Galveston Learned From History
Larry Chambers admits the prospect of the monster that is Hurricane Rita hitting Galveston, Texas has him "a little bit" nervous.
And, reports Tracy Smith, what's obvious to police officer Chambers as he patrols the city's streets is — what's missing.
"The main things is, there's very few cars on the road," Chambers tells Smith. "Very few people anywhere. It's like a ghost town, really."
And that, he says, is a sign that folks there got the hint about hurricanes.
"I think we're prepared as best we can. Yeah. I will say that," Chambers observes.
It's a lesson, Smith points out, that's 105 years in the making.
"Most of the people out here know about the storm of 1900, and what it did to the island," Chambers notes.
Long before Katrina, before Andrew, before storms were even named, there was the storm of 1900 that was, Smith says, the worst natural disaster in United States history. It leveled most of Galveston, and killed more than 8,000 people.
"My aunt was 6-years-old. She remembered it very clearly," says Bill Moody IV.
He hails from a family that's been anchored in Galveston for generations. Not even the big storm of 1900 could chase his grandpa away.
"He said," Moody recalls, " 'The more of 'em who leave, the better the fishing is gonna be for us.' "
That, Moody says, typifies the spirit of Galveston.
But City Manager Steven le Blanc stresses that the storm took its toll: "Galveston has, I think, for that reason, never really grown in population again. It sort of reaches a point where people say, 'Well, maybe there's too much risk there.' "
To reduce the risk, Galveston spent 8 years after the 1900 storm building a concrete seawall.
If offers protection but, says Smith, it's not perfect.
"If we get a 17 foot storm surge, it won't go over the seawall," Chambers explains. "Anything above that is going to go into the city."
Even if the storm surge doesn't go over 17 feet, there's another problem, Smith says: The sea wall runs 10 miles. The island is 32 miles long. The neighborhoods beyond the seawall's end have virtually nothing between them and the water.
The images of Katrina, Smith adds, offered Galvestonians another lesson: If you can't save your home, save yourself.
"Evacuate," le Blanc says. "Plain and simple. Get out of harm's way. And I am going to say, for the record, that we have been successful in that effort. …Katrina helped us do that.
"Galveston's learned a lot of lessons. Obviously, we're gonna learn another one. With Rita."
They may have to rebuild again but, for now, an island holds its breath, waiting to see what the next step is on a long learning curve, Smith concludes.
Chambers and le Blanc plan to ride out the storm in Galveston. So does Moody, in a hotel his family owns.