Gas Shortages
An unexpected result of the damage wrought by Hurricane Ike is that the oil refineries are not able to get up and running. There was some damage to the refineries, but the lack of electricity and the problems at home for the workers are making it very difficult to get the refinieries running at 100%.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the southeast are expereincing problems getting gasoline. The supply lines are dry and there just isn’t any gas being produced and shipped out from Houston. Officials predict that it will be another 2 weeks before the shortage can be expected to ease.
Rescue Efforts Underway
I am so impressed with all the agencies and organizations that have sprung to the ready to help all the people in Galveston and Houston recover from the tremendous devastation from Hurricane Ike.
There are caravans of emergency response vehicles headed to Houston from all points north, east and west of the city.
One of the biggest problems we are facing is the lack of electricity. Hundreds of thousands of people have no power. The damage from fallen trees, broken windows, and flooded streets is overwhelming. We are very thankful that so many people are coming forward to help.
Evacuating Galveston
With Hurricane Ike bearing down on the Texas southern coast, officials have declared that everyone needs to leave Galveston or face certain death. Now, that’s pretty scarey words and people need to take heed. They need to know that once the hurricane comes ashore, that there will not be any rescue efforts. There will not be any response to 911 calls. And people who stay behind with children need to be arrested for child neglect and have their children taken away to a safe place. This is serious and life threatening and there is just no good excuse about wanting to protect your “stuff” to warrant staying on the island when the risk is this great.
Goodbye Gustav
So the hurricane that threatened New Orleans this summer has wimped out and been downgraded to a tropical storm really quick once it hit land, just west of New Orleans. They got a lot of rain and a little bit of flooding, but the levees held up and everyone can breathe easy again. The mayor won’t let anyone return just yet – the power is out for millions of customers. So the New Orleans natives have a kind of forced vacation for a couple days at whatever town they’re hiding in from the storm.
When all is said and done, I wonder how much money the state of Louisiana and the neighboring states that are taking in all these domestic refugees will spend on emergency transportation, food and shelter, etc. for the thousands of them who had to flee? Better safe than sorry and it appears the lessons learned from Katrina were put to good use this time.