FEMA and the Galveston West End Cover up

Post on TOPIC or not at all PLEASE!!!

Semper

Originally posted by Essan

What's the point in this thread other than to get more ATS points?

You really have no idea what you're attempting to talk about, or who you're trying to impune, do you?

Why would you ask why I mentioned FEMA in the thread title, when the thread is about a communication black-out and media coverage black-out of the west end of the island?

You state you have friends on the island, yet you disrespect the need of refugees needing information on their homes, or word of family members welfare...

I'm assuming you have a lot of black friends and hispanic friends as well so that you can be obnoxious on topics about race, right?

buzz off unless you have something to say to the topic.

And P.S. If I give all my points to you will you go away?

There is one way the lab could come into play.

Springer and I discussed the emerging black-out situation yesterday evening...that's when my hinky-antennae started going up. He made the statement that the west end shouldn't have gotten it as bad because it was to the left of the eye. I pointed out to him that on Friday afternoon - like 9 or 10 hours before landfall, the west end video was showing water already across the island and it was coming from the BAY side of the island. Later news report outright stated the west end was getting beaten up by the bay, not the Gulf.

Springer remarked that okay - fine, but just as long as the bay had water to supply for a surge and I pointed out to him that the bay would not run out of water because the surge on the right side of the storm and through the port would continuously supply water back to the bay (and a storm surge toward the island on the bay side).

So, as the hurricane came in we would have had prevailing winds and storm surge movement that flooded the Strand side of the eastern part of the island, and then driven down the bay westward and then back across the island on the west end. Theoretically, it can't be ruled out that if there were contamination due to the lab, it would have been deposited toward the west end of the island.

I'm not saying that's what is going on, just trying to think through this new kink in things.

Originally posted by Valhall

I'm assuming you have a lot of black friends and hispanic friends as well so that you can be obnoxious on topics about race, right?

Eh?

What the h*ll does colour of skin or ethnic origin have to do with things?

All I know is that Ike has affected a huge area and affected hundreds of thousands of people and the fact that the media don't give prominence to one small area is not a conspiracy.

btw my friends were British meteorologists - not that that should make any difference?

[edit on 14-9-2008 by Essan]

The area is probably devastated. That's why the media blackout. Although we'll have to wait and see what comes out of this in the next couple of days. The Bio Lab in the area is a source for concern though. Hopefully none of that crap leaked out anywhere.

Im just now logging on to see what ATS is saying about the hurricain. I do know there was a report about some kind of leak in galveston. but, they said it was not a problem. i can remember what kind, or where it was. the news is all kind of fuzzy now. I live in baytown, and had to run. we went to spring. i came home to a tree sitting on my house. litterally. i have two holes in my roof, and have been pouring buckets out all day. a front moved in behind the storm and dropped about 4 inches of water on us. just when i thought it was over.

i have family in laporte. they were blockaded off, and not allowed back into thier neibhorhoods untill this morning. i dont know why. baytown had a curfew as well, but we got in last night, no problem.

i dont know much about galveston, except, from what i herd, it was gone.

we are running on generator right now. all power here is still off. this place looks bad. i feel for those in galveston. i know people i work with who live there.

i sighned up for fema. so, if you come across any strange or helpfull fema reports, id love to be pointed in the right direction.

i wont be able to post for a while though. they say we will be with out power for 3 or more weeks.

if i cant go to work, i dont know how i wilo pay my bills.

stupid hurricain. .............

I emailed a reporter at the Galveston newspaper but I don't expect to get a reply. If I do I'll report it.

reply to post by Valhall


Star and flag for you! I have the same bad feeling, because they aven't released any human casualty estimates.

Originally posted by Essan
What's FEMA got to do with it? FEMA is a federal back-up for the normal State emergency response services etc.

As I see it the problem is that news coverage isn't giving pictures of a specific area that you personally want to see? Is that a conspiracy?

Has there ever been a black out of a disaster area?, "Im hearing their
still not allowing any news aircraft to fly over Galveston Island"

Any Updates out their?

Galveston authority's statement of non-specificity concerning the west end:

www.khou.com...

Notice this statement:

Currently, Galveston does not have phone service. Cell phone service should be restored sometime today.

It was up this morning - at least until the reports came out that FEMA had taken it over.

Thanks so much for this thread...

Galveston Island has been my biggest concern since the night the storm came in, and we were all trying to keep updated with the couple threads about it, as it was reported.

I don't remember any reporting that night either, about the island. Which sucked, as that's the part we seemed most concerned with.

I swear there was a 'black out' That night, too, when we were all trying to keep updated as it happened...

Great thread, Val.

Personally, I hope it amounts to nothing. But like you, I am afraid something's up.

Here, btw, is a thread I started the other day on the Bio Lab:

Officials: Texas lab with dangerous pathogens secured

I made a similar comment there. Why are these labs anywhere near vulnerable hurricane locations?

In any event, returning to the subject of the blackout on the west end, my greatest fear with the news that FEMA now controls the communications is to hide the fact that folks are stranded pleading for help.

