Boston.com: Photo essay of Ike

[CottonEyedHorn]

Truly astounding.
The Link

 

[Seattle Husker]

I don't understand that picture. Is there really a road build with a 45 degree incline? If so, why?

 

[zzzz]

So the masts of boats can pass under it.

 

[Brisketexan]

It's the 332 bridge over the intracoastal, from Freeport to Surfside. And it's not at a 45 degree angle -- it just looks that way. It's plenty steep, though. I wouldn't get on it in an ice storm.

Also, you can almost see my folks' house from that angle.

 

[Rip76]

My cousin sent that link to me right after the storm...

some really intense photos in that link.

 

[Horn-N-LA]

I have family in just about all the little town just N/NW of Freeport and I'd go down there all the time to go crabbin or fishin. It's simply amazing to see the water that high.

And I always hated that bridge being afraid of heights. It was an amazing view at the top seeing the gulf though, and you felt like you were going straight down on the water on the way down to Surfside.

To the person above who mentioned their parents house was in the pic, what was the little restaraunt called that was on the last street before you hit the beach? You would take a left on that street and it was probably a mile or so down. I think it was purple or blue and people would write all over the walls and pillars? I imagine it's gone now though.

 

[Brisketexan]

You may be talking about Kitty's Purple Cow, down the bluewater highway. It took a beating, but it wasn't that fancy to begin with. Early word is that she'll re-open in a few months.

Mi-tee fine cheeseburgers and ice cold beer.

Heck, they got power turned back on this weekend, and expect water service back sometime this week. Surfside weathered things remarkably well. Up the coast, however . . .

 

[pevodog]

I've heard over 10,000 head of cattle drowned in Chambers County. The fishing villages of oak island &Smith Point are history.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Me and a photographer visited Oak Island / Chambers Co. a few days after the storm. I've never seen anything like it and hope never to again.

Utter Devastation

Video of Oak Island

Also, that cemetery with the coffins forcibly exhumed is in Orange. The Grammy-winning Texas swing master Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown is still buried there, barely.

Gate Almost Drifted Away

 

[shorty]

The devastation is incredible. Thank God it was not a category 3 or higher.

 

[Scooter]

Cool pictures. But while I was looking at them there was an attack on my computer. It is probably just a coincidence because that URL seems valid.

 

[TXBabe97]

Wow, it's been three weeks already. Every day I drive from Houston to Port Arthur for work (for now). As I first made that drive the week after IKE, moving eastward along I-10 the devastation increased with every mile. You get to Baytown and some things are screwed up, but not bad. Then increasingly more signs and more roofs are down and damaged. Then all of them were. The worst I saw along I-10 was between the Anahuac and Winnie areas, and along to Port Arthur. I've made this drive a million times. There were buildings and landmarks that I remembered being there that now are not or are so damaged you can't recognize them. And this is just the view from the highway.

Chambers County is a mess. Today crews are still cleaning up roadside debris and there is still standing water and muck in the gutters and (former) pastures. Stranded cars that you wonder what the heck happened to it. Saltgrass and endless plywood splinters amid black muck, with the occasional cooler or other weird plastic item strewn in there. I was told that before the big dozers came in that the muck/debris was 8-9' high over the road. Can't help but think there are people and animals in there somewhere. I did see some big hogs along the side that was cleared. There is a slight stench that seeps into your car as you make that drive.

There is a "watch for cows" warning along Hwy 73 between Winnie and Port Arthur, because all the fencing is damaged. The trees that did make it are scarred with a black waterline about 5-8' -- it's weird. If you looked across what was left of some tree-lined area, until the 5-8' marks it is black; everything above that looks like winter. This is the road that was blocked for several days because of the two barges that had drifted about 10-12 miles up from their original moorings and rested on the highway.

We have employees from Chambers, Jefferson, Orange Counties and Cameron Parish who have literally lost everything they own. Yet they are coming to work and cleaning up when they can. I was so lucky -- my power in Houston was on the next day and I had no tree damage, but when I get here and find out about my work friends who rode through 8-10' floodwaters and saw their houses literally wash away in Bridge City or Hillebrandt or Sabine Pass, that's heartbreaking. These are the ones no one is talking about outside of the Golden Triangle. There is a big cleanup in Bridge City this weekend and I am glad we have a good team of people who are going to volunteer to help clean out some of our fellow employees' homes. It's a big community effort.

The devastation on Bolivar is different. That literally was wiped off the map. The problem in this area was storm surge and all the crap it brought with it, moved and left behind.

Sorry for the long post. It's been a rough three weeks at work. This is what's going on in that area, and I haven't even scratched the surface.