Friday, September 19, 2008
Hurricane Ike Part III (Gilchrist)
Gilchrist is or was a town on Bolivar Peninsula.
Via Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters September 17 blog entry The destruction of Gilchrist, Texas.
Figure 1. The town of Gilchrist, Texas before and after Hurricane Ike. Image credit (top): Googlemaps.com, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Houston-Galveston Area Council. Bottom: National Geodetic Survey.
Liveblog Update 12:40am from Galveston News Conference, Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough:
Via Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters September 17 blog entry The destruction of Gilchrist, Texas.
Many of you have probably seen the photo of Gilchrist, Texas showing complete destruction of the town of 750 people, save for one lone home. High-resolution satellite imagery made available by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (Figure 1) confirm that of the approximately 1000 structures existing in the town before Hurricane Ike, only about five survived the hurricane. Approximately 200 of these buildings were homes, and it is thought that some of the residents attempted to ride out the storm in their homes. According to media reports, about 34 survivors from Gilchrist and the neighboring communities of Crystal Beach and Port Bolivar have been fished out of Galveston Bay in the past few days. Rescuers who have reached Gilchrist have not been able to find any victims in the debris because there is no debris. Ike's storm surge knocked 99.5% of the 1,000 buildings in Gilchrist off their foundations and either demolished them or washed them miles inland into the swamplands behind Gilchrist. Until search teams can locate the debris of what was once was Gilchrist, we will not know the fate of those who may have stayed behind to ride out the storm.
Figure 1. The town of Gilchrist, Texas before and after Hurricane Ike. Image credit (top): Googlemaps.com, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Houston-Galveston Area Council. Bottom: National Geodetic Survey.
Liveblog Update 12:40am from Galveston News Conference, Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough:
We are starting to have conversations with Chambers County because there are debris piles over in Chambers County and areas that surround the Peninsula that have not been fully reviewed yet and we'll be working with Chambers County because they may be physically over there but they may find bodies that originated over in our county...
Undoubtedly we know we will find more and some we may not find that just may be missing persons that are never found. That's reality.
Labels: Hurricane Ike
