So who needs TV, the Internet does things so much better! Check out this LiveNews Cameras Hurricane Center site –there are 8 screens all running live, like sitting in a newsroom itself and getting all the different camera feeds. You just click on the sound button to hear what is going on in a particular camera shot.
And a lot is going on already. Hurricane Ike is still far from making landfall, the expected storm surge is still something like 18 hours from arriving, and already beach houses are being inundated at low tide up to the second floor on Galveston Island!
Many, many years ago when I was a child I was in Galveston and visited one of the only buildings that remained standing in the wake of the 1900 hurricane that caused a storm surge of more than 20 feet and killed approximately 8,000 people. The water flooded more than 15 feet deep across the entire island. Right, the whole island was completely and totally underwater. Only like two mansions that had been built on the island remained standing and one is now a museum. The family that lived there managed to save more than 200 people, pulling them from the surging waters and even going out in a boat –launched from the third floor window — to rescue more people. It made a serious impression on me.
People, don’t be stupid, don’t be thrill-seekers, get out while you can. That causeway is not going to be passable once the winds hit 40 mph. And with the waves expected, that causeway may not be standing in a few hours from now to escape across. And if you’ve ever been to Biloxi, Mississippi or Pass Christian (pronounced Chris-chee-ann) you may have noticed the slabs of what used to be houses, hotels, and apartment buildings, some with stairs leading up to nowhere, that were all that were left standing for a half-mile inland after Hurricane Camille made landfall. It wasn’t the wind that took them away –it was the surging sea.
Get out people or you are going to die.