(September 12, 2008)—Despite the threat of a storm surge that officials say could be catastrophic, tens of thousands of coastal residents have decided to trust fate and faith as they ignore calls to head inland.
Not even a dire warning from the National Weather Service that they “may face certain death” was enough to convince them to leave their homes.
An Associated Press survey found that in three counties alone,
some 90,000 people chose not to leave despite the dire warnings
from forecasters.
The choice to stay was an especially curious one to make so close to Galveston, site of a 1900 storm that killed at least 6,000 people, and perhaps as many as 12,000, more than any other natural disaster in U.S. history.
By afternoon, Mayor Larry Davison said only one person was believed to be left in Surfside Beach, a Gulf Coast town of about 800 people 30 miles southwest of Galveston.
Davison said authorities had been told the man had left, but later saw him on his porch.
The man had no phone.
Earlier Friday, three people on waverunners were out on choppy Clear Lake, in the Houston area.
Dozens of curiosity seekers drove into a lakefront parking lot that normally holds vehicles, to take photos, drink beer or drive their pickups through the steadily rising water.
Retiree Buddy Isaacson of Pasadena was smoking a cigarette and watching his 9-year-old grandson, Brandon, go wading.
Isaacson, who said he's from New Orleans, has been through other hurricanes, including Betsy and Camille.
He says the media is blowing Ike out of proportion.
A Harris County constable pulled up in a patrol car, advised Isaacson of the potential danger, shook his head and drove away.
Linda Truman of Clear Lake has a home that’s two blocks from a creek and not far from the lake.
She's a native of Miami, where she said her family always went to see the storms roll in, and has lived in Texas 21 years.
Truman says she's taken plenty of precautions for Ike, loves the "excitement" and says, "It's lovely."
Some residents simply waited too long to try to leave.
As waves as high as 15 feet crashed over Galveston's seawall. Coast Guard helicopter crews plucked 60 people from the town of High Island on the Bolivar Peninsula, a 32-mile spit just up the coast from Galveston, after rising waters covered the only road.
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