Hurricane Ike Update #29

Friday, October 3, 2008, 8:53pm

Ok, so I am finally getting around to posting these pictures from Galveston from last week. I had to go back briefly to get some stuff for working and living in Austin, so of course I tried to capture the feel of the island at this point in time. And of course, once again, I messed up the order of the pictures, so I'm just going to go through each one and explain.

1. There are Papa John's and Verizon wireless trailers everywhere! The Verizon trailers were offering one free phone call per person and free cell phone chargers. I think I saw more Verizon trailers than Red Cross trailers. Interesting.

2. Everyone has just thrown out the nasty trash and belongings from their homes. This is a picture looking out from under the covered parking area of my apartment. There was just a bunch of trash, furniture, and toys lying on the ground.

3. Even though Wendy's had some damage, they were still open for business! I was really excited that I was able to get some 99 cent chicken nuggets and a can of Dr. Pepper (no ice available).

4. Despite having no power or water in a good portion of the island, activity was starting to pick up. I saw a bunch of signs like this one, including one that I didn't get a picture of that said "BOIs are survivors--kiss our ass, Ike!" (Sidenote: taking pictures while driving is tricky and highly dangerous). Oh yeah, and a "BOI" is a person that was "born on the island."

5. I'm anticipating Home Depot getting a lot of business in the next couple months!

6. I think this was the saddest part, and I cannot express how devastating it felt to drive through the streets of Galveston. Everyone has placed the entire contents of their homes in big piles on the street, waiting to be picked up by the trash trucks. The people are then sitting on their porches. In addition, because everything is rotting--furniture, carpet, cattle--the entire island smells.

7. This is one of the Murdock's piers.

8. This is the other one of the Murdock's piers.

9. You will be happy to know that The Spot survived the hurricane, and there were plenty of people enjoying the outside bar and eating area that The Spot has to offer.

10. This was also really sad--someone had placed this muddy stuffed bunny on a ledge outside my apartment. I tried to capture the stark contrast between what used to provide comfort, and now is being tossed out on the streets in light of the hurricane. Hurricane Ike has changed everything about people's lives.

11. I was also very excited that Casey's Seafood Cafe came through relatively unscathed. Not that I love seafood that much, but how sad would that be if my namesake was destroyed! Symbolic? Perhaps.

12. This is the Flagship Hotel, which I'm sure everyone has seen on the news. If you go back and look at my photos and video, you can see the Flagship at the very beginning of the storm.

13. This is actually the church that I attended while in Galveston. It was nice to see it up and running despite the hurricane.

14. There is traffic everywhere on the island, mostly because there are few functioning stoplights, and a lot of debris. They are diverting everyone onto the sidestreets, and the National Guard is directing traffic, which, of course, is very helpful (sarcasm).

I really felt a strange contrast as I was driving around the island. The business part of the island is starting to pick up--some traffic lights, some restaraunts, some grocery stores are working. But then as I headed to the residential areas of the island, that's where the devastation sets in. How do you go about picking up your life after this? And,

How is this going to affect the tourism on the island (6 million tourists per year)?
How is this going to affect the economy of the island?
What about the residency programs--are any medical students going to interview here after the hospital has flooded and the island has been ravaged by a hurricane?
Are any changes going to be made in the evacuation protocol?

A few things to ponder.