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

I know that some people probably had their reasons for staying but how many of those people

1-stayed because they KNEW the risk involved and stayed anyway for personal reasons,

or

2- stayed because they have no friggin idea what they're doing??!

Katrina is fresh in everyone's minds and people never thought something of that magnitude could happen to this country. But it did.. And if people don't think the same thing can happen in Texas, they're wrong... Ike is tearing up the Texas coast as I type this post and probably injuring and quite possibly killing people who now realize they made the wrong choice (to stay).

I honestly don't understand why you would live in the middle of the hurricane crosshairs and not take the threat seriously.. When i lived in Northeastern Oklahoma tornadoes were deadly and treated as such.. But what I never understood is why some people just don't get it. Especially now just a couple years after Katrina AND while Galveston is directly in the path of the hurricane.. I mean I understand that 23,000 people stayed behind and it could result in alot of people dying for making that decision. But why would 23,000 people do that well-knowing that it could be the dumbest decision they could ever make?

Are people actually willing to play dice with their lives and the lives of their families? Why take that chance??!! I guess I'll never understand this..

-ChriS

[edit on 13-9-2008 by BlasteR]

The eye passed right over Galveston Bay. It will cause maximum storm surge. Then tomorrow and the next day all of the rivers from the Sabine in the East to the Guadalupe in the West will all be filled with water as they fill with rain from Ike and all that water will head right for the already flooded Galveston Bay area. Expect this disaster to get a lot worse over the next few days than it will be this morning.

Houston and Galveston will be mostly under water. Katrina will not seem near as bad before this is over.

My cousin evacuated ahead of time with her two children. Now, she told me that the Mayor had said they did not need to evacuate. But she decided to not take a gamble, and left. As she was going, her neighbors who were intending to stay were nailing flimsy particle boarding over their windows. She spoke with them for awhile - hoping to change their minds and go with her, as she has baby sit for their children many occasions.

She emailed me and told me that she had at one time read this site, after moving to the island
www.gthcenter.org...
and that after reading these true accounts of those who lived through this storm, made her decision long ago that if anything were to come to the island on a grand scale, she'd leave asap.

I truly hope that as the daylight comes, they do not find the island to be the same as what happened in 1900. It is beyond comprehension why these people would stay intentionally.

I pray they are safe. This is very frightning.

Are people actually willing to play dice with their lives and the lives of their families? Why take that chance??!! I guess I'll never understand this..

-ChriS

I do not understand it either. An aquaintance chose to ride out hurricane Andrew many years ago, for the thrill of it. Simply....for the thrill. Just to say he'd been in a hurricane. When it was all said and done, he told me he'd never do something as stupid again. Apparently the floors and walls shook all around him, and the walls creaked and the house jolted off of it's foundation a bit. He described the wind, like loud eerie howling.

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't really realize the magnitude of what was happening over there until this thread, it was "just" numbers and "just" another tornado.

My heart goes out to who ever is stuck there, even if it was their own decision. We can't know what their decision's were made from, maybe they faced losing their jobs, could not get out on their own or maybe they just didn't care about themselves anymore.

Altho I must say that there is no excuse for the parents that made their children stay. I truly feel sorry for the children and my heart breaks when I think about the fear their facing.

Weather extremes are so common in Texas, that people look forward to storms that are beyond extreme. I have known people that would drive to the coast so they could race hurricanes back up to north Texas. This one though must have been a doozie when it came to shore, because it is wreaking havoc on my place right now and I am about 200 miles northeast of Galveston.

Anyone who stayed on Galveston Island is an idiot. Anyone who stayed on the island with children should be charged with reckless endangerment.

For those that do not understand the lay-up of the island. Galveston island is connected to the Texas mainland by a 1 mile (approx) causeway bridge. At some point officials had to close the bridge due to wind and high water. So you can not just all of a sudden decide to leave the island at the last moment.

I have been to Galveston mant times and have walked along the seawall, which is 17ft above sea level and there is usually around 500' to 1000' between the seawall and the surf line. The pictures that I saw on Thursday of the waves crashing into the seawall would be enough to send me packing.

Even though IKE was only a Cat 2 in intensity, its size in area was truly awesome (the storm covered an area the size of the state of Texas. Hurricane force winds extended out 120 miles from the eye and tropical storm force winds extended out 250 miles. IKE traveled at 10mph so everyone had plenty of time to evacuate and no excuse not to.

I live 140 miles from Galveston and was subjected to 40+ mile winds from 4am to 12pm today(Saturday) as well as 1" of rain/hour. So I can not imagine what it was like in Galveston.

I'm a FF in New Jersey - last week we had Tropical Storm Hannah blow
through here. Unfortunately have lot of experience with retards who
1) Dont heed warnings and drive around like nothing happened 2) Drive
through barriers into flooded areas and then scream for us to get them
out.

Last week had to rescue several of these morons

One clown after finding his car flooded (there was three feet of water in
parking lot) called his girl friend to get him. She drove into a flooded
road and car was swamped. Had to put both of their sorry butts out
of the water.

While rescuing these fools spotted some other flooded cars behind a
building. Chief said check them - found two women in car flooded up to
windows. They were sitting in car, no phone, car full of water which shorted electric windows. Had to bust out window to get them out.

When they say major storm coming through - LEAVE !!!!!

Too many people think can "ride it out" - until get into trouble them
begin yelling to come get them right away. It is dangerous for all
involved to rescue people from these conditions.

Originally posted by LittleThumb
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't really realize the magnitude of what was happening over there until this thread, it was "just" numbers and "just" another tornado.

My heart goes out to who ever is stuck there, even if it was their own decision.

Don't you mean hurricane? But I agree with everything else you said.

-ChriS

Personal Responsibility...I do not need some government official to tell me when to head for the hills...sheesh.
Those deciding to stay are on their own. If they die it is on their heads and their heads only. I certainly would not risk the lives of emergency personnel
trying to save the life of a fool.
Mother Nature's way of thinning the herd.

Today at work (Yes I work every day of the week right now) I noticed on my lunch break a fox news video of bikini-clad partiers who stayed behind to weather out the storm. I looked for the video just now but could not find it. The newscaster was telling them how stupid they were and they were basically saying on the phone "well, we hope and pray we don't die"... I guess this all brings us back to survival of the fittest.. IDIOTS!

-ChriS

Well... It looks like they finally might be admitting that the death toll is higher than what they are saying

Some of Ike's Missing May Have Been Swept Out to Sea

GALVESTON, Texas — The death toll from Hurricane Ike is remarkably low so far, considering that legions of people stayed behind as the storm obliterated row after row of homes along the Texas coast. But officials suspect there are more victims out there and say some might simply have been swept out to sea.

I wonder how many will be missing???