Officials Expect Victims May Have Been Swept Out To Sea

[Gold Metal Flake]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6003905.html

"GALVESTON — 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 more victims are out there and say some might simply have been swept out to sea.

Exactly how many is anybody's guess, because authorities had no sure way to track those who defied evacuation orders. And the number of people reported missing after the storm, whose death toll stands at 17 in Texas, is fluctuating.

Search-and-rescue crews began clearing out today after plucking survivors from Galveston and the devastated Bolivar Peninsula. Authorities are relying on Red Cross workers and beach patrols to run welfare checks on people named by anxious relatives.

"We don't know what's out there in the wilds," said Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilniks. "Searchers weren't looking for bodies; they were looking for survivors.""

This will not be over any time soon. Those who want to claim bragging rights for being the first to warn of a high death toll and those who insist of seeing picture "proof" of the bodies will just have to sit and wait. Those of us from the area do not need to be so dramatic or so skeptical. We grieve for our home state.

[liberalhistorian]

1. Oh, Lord, that is so awful, if

it's true. Those poor people. :cry: :cry: :cry:

[uppityperson]

2. k&r

[applegrove]

3. Why did they stay. Those poor people.

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. Over at Kos...

The mother thread mentions that the FAA website reports the flight restriction over the coast was lifted. I can not find that on the website, but I think this is the restriction order. I don't speak pilot, so the terminology and acronyms are lost on me.

[WritersBlock]

15. Looks like it's still in effect, from that link. But they've lowered the altitude as of the 15th.

Issue Date: September 15, 2008 at 0000 UTC
Location: TEXAS COASTLINE, United States
Beginning Date and Time: Effective Immediately
Ending Date and Time: Until further notice

HOWEVER... it's only from the surface to 2000 feet AGL (above ground level), and it only covers the barrier islands, going by the area outline. The earlier one was from surface to 5000 feet AGL and covered most of the area including metro Houston. http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_8_8131.html

As far as I know, a 2000 foot flight restriction would not prevent a news crew from getting decent quality images. 2000 feet ain't that high even to look at with the eye, much less with a zoom lens.

[malaise]

5. On Khou today they said the death toll had risen to

50. Another station among the group I am watching said later only four were dead.

If they can't find 20,000 people and they did not leave, then they are either dead or huddled up dying of starvation.

This is a horrible time for people looking for their relatives. I saw one woman who was turned back from Galveston looking for her son today. He is 21 and she was really upset. He was with six people. Not a word has been heard from any of them.

That storm surge killed a lot of people. This is too sad.

[Gold Metal Flake]

7. Power and sewage is estimated at a couple of days away for Galveston from what I read at Chron.com.

Groceries have made it in, one store was pictured. As far as victims, they will be found. For years, they will be found.

Fema-contracted semis with supplies are staged in Louisiana but are just sitting there, just like Katrina. This reported by KO.

[malaise]

14. I heard an interesting discussion yesterday

about resentment building re the FEMA and state only contractors being allowed into Galveston. Locals are pissed. Looks like the goons are about to reap some more profits from disaster capitalism.

[rainbow4321]

6. Post from a local on the KHOU forum

Take it however you all want to...just sharing what I read

http://www.khou.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28278&start=45
--------------------------------------

Reports of tragedy filtering out of Galveston and Bolivar

by: Robert Ryland
Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 03:44 PM CDT

The following is from an email sent to me by a good friend in Nacogdoches whose buddy has been over Galveston - names have been edited out to protect the folks those who relayed the report. Also relayed from this guy and others: persons going into the restricted area are apparently being patted down and cameras are being confiscated, by Army and Coast Guard personnel.

Okay...I've got some news on this front. Take it for what it's worth, but the guy I got it from is someone I trust to raise my children... He's never once lied to me...ever. And we're close.
He's in a pretty high-up supervisory position for a refinery down on the coast.
His refinery has some equipment and lines in and around Galveston county, and before they were to bring them back on line he and his crew had to inspect the place for damage and potential hazards. So they were given permission....after a background check....to helicopter in and inspect, which meant coming in over Galveston.

I kid you not when I say that he told me they saw AT LEAST 1500 bodies in trees scattered about Galveston. They also saw a lot in various ditches and marshes, esp. on the north side of East Galv. Bay, east side of Trinity Bay, and in the marshes between I-45 and Seabrook/Clear Lake/Deer Park.

It explains why they're not letting the media anywhere close to the Island except in limited sectors nd we're not hearing anything from or about the people who survived and those who stayed behind. It's like 20,000 people never
existed....where are they? Where'd they go? What are their names? Nothing....

