and rebuild.
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

The last few pictures I'm going to show are of my house...

I was very lucky during Hurricane Ike...my house is only 8 years old and the new construction might have saved me some headaches...my roof was totally undamamged...so my second floor was sparred...others were not so fortunate...

during Ike...the Seawall did it's job...it protected the residents from flooding from the Gulf of Mexico...

the problem came when the hurricane passed...

all the water that was flushed past us...was pushed back on us like a tidal wave...

I had a friend in my neighborhood that rode out the storm...

he said he thought everything was okay...even the sun had come out for a while after the hurricane had passed...

then the water came rushing in...

first the streets...then his yard...then his porch...the water was coming up fast...

within 15 minutes he said his house was going underwater and the saltwater was pouring in from windows...electrical outlets...under his doors...

all he could do was watch as his house filled with salt water...

in 30 minutes...it stopped...the water receded as fast as it had come in...

everything was soaked in this corrosive salt water...

some people in my neighborhood got 3-5 feet of water in their home...I only got 2 feet...but it doesn't matter...once the salt water is on something...it's pretty much ruined...

2 feet...3-5 feet...7 feet...it doesn't matter...

floor...walls...carpet...electrical wiring...metal window frames...furniture...

everything is pretty much ruined...

this coupled with the city not allowing us to return for almost two weeks...mold grew at lightning speed in the heat of a closed up home...

 

[mikemiller1955]

While waiting for the City of Galveston to allow us to return...I contacted the contractors and painters I had used at the restaurant over the years...

nobody knew if they had any damage...

I was told I would be first on their list...

I was very lucky that I had just cashed in a CD and was flush on money...meaning I didn't have to wait for the insurance company to pay me off...

on the first day allowed back...my construction crew met me at my house...

the first thing to do was take photos and then empty the house...

I had to throw out everything...

ice box...tv's...furniture...flooring...washers/dryers...dishwashers...

EVERYTHING downstairs...

once the house was cleaned out...

we had to cut the sheet rock at 4 foot from the floor...

my water line was only 2 feet...so I cut out an extra 2 feet to be on the safe side...

with a 4 foot cut...this meant I could still get 2 cuts out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood...

I got some friends from City Hall to come to my house and turn my power on...all but a few breakers were okay...but at least I had some power and lights to live there and to work with...

the water was tainted...okay to bathe in...but not for drinking purposes...so bottled water was a necessity...

I bought a small refrigerator from Walmart that I brought home...I stuffed it with hot dogs and ham and whatever I could find at the stores...which shelves were almost always empty...hehehe...man you can get sick of ham sandwiches real quick after a couple of days...

but my neighbors loved me when I grilled on my propane grill that survived the storm...I fed the neighborhood and they were happy to get a hot meal...

most people that returned...still didn't have electricity and would leave town at curfew for the night...I stayed overnight as my upstairs was still okay...

I would drive 40-50 miles every couple of days inland to buy groceries and get gas...as there were no gasoline or food stores open for the first couple of weeks on the Island...

all my neighbors would come over and eat hot dogs and ham sandwiches...I made sure to get as many bags of ice as I could find on every trip...

for the first week or two...I think I may have been the only one staying overnight in Galveston...

it was like an episode of the Twilight Zone...there was a martial law curfew...so you had to be in your house at night...

it was so hot...both my air conditioners were rusted shut from the salt water and I had two already ordered...I was lucky...my cousin did my A/C work when I owned the restaurant...so he took care of me quickly...

I would sit outside and try to catch a breeze...smoking a cigarette...the city was pitch black...not a light anywhere...nothing...I may have been the only one in the city with any power...

it was so spooky and I was so scared that at night I walked around with a pistol...

one of the first nights back...I was lying in bed upstairs...sweating my butt off...dog tired...absolutely miserable...alone...achy...sore...hands all cut and bleeding...no air conditioning...nothing to do but sleep...

when just for the heck of it...I picked up my remote and tried it...

hahahahahahahaha...

no drinking water...
limited electricity...
no land line phone...
no air conditioner...
not much of anything useful...

low and behold...

hahahahahahahaha...

I got HBO...Showtime...Cinemax...TMC...every channel works perfectly...

of all the things I didn't need..it was a tv....

kudos to Direct TV though...it was a minor luxury that I really didn't have time for...

that night as I lay in bed...in a pitch black city...the police pounded on my door...they had seen my light and were looking for looters...

I am proud to say...

Galveston had no looting stories...it was not a problem here like at Katrina in New Orleans...it just didn't happen...