Recalling those days in September 2008
By Michael A. Smith
Galveston County Daily News
Sep 12, 2024
The surge before the storm engulfs Galveston Island, Texas, as Hurricane Ike approaches Sept. 12, 2008.
Today marks 16 years since Hurricane Ike came ashore in Galveston. Below is an excerpt of an account The Daily News published shortly after Ike in the book “Stories of the Storm.”
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Tropical Depression Nine, which over 12 days would grow into one of the most destructive hurricanes to strike Galveston County in more than 100 years, formed Sept. 1, 2008, in the Atlantic Ocean at latitude 17.6 N, longitude 39.5 W.
Hurricane Ike was christened 4 p.m. Central Standard Time on Sept. 3, the fifth hurricane of the 2008 season.
By the morning of Sept. 9, the heavy black line on forecast maps had swung in a huge southward arc and met the Texas Coast between Brownsville and Corpus Christi, about 300 miles south of Galveston.
Some people relaxed. Others said never trust a westering hurricane; they like to turn north. And soon, that black line on forecast maps was ticking northward along the coast like the hand of an ominous clock.
Galveston County went to bed Sept. 10, thinking Ike would go ashore well south. The city of Galveston ordered an evacuation of the West End and encouraged the rest of the city to leave voluntarily. Forecasts called for minor flooding and winds as high as 95 mph.
People awoke Sept. 11, to bad news: Ike’s track had shifted north again. The city ordered an evacuation of the entire island.
At 4 p.m., forecasters changed Ike’s path again, predicting a direct hit on Galveston early the next morning.
The forecasters also had begun warning Ike would be a different kind of hurricane. It was generating only Category 2 wind speeds, but was huge, almost 600 miles wide. Hurricane-force winds extended more than 100 miles from a large, wobbling, asymmetrical eye.
Forecasters warned Ike could bring as much as 20 feet of storm surge to Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula, 25 feet in narrow bay inlets, numbers usually associated with Category 4 storms.
The night of Sept. 11, the National Weather Service issued an unprecedented warning: “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death.”
When the sun rose, huge waves were slamming against the concrete face of the seawall, sending foamy geysers of brown water many feet into the air.
Even some old-school islanders who’d sworn they’d never evacuate took one look, packed what they could and headed inland.
By 7 a.m., The Strand area was flooded from Harborside Drive to Market Street.
About 15,000 people still were in the city; another 200 or so were trapped on Bolivar Peninsula, where U.S. Coast Guard helicopters already were flying rescue missions.
Ike lashed Galveston County for about 18 hours on Sept. 12 and 13, at times with winds of more than 100 mph. By noon on the 12th, it was clear that flooding would be unprecedented in modern times. Many people who stayed began to wonder whether they had made a fatal mistake. In the end, some had.
More than 40 houses burned on the island because firefighters were unable to traverse the flooded city.
About 100 people called 911 during the storm begging for rescue. Many told emergency dispatchers water was so high in their houses they were retreating into attics.
Ike’s eye came ashore about 1 a.m. Sept. 13. An eerie calm fell over the island. The sky turned orange and seemed to glow.
At the peak of flooding, water from Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico met on the island’s east and west ends. Only a narrow strip of the city running south from Avenue O and east from 53rd Street to the seawall stayed above water. The sea had claimed the rest.
Covered in seething water perhaps 14 feet deep, the Bolivar Peninsula had ceased to exist as a geographical feature. The unimpeded waves knocked whole houses off their pilings and swept them into Galveston Bay. People rode out the storm adrift in the darkness on pieces of their shattered dwellings.
By the late morning Sept. 13, the wind had calmed and water receded enough for people to leave shelter. It was clear that Ike had mauled most of the county.
The storm had killed at least 15 people, directly or indirectly, in the county. The full count was unknown more than a month later. The final official count was 74 in Texas, most in Galveston and Harris counties.
Ike at the time was the most expensive hurricane in Texas history, causing an estimated $11.4 billion in damage across 29 counties.
The city of Galveston estimated that 75 percent of buildings sustained flood damage.
The storm damaged 4,873 structures in floodplains in the unincorporated areas of the county.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, which underwrites property in 14 coastal counties, estimated its liability at just less than $3 billion.
In late October, more than 400 people still were living in a Red Cross tent shelter on the grounds of Alamo Elementary School in Galveston.
Another 150 or so who had evacuated by bus after the storm still were living at shelters and in hotels around San Antonio.
On Oct. 23, a cold front blew through Galveston County, dropping overnight temperatures into the 50s. For some, the first October cold snap marks the practical end of hurricane season. National Weather Service forecasters noted no hurricane had ever struck the Texas Coast after Halloween.
People had begun to talk about high school football and a November election, during which voters would pick a new president of the United States.
Schoolchildren were back in class; many businesses had reopened.
Restaurants were packed with locals and people from all over the country working on a massive cleanup effort.
The tropical zones where hurricanes are born were calm. But everywhere remained the signs of Hurricane Ike’s passing.
Heaps of debris still were piled at the curbs along Galveston streets and along roads on the mainland.
The Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry was closed to the public and most services were still out on the peninsula.
Boats were grounded all along the bay and beside island roads.
Two huge debris piles had been assembled in Galveston. One estimate said 1.5 billion cubic yards of debris would have to be hauled from Galveston alone.
1 comment:
Ike was bad.
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