Gail Ettenger made her last phone call at 10:10 p.m. She was trapped in her Bolivar Peninsula bungalow with her Great Dane, Reba. A drowning cat cried outside. Her Jeep bobbed in the seawater surging around her home. Ettenger, 58, told her friend she was reading old love letters by flashlight. "I think I really screwed up this time," she said, according to Monroe Burks, Ettenger's neighbor who had evacuated to Houston. That was Friday, Sept 12. On Wednesday -- 12 days later -- her nearly nude body was found face down by a huge debris pile in a remote mosquito-ridden marsh in Chambers County, about 10 miles inland from where her gray beach house once stood. Two weeks after Hurricane Ike swept through the Texas coast, 400 people remain missing, mostly from Galveston County, according to an analysis of calls logged to a hot line set up by the nonprofit Laura Recovery Center to assist local authorities. Until Wednesday, Ettenger was one of them.
One of the worst aspects of dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike has been the toll exacted in human life. As I understand it, 29 are now confirmed dead, but there are still more than 400 people missing and/or unaccounted for. This could become much, much worse very quickly. Imagine being one of the folks charged with searching for the bodies...and I think my job is tough....
As I drive around this area, particularly in Galveston County and in Harris County along the west side of Galveston Bay, it's easy to see that this one was serious. Prior to landfall, when officials warned that those who stayed on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island faced certain death, they weren't kidding. Judging by what happened to Gilchrist, Ike was every bit the bastard he was predicted to be...and then some. While any loss of life is a tragedy, most of those killed by Ike had advanced warning and still made a conscious decision to shelter in place. Yes, it's sad that they died, but they for all intents and purposes unwittingly committed suicide. Realistically, how can any reasonable person be expected to muster sympathy for someone who had the means to leave and survive...and deliberately chose not to?
Today I'm scheduled to go to the far west end of Galveston Island. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but it's not a trip I'm looking forward to. Just when I'd begun to be able to deal with what I have seen in the two weeks I've been here, I get to deal with what by all indications is another order of magnitude. I have no idea what I'm going to be seeing but I have a pretty good idea that it's not going to be good. Whether or not I'm really for it is beside the point. This is my job, this is what I do, so Galveston is where I'll go. Wish me luck....
