*My flight into Austin got delayed a couple of hours. Big whoop.
*It's Galveston catching it, and, once again, luckless rural Louisiana, which never seems to get any press.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2008-09-14-ike-main_N.htm
(((The adventures of a fellow Texan.)))
At the height of the storm, around 4:30 a.m., 911 calls poured into Galveston city's emergency center, but teams were unable to respond, said Mary Jo Naschke, the city's spokeswoman. (((I'd be betting none of these people were committing suicide. When the literal black water is literally pouring through the front door, people just don't get despondent. It's psychologically impossible. If David Foster Wallace had been in Galveston he'd be one chipper dude right now.)))
"It's a frightening experience seeing the water rising," she said. "Unfortunately, they had to stay down and shelter in place until this morning when we could get to them."
Federal, state and local crews ventured out in boats, high-wheeled trucks — even dump trucks to save them. Dozens of helicopters soon joined the effort, along with Coast Guard jets.
The Army, Coast Guard and Air force helicopters brought evacuees from Crystal Beach to a landing zone improvised on the parking lot of a school administration building.
Among those rescued was Wesley Moore, 53, a landscaper who got off the chopper wearing nothing but a sheet wrapped around his waist. (((This guy's my age. You know those universal nightmares where you're buck-naked and incredibly awful things are happening all around you? This guy actually had one of those experiences.)))
"I was going to stay over there like I always done. Thirty years, never had anything like this," Moore said. "When the storm surge came in, it started taking out the front row of houses, and it was like a domino effect."
Shortly after midnight, he said, a huge wave slammed another house into his. The floor buckled, the door busted in "and I couldn't get out of there fast enough," Moore said....
(((In some other space-time continuum, the heart o' Texas is wind-tattered and drenched to the bone. But in this one, it's high time to go out for some tasty migas.)))
