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26 | Hurricane Ike
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CHAPTER
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the nightmare begins First came the water. Ike was still well offshore, but the tidal surge accompanying it began to swamp low-lying coastal areas early on Friday, September 12. Even the portion of Galveston protected by a seawall erected after the Great Storm of 1900 was inundated. It had been 25 years since Houston and its outlying communities had faced the full-on fury of a hurricane, but that storm, Alicia, did not bring water like this. As Ike moved ashore in the middle of the night, the storm surge pounded the unprotected Bolivar Peninsula the hardest, wiping away entire communities. Technically, Ike never reached major hurricane status. But its surge proved devastating and its sustained winds of 110 mph were enough to take down thousands of trees and power poles. As millions of people in Southeast Texas hunkered down in darkened homes, praying that their trees would remain standing and their roofs attached, the winds raged on and on through a very long night.
Wall of water | opposite | Fierce waves threaten the memorial to the Great Storm of 1900, which remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. his-
tory. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Johnny Hanson Water at the door | top | Sean Rumgay, 15, wades into floodwaters outside his house. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Brett Coomer
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Fire and sea | opposite | A house is engulfed in flames as
floodwaters and crashing waves inundate beach homes. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Gusts | top | A wind gauge measures wind speeds of more than 60 mph. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Johnny Hanson Memories | bottom | Waves crash over the Seawall as two men walk near a memorial to the Great Storm of 1900, which killed as many as 8,000 people. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Hazardous driving | following left | A truck ventures out as waves crash over the Seawall. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Double take | following top right | Travis Postany hangs on to a sign post as he clowns around while a wave crashes into the Seawall. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Brett Coomer Rising | following bottom right | Floodwaters threaten dozens of homes. | Sept. 12 | Surfside Beach | Brett Coomer
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Common sentiments | top left | The
messages “We don’t like Ike” and “God bless Galveston” are scrawled on plywood covering the windows of a beach house. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Leaving a wake | top right | A truck ma-
neuvers through floodwaters. | Sept. 12 | Bolivar Peninsula | Smiley N. Pool Waist-deep | bottom | Kevin Little, 12,
left, and Melonie Villa, 18, both from Deer Park, wade into the rising waters. | Sept. 12 | Kemah | Eric Kayne Flames | opposite | Chase Griffin trudges through floodwaters after checking on a boat storage facility that caught fire. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Brett Coomer
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Surrounded | top | Floodwaters breach a real estate office. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Deep-water delivery | bottom | A truck plows on, trying to navigate a road that already has been swallowed by floodwaters. | Sept. 12 | Galveston | Smiley N. Pool Flyover | opposite | A Coast Guard
helicopter passes above homes threatened by rising waters. | Sept. 12 | Bolivar Peninsula | Smiley N. Pool
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Not in the job description | top | Surfside Beach Mayor
Larry Davison clears debris from the path of a truck driven by Freeport city employee David Hoelewyn. The two were part of a team navigating high waters to see that families left before Ike’s landfall. | Sept. 12 | Surfside Beach | Julio Cortez Ocean everywhere | bottom | Water from the storm surge
continues to rise, nearly topping mailboxes. | Sept. 12 | Surfside Beach | Julio Cortez
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Beacon | top left | The Dow Chemical
Plant is seen in the background as palm trees sway in the gusty winds along Texas 332. While most of the area was dark due to power outages, generators kept the plant powered. | Sept. 12 | Lake Jackson | Julio Cortez Braving the elements | top right |
Stuart Robinson with Cyclone Research Group gets battered by winds and rain as he tries to get a look at the Seawall. | Sept. 13 | Galveston | Johnny Hanson Close call | bottom | Six townhomes burn on Beaudelaire Circle. Frederika Kotin, the owner of one of the townhomes, escaped with the clothes on her back, one shoe and her dog. | Sept. 13 | Galveston | Melissa Phillip
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