Ike Follows Rita’s Gigantic Footsteps
Fox News Producer Brooks Blanton and his crew at the Galveston Memorial during Hurricane Rita in 2005
In late September 2005, I found myself on Galveston Island waiting for Hurricane Rita to come ashore. It was three weeks after Katrina decimated Louisiana and Mississippi and the people of Texas were taking no chances.
The entire Houston metropolitan area was evacuated and looked like a ghost town as we drove through. The smaller seaside city of Galveston was also pretty much deserted and those who remained behind were bracing for a direct hit. With the exception of law enforcement, media and rescue workers there wasn’t very many people left in Southeast Texas.
As the outerbands of Rita approached, my crew and I stopped to check out a memorial that had been built along the main road that runs along the ocean. The plaque in front of the memorial told the story of a deadly hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. Nearly 6,000 people were killed during “The Galveston Hurricane” and the bustling port city was destroyed. Some of those who died in the rising storm surge and fierce winds included 60 children and 10 nuns that were trying to ride out the storm in an orphanage. Like many of the residents of Galveston the storm surge and winds proved extremely deadly for them. The day after the hurricane hit, residents began cleaning up and rebuilding. Galveston Island was raised to a higher level and a 10 mile long, 17 foot high seawall was built to protect the city from hurricane storm surges. So far that seawall has worked and has never been overtopped.
A woman sits on the seawall in Galveston as the ocean grows more active behind her.
Fast forward three years. It’s a disturbing deja vu. I am back on the Galveston Seawall this time with reporter Marianne Silber, photographer Tom Jachman and Satellite Technician Jeff Burton doing live shots at the Memorial. As Ike changed paths once again overnight and headed for this area the mayor of Galveston ordered evacuations this morning and many residents in nearby Houston have been ordered out as Ike has his eyewall set on Galveston Bay. Traffic on I-45 was at a standstill as residents are heading inland away from what could be a very dangerous storm.
We are staying at a beachside hotel that has survived many storms and hurricanes. City officials and emergency workers are staying at the same place, so we are confident that we will be okay. We will report from Galveston as long as possible, but the safety of our crew always takes priority. Like those who own businesses and homes here, we are hoping the storm surge and flood waters from Ike will be held off by that seawall once again.
Jeff Burton, Marianne Silber, Brooks Blanton and Tom Jachman waiting for Ike at the Hurricane Memorial in Galveston, TX
Tags: hurricane ike
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Brooks Blanton has been with FOX News since July of 2006 as a producer based out of the Network's southeast bureau in Atlanta. Prior to working for Fox he was a senior producer, investigative producer and assignment editor for stations in Phoenix, Arizona. He has covered many impacting stories such as the deadly track of the Super Tuesday storms that ripped across Arkansas and Tennessee in February 2008, the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech and the celebrations in Miami when Fidel Castro gave up power over Cuba. 
I heard that traffic was building on roadways leading away from low-lying areas in Galveston County, and officials urged residents to finish storm preparations quickly. Some gas stations were running out of fuel as residents scurried to leave.
Eyewitness accounts of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane
http://www.therealgalveston.com/1900-Storm.html
IKE WAVES AT PENSACOLA TODAY: 22.6 feet
http://weather.myfoxtampabay.com/maps/WTVT/custom/waves_gulf.html
Good story….but….”the seawall has done it’s job”? Come on sir! You are a writer!
As a lifelong Gulf Coast area Texan, I’m just wondering when Galveston was moved to the ‘ocean’. Last time I looked it was still on the Gulf of Mexico.
i think that if even just one Rescue Worker get,s hurt trying to rescue any of the folk,s in Galvaston Tx. The person being Rescued should be held responceible for that injury and Proscuted and sent to jail.When you are told to leave and you choose to stay then you should be on your own all the way after all you and you alone chose to be in that perdicumeant you should have had a plan to save yourself………………………..
Thank goodness none of the rescue workers were seriously injured in the line of duty. But what happened with that lady who was killed tragically when a tree fell on top of her house is really upsetting
Please tell me why a single person needed to be rescued. They were warned for weeks about the hurricanes. And buses were available for the poor and indigent. I say let’em wait it out. No need in risking the lives of rescuers.
No Brad, the woman who was killed by a tree was an idiot for staying there. EVERYONE knew they were supposed to leave. Don’t mess with nature, especially when EVERY news station is telling you not to.
I agree, Regina. If you don’t leave when you are told to leave, you are ON YOUR OWN! As a taxpayer, I am tired of paying for additional rescue teams risking their own lives, as well as housing, relocation, food, etc. then only to hear people lamenting about being stranded, etc. and having to wait for rescue teams to arrive.
I agree, Regina. If you are told to leave and you do not…YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Being a taxpayer, I do not believe that rescue workers should put themselves in the path of danger, and why do we have to shell out for food, provisions and rescue attempts when those residents were forewarned!!
I agree, Regina. If you are told to leave and do not, then YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Why should rescue workers be put at risk if you are forewarned. As a taxpayer, I am tired of paying for food, shelter, rescue teams, etc.
This question has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. I just want to know if we can go back home in humble,texas 77396, off beltway 8.