Report on a dying city

[unixronin]

Hurricane Katrina beat, bruised, battered and bloodied New Orleans.  But it's looking like Hurricane Ike killed Galveston.

Of course, one could well argue that building a city on an oversized sandbar wasn't the best idea in the first place.  The harsh truth is Galveston's one of several cities that's been living on borrowed time for quite a while now.

Comments

It's sad.

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I've been there about half a dozen time, though not for some years now. I'll always remember its public beaches--not glamorous or scenic or sunswept, but crowded and messy, but welcoming. I'll remember the nearby crab and shrimp shacks, the huge palms along the highway and the Angel Statue that greeted visitors and commemorated the 1900 storm that nearly destroyed the island so long ago. I'll remember the Bishop's Palace. I'll remember Colonel Bubbie's Army Surplus (http://www.colbubbie.com/), where you could once buy a space suit, a WWI helmet, any kind of gas mask you wanted, or just while away an idle touristy hour wondering at his wild and wonderful merchandise. I'll remember riding the Galveston Ferry just for fun, and because I love ferries, staring out at the Medical School, and daydreaming about tropical medicine.

Another one of the sanctuaries of my memory has fallen.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Galveston has been on borrowed time from the first. They borrowed more of it after it was destroyed the first time. I've read horrific accounts from people who survived it. It really brings home the parable about those who build their houses on sand.

If even the seagulls haven't come back, that's a very bad sign.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Well, too bad, really.

I haven't a lot of sympathy for people who build houses in stupid places.

[7leaguebootdisk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they should have left it after 1906, so they got 102 years more than they really should have.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Is there enough industry nearby to support the population there? There definitely is in NOLA. Where there is enough money, they can rebuild as often as they have to. (I make no assessment on the advisability of doing so.)

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

Carnival has announced that it will start sailing out of Galveston again on November 1. That's less than a week away. If Galveston is still in that severe a state of ruin, I don't know how that is possible.

Some of the webcams are back up. You can't see too much now (almost 9PM), but perhaps tomorrow morning.

http://www.galveston.com/webcams/

[bfly.livejournal.com]

They're still planning to hold the Lone Star Rally there, albeit in December rather than next weekend as originally scheduled.

[yndy.livejournal.com]

I learned to crab-fish in Galveston.
I remember fondly standing on her beaches at night, watching the moon rise to my left and head toward my right while facing the surf as it rolled in - and thinking how it was to be on neither east nor west coast, but facing south with all the sea before me.

How sad.