Ike Relief

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike's "Certain Death" Warning Failed

Gene Hafele, director of the Houston-Galveston National Weather Service office, said about 500,000 people in and around Galveston were in a mandatory evacuation zone, and only about 300,000 left.

Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, estimated there were about 140,000 people in the smaller, "certain death" zone. About 70 percent of those residents evacuated. That left nearly 40,000 people to contend with the worst of the storm surge.

There is "no one answer" why so many Texas residents ignored the evacuation order, Read said.

Some probably refused to leave because they'd been caught in the chaotic evacuation for Hurricane Rita in 2005, he said.

During that event, roads out of Houston became gridlocked. Officials later estimated that about 90 people died during the 2005 evacuation because of heatstroke, dehydration, and other causes.

Read also said that some of those who refused to leave during Hurricane Ike stayed because they have an intense anti-government attitude. "They think, No one tells me what to do," Read said.

The National Weather Service's Hafele said officials decided to issue the "certain death" evacuation warning because the storm surge from Hurricane Ike would be unlike anything seen on the Texas coast since an unnamed hurricane in 1915.

"People who were living in the storm surge zone had never experienced a surge like this and had no way of knowing how severe this could be," Hafele said

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This is what the BA Ledger printed about our story.

WHERE TO BEGIN – Members of a Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma disaster relief chainsaw team survey damage done by Hurricane Ike before beginning work.

Broken Arrow-based chainsaw team plays big part in Ike disaster relief

By: Lucienda Denson, Lifestyle Editor
10/15/2008
Updated 10/22/2008 02:06:04 AM CDT

Jeff McCollough has a newfound appreciation for things he's taken for granted for a long time - water and food.
McCollough was one of 17 men with a chainsaw disaster relief team from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma who recently spent a week in South Texas cleaning up after Hurricane Ike.
The two "red caps," or group leaders, were Jerry Mayfield and Jarred Ochsner, both from Broken Arrow.
The remaining 14 men were from several churches across the state, including Claremore, Watts, Sand Springs, Bixby, Mounds, Catoosa and Tulsa.
"This is the first time we have had 17 people answer the call for chainsaw work. People are on board for lots of other things, but it's usually hard to get people to go out and cut trees off houses. It's hard and often very dangerous work," McCollough said.
"The men who gave a week of their time had families they left here. Jerry said that was one of the most important things he saw - the men went to help people in need, but had to leave their own families. They also gave up a week of vacation time, or lost a week of pay. Some of the men are retired, but they still have responsibilities at home."
The group arrived in Grangerland, approximately 20 miles north of Houston, and learned residents had been promised food, water and help from FEMA.
"The food never came," McCollough said. Jay Macintosh, pastor of the Grangerland Baptist Church took $15,000 from church funds to purchase food.
Other rescue teams also arrived, including those with food trailers. They soon were handing out water and preparing 110,000 meals a day.
"They (the food trailers) are still down there," McCollough said.
The next teams scheduled for the area are the mudout teams that will help people return to their homes, McCollough said.

Jeff McCollough

See how God has worked in my life and in my family!