Same thing in Orange county.

Take it for what it's worth....I believe him, though his count may be wrong given the shock of the sight. But like I said, I'd trust him to raise my kids.

I'd be more surprised if he were wrong than if he were right.



And from Rhiannon Myers of the Galveston Daily News comes this dispatch:


GALVESTON - Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas on Monday ordered all city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that order would be lifted.
Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc will be the only officials allowed to talk to reporters. City spokeswoman Mary Jo Naschke vehemently denied the city was trying to clamp down on coverage.
......

Reporters would be allowed on the island only if they had proper identification, Thomas said. She didn't clarify what that meant.

Reporters were also forbidden from visiting areas on the far West End, Thomas said. She did not explain why.


I'm not normally one to be alarmist and I don't want to upset people, but this has me very worried. I know some folks who stayed down there to ride it out, as does the guy who sent me the email above - he has yet to hear from one of his friends and fears the worst. His report of the damage in Nacogdoches was not pretty either, and if this storm tore apart towns that far inland it's certainly not unreasonable to think that Galveston and the Triangle have experienced unprecedented devastation.
There could be arguably sound reasons for media blackouts, and the specter of hundreds of bodies among the wreckage may be one of them. It's not always easy in situations like this to know where to draw the line between respect for the deceased and their families, and the public's right to know about what has happened.

-----------------------

[ananda]

8. Riddle me this.

Why does Bushinc and Homeland Security want to hide this?

I can think of a couple of possible reasons that seem
rather sinister and make me feel as though I should run
to the store and get a tin hat.

First, the UT Medical Branch in Galveston had a bio weapons
lab.

Secondly, all the bodies.. mounting to the thousands with
an inability to handle them all in the morgues and an inability
to get a handle on the ones lost at sea.. make FEMA and all
authorities.. local and national.. look totally incompetent
and ineffective in evacuating people out of reach of a very
dangerous storm.

Cuba looks so good in comparison.

Or maybe I've missed the real reason... I don't know. It
just seems so crazy and/or sinister.

[mduffy31]

9. A LOT of those people choose to stay

So you can't blame FEMA

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. It's probably bullshit.

The truth will come rolling in with the tide. As has been noted elsewhere, every great flood brings out this sort of sensationalistic bull. The reefer trailers full of bodies after Charlie. Remember that? People posting this stuff with all sorts of "this person is trustworthy" bull on blogs, which is brought here by people using convenient disclaimers. "I report, you decide". Funny how they all sound like Obama liemails.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. Roger that

They make 12 megapixel cameras that fit in your palm. My phone has a 2 megapixel camera and takes videos. YouTube has videos from cameras snuck into everyplace you can imagine.

If there were bodies ALL OVER the place, we would know it by now.

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Kroger in the Seawall today

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. Here is the webpage with the pix of Crystal Beach.

http://jakeabby.com/cb/

Acre after acre wiped away.

[RandiFan1290]

16. Officials?

These guys need to take off teh tinfoil!1 What the hell do they know? We have plenty of foul mouthed know it all insulting jerks around here to tell us what is really going on. I'm sure all those "missing" people are sipping cold beers with their FEMA ice and buying Louis Vitton bags with their welfare money.

[Igel]

18. In some cases people repeat sensationalist BS.

In other cases, they make up facts because they *must* be true. No evidence or verification needed.

Most of those "know-it-all insulting jerks around here" are merely saying we don't have facts, so making up facts to suit our biases, prejudices, and preconceptions is foolish. They also say that given the enormity of the disaster, expecting exact numbers within a few days is unreasonable, and patience is needed.

They're not saying the final death toll will be low. They're saying there's currently no basis in fact to claim that it's 900 in Galveston alone, or 1500 on Galveston and surrounding areas, and that the reports that are making these claims usually involve somebody quoting an anonymous highly-placed somebody else who has to remain anonymous in order to prevent having the authorities come and do him harm.

The death toll will rise. How high it'll go is the subject of unbounded speculation. Why claim 1500? Why not 15k? Or 150k? The initial estimate of how many stayed was a guess by people who had limited information, and it could have been seriously wrong, however much it's necessary for it to be taken as gospel now.

As for "welfare" money, while some of those who stayed are poor, many of those who stayed or couldn't get out aren't poor. Galveston isn't NOLA; they actually had plans for evacuating the bottom 20% SES, as they showed in 2005 and last week.

[Junkdrawer]

17. Translation: Somewhere a crematory is very, very busy. n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. kick