[caption id="attachment_3048" align="alignnone" width="426" caption="Bolivar Peninsula From Satellite Directly After Ike"] The above photo is from a satellite just after the passage of Hurricane Ike. This one is on section of Bolivar Peninsula just east of Galveston Bay. There is a site (CLICK HERE) that allows you to click on a map to very specific areas that were affected by Ike. They are visible images like the one above taken just after the storm passed and they go from Louisiana to and past Houston. I have more on the stories of victims of Hurricane Ike and also an image of the damage to the coastline nearly two weeks following Ike further down this post. Check out the sat images and read the stories. They will leave you shaking your head. The weather in Louisville remains on track. Great weather will persist for the St. James Art Show. It was always known as the "art fair" but the website now calls it the "art show." If you know why they changed it, someone let me know. Anyway, cool nights and warm afternoons until the middle of the week when we get a shot at some much needed rain Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures behind the front will not be all that cool so if you liked the fall weather, be patient, I'm sure it will come again....just not in the next week. [caption id="attachment_3047" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="LA/TX Coastal Damage 12 Days After Hurricane Ike"] Hurricane Ike Follow-UP: Nearly two weeks following the landfall of Hurricane Ike, satellite images (above) reveal the coastal destruction from the wide storm surge of Ike. Normally, the region along the coast would be green. In this case, the areas of brown reveal mud, sand and dying vegetation along almost the entire Louisiana Coast and Texas Coast from Galveston to New Orleans. Part of the SE Louisiana Coast also got slammed by Hurricane Gustav so that area got a head start. While the storm made landfall at the mouth of Galveston Bay, some of the highest storm surge readings came from around the mouth of the Sabine River marking the Louisiana/Texas border. Parts of SW Louisiana experienced a higher and more devastating storm surge than they had with Hurricane Rita in 2005. For some reason, some people in Galveston used Hurricane Rita as a measuring stick to determine whether or not to leave their homes. Rita was a stronger storm but made landfall way east of Galveston, leaving that part of the Texas coast with an offshore flow and no real surge. Hurricane Ike was much farther west and areas spared by Rita were hammered by Ike and many people made the wrong decision. If you recall, thousands of people did not evacuate from Galveston with the approach of Hurricane Ike. I have told you that in my opinion, had the storm been say 20 miles farther west and a little stronger, then the death toll would have been staggering. There have been many stories of survivors who barely escaped with their lives. Several did not. At this time, the Laura Recovery Center says that about 300 remain missing 3 weeks after the storm. No one has heard a thing. Perhaps some will suffer the fate of being swept out to sea never to be seen again. Others may be found in marshes miles from where they had been. Others may be safe but in hiding or still others just not thoughtful enough to tell their loved ones that they are okay. But, here is a story that will break your heart. Several tales of those who refused to leave for one stubborn reason or another and who paid with their lives. I'm telling you...the thousands that stayed...if they do so again...they may suffer the same fate. Galveston is nothing but a sandbar and it doesn't take much for the Gulf of Mexico to swallow the whole island. I love hurricanes and I love Galveston. Because I know them both so well, I would have left. I suspect that those who did stay and survived, now know that next time they too will leave. Read some of the sad tales below. Associated Press(with video and slideshow)-Tales of those who perished Houston Chronicle-In Memoriam:Remembering the Victims of Ike KHOU Houston(with video)-Search for Victims intensifies WNBC-Hurricane Ike US Death toll up to 67 Bookmark/Search this post with: |
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