Debris of all sorts was all over the place in Galveston as you might imagine. Some places worse than others. It seems to be a priority of course to get major roadways at least passable in one lane or two so crews can get around and do what needs to be done.
I45 is now open on the northboard side, just barely in some places, but traffic is going and coming and anyone that wants to leave the island can do so. Only official folks and media are getting back in. I45 southbound is a complete mess that will no doubt take days to clean off. Dozens of yahts and all sorts of misc debris, 3 feet deep in some places, clog the southbound side. I wonder what they do with all of it?
Some quick video below of some of what was going on in Galveston when daylight came out.
Here is a little video of the incredible surf pounding the Galveston seawall as Hurricane Ike was looming in. The seawall here is 17 feet tall and there is usually quite a bit of beach out there. Some of those waves crashing in were reaching nearly 30 feet tall! The noise was deafening. It was a bit unnerving to realize that certain death loomed only a few feet away. Have you ever seen such angry water?
Every building in that video no longer exists after Ike came through, except the large Flagship Hotel in the distance. The first building in the video is the historic Balinese Room. It was sad to realize we shot what were probably the last images and video of the place still standing. It has quite a long and rich history and many big time folks played and spent time there. A 70 year old piece of history, now gone with the wind.
We made it through the night and were out at first light documenting damage. It’s extensive along the seawall. Virtually everything outside the seawall only exists as a big pile of debris now on Seawall Blvd. There is still quite a bit of flooding on the north side, but wind damage is hit and miss, most structures survived. A huge pile of debris on I45, we couldn’t even get very far to see much that direction. West end of the island is shut down by police. They told me they don’t even know what is down there, the roads are washed out.
This huge fire broke out at an apartment complex early afternoon and burned out a number of units. I may not be able to update any more until after we get off the island. Comms here are sparse and we are super busy documenting things. Some incredible damage video to be posted later.
Below is the ENG footage we send out to the news. CBS and AP picked this up so far. I have also put an extended version of this fire as stock footage on my YouTube account.
In the late afternoon hours, an intense fire broke out on the east side of Galveston on the edge of the bay at a yacht facility. Surge water from the bay had already risen and surrouned the area, and firefighters could not reach the building. This fire burned for hours and engulfed areas downwind in thick black smoke for miles.
We don’t know the cause of the fire, but it could have been a power line taken down by the winds. The short version sent out to the news outlets is embedded here. A longer stock footage version can be seen on my YouTube channel.
Ever wonder what it’s like to prepare to actually intentionally intercept a hurricane? It’s a packing nightmare. It’s definitely not something that can be done on short notice, not if you want to do it right, be able to sustain yourself for a while without any help, and possibly survive in areas that might otherwise be uninhabitable. You have to expect, and plan for, the worst.
We pack with enough non-perishable food and water to last us at least 1 week, as well as try to get in to the target with a full tank, plus an extra 26 gallons of gas. Also various supplies should we need some minor medical care, be able to take care of minor vehicle problems, and of course all of our camera and communications gear. It makes for quite a load.
Below is a video I made while we packed for hurricane Ike. The entire video is about an hour, compressed down to a few minutes. Music is by Spiderbait, check them out and buy some of their cool music.
