GALVESTON, OH GALVESTON....

All week the old song of the same name has been constantly going through my head as I worried for Galveston and everyone else effected by Hurricane Ike. As I watched the horrendous video footage, I could only fear for the worst, although I prayed for the best. West Galveston Island was really hit hard and it will be a long time before anyone can even get back there from the Galveston side. A stretch of the four lane highway just after it turns from being Seawall Drive, into The 3005 (or the San Luis Pass Rd.), completely collapsed after the ground underneath had been washed out. The road is completely gone. You can go to the following URL to see the video from KHOU TV in Houston:

http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282684

So, our Galveston friends called this evening to say that they watched this same video and were able to see both of their houses are still standing. But, you can't even see where the paved streets used to be in any of the private subdivisions, and many houses (mostly older ones) are simply no longer there. They lost an amazing amount of beach from one end of the island to the other. The debris everywhere is incredible, as if you're looking at a miniature set of Galveston. And, who knows what will be left by the time residents are allowed back in to Galveston?

The highway could take months and months to repair and the only other way back to Galveston is to continue west for 55 miles take the first right, go another 30 miles, take another right and go back east for another 55 miles to reach I-45. I haven't heard if that stretch of road survived or not. Sounds like it's going to be a major pain at any rate.

Half of the restaurants on Seawall Blvd. are either completely annihilated or just no longer there. This is really hard for me to wrap my brain around, especially since we were just there in July. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if they hadn't hustled everyone out of Dodge ahead of time. The seawall did exactly what it was designed and built to do, but the wall only goes so far and it doesn't extend to West Galveston. This is why the private beach houses were hit so hard. The ocean is a powerful force, especially when paired up with Mother Nature.

As far as I could tell, our favorite Biker Bar "Woody's" is gone which caused me a moment of reflection. Of course, they will be back. Eventually. I hope.

We told our friends that if and when the time comes to begin cleanup, we will head down there with our shirt sleeves rolled up and do what needs to get done. I'm not even talking about repair work. I'm merely talking about helping them sift through their things at both houses so repair work can begin. Who knows when we'll be going down there to help? Then, we figured we can volunteer ourselves to neighbors. There is so much that is going to have to be done, it just seems overwhelming, but we figured the more people there are to help, the faster everyone can get their dreams back up and running again.

I also want to give a BIG shout out to all of the brave Galveston rescuers and those who stood vigil through the storm. I would have never been able to do that. And, thank you to everyone for all your prayers. Galveston may be down for a time, but its going to be back. Eventually.