See, for example: Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for rescues

Remember the public outrage that occurred during Katrina when images of people on their rooftops began to stream in??? Maybe this is PR control. The thought makes me want to vomit.

I hope we are wrong!


[edit on 14-9-2008 by loam]

First, UTMB is on the east end of the island not the west end. If there were an outbreak there would be a lot of contaminated reporters and rescue personnel between the east end and the west end of the island that I am sure, would have been leaked out in the mean time.

If they were really wanting to "seal off" Galveston Island, they would have closed the 2 causeway bridges that provides access to Gavelston Island from the Texas Mainland as well as the bolivar ferry. Other than swimming these three routes are the only way to get on the island.

I was actually staying at a west end condo 3 weeks ago. All of these houses are perched on top of 20-30 ft pylons. This should have protected them from the surf, unless the earth that the pylons was driven into was washed away (not sure how deep these pylons are driven in the sand.). However, with the house up on pylons, this gives the wind another surface to wreck havoc on. So the chances that any of these homes survived would be a miracle.

There is only one road that gives access to the west end of the island and it is less than 200 yds from the beach, so it is at best cluttered with debris and sand and probably un-navigatable at this time.

With regards to saving anyone who chose not to evacuate....All I can say is that they are idiots and if any of these "idiots" have children then they should be charged with reckless endangerment of a child.

There was no excuse for not leaving the island and plenty of warning beforehand.

(CNN) -- Workers at a Galveston, Texas, laboratory said to contain dangerous biological agents secured the pathogens Friday ahead of Hurricane Ike, officials said.

A patient at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is helped from the building Thursday.

The pathogens, which include the deadly ebola virus, were purposely destroyed before the staff left the facility in advance of the hurricane, said Gov. Rick Perry's spokesman, Andrew Barlow
...
A Department of Homeland Security official concurred that all the samples had been destroyed, and the building was locked down, quarantined and "rendered safe."

But a former student who worked at the Level-III laboratory while the Level-IV facility was being constructed and who knows the manager, said she would be surprised if all of the pathogens had been destroyed, since some of them are rare and extremely valuable.

www.cnn.com...

The lab is actually hidden under our noses under the guise as
University of Texas Medical Branch/Galveston National Labs

The lab is one of the country's five biosafety labs that are Level-IV, the highest level. Such laboratories typically handle pathogens like smallpox, tularemia and anthrax to develop vaccines and antidotes.

Here is some interesting reading
www.utmb.edu...

I've got the feeling a field test is taking place, on an unsuspecting west Galveston island population that stayed behind.



Is it any coincidence that the building had a pyramid with a star in it at the top?



[edit on 14-9-2008 by Manasseh]

Originally posted by TrueAvatar


If they were really wanting to "seal off" Galveston Island, they would have closed the 2 causeway bridges that provides access to Gavelston Island from the Texas Mainland as well as the bolivar ferry. Other than swimming these three routes are the only way to get on the island.

The island is "sealed off".

OK. This makes sense also...

If there are BODIES around, that is not allowed on US media. Maybe there's bodies that need cleaned up before they can allow any media coverage?

Don't know if this sounds weird to anyone else, but I think that could keep a lot from being reported on.

My personal opinion is that if there really is an intentional black-out, it is along the lines of what loam has speculated on. I believe it could be to avoid bodies floating in the surf (which has already been stated by local authorities in a fly-over yesterday afternoon/evening) and reports that people are in dire straits and they can't get to them yet.

reply to post by LostNemesis


It didn't stop them in hurricane Katrina coverage.

Do you think the media suddenly grew a conscience?

I just found this story. There are some interesting nuggets of fact that can be teased out.

Survivors leave flooded Galveston homes by sea and air

Charles Rock anxiously waited for news from emergency workers about two elderly friends who wouldn’t leave their Hollywood neighborhood home on the west side of Galveston.

...

But this story has a happy ending. Around 3:45 p.m., about a half-dozen game wardens, accompanied by medical personnel, brought Jack and his friends safely from the Hollywood neighborhood in a boat.

So rescue efforts obviously ARE taking place on the west end.

Continuing:

At times it appeared that Galveston island had been returned to the sea. By air and boat, rescue operations like the one that rescued Rock’s two friends began in earnest this afternoon after Hurricane Ike pounded the Texas coast overnight and into the morning.

...

About 40 percent of Galveston’s residents did not heed the call to evacuate, and city officials and first responders were helpless to respond to the hundreds of calls placed when Ike’s fury was the strongest.

With helicopters hovering above the flood-ravaged island, the Galveston Beach patrol pulled Victor Huerta and Cecilia Rivera out of their home in West Galveston, where flooding was the worst.

The article describes how the couple's home was at the highest point on the west end and that water reached 7 feet within their home, forcing them into the attic.

This obviously means many more found themselves in a similar or worse situation.

Oddly, there aren't many articles out there like this one.

I'm now also very concerned.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by loam]