Galveston residents return to destruction

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Galveston residents return to destruction

Houston Chronicle*

By DALE LEZON

Sept. 24, 2008,

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6020116.html

At dawn this morning hundreds of cars streamed across the causeway

onto the Island as residents here were allowed to officially return

to their homes and live in them for the first time after fleeing

Hurricane Ike.

They said they marveled at cars, benches and other debris littering

their yards. Some scrambled over fallen trees to reach their houses.

Then they unlocked their front doors and saw how the storm had

battered their homes.

City officials said residents could live in homes behind the

seawall, but warned them that Ike knocked out power and water to the

Island and it may take weeks before they are restored completely.

Few residents said they could live in their ruined homes after they

saw them. Mold covered walls, furniture and everything else like

thick black paint. Soggy carpets squirted when they stepped on them.

Hard wood floors were warped, cracked and smeared with thick mud.

Homeowners said they'd stay with friends or relatives elsewhere.

They'd clean their homes or hire work crews to repair them. Then

they'd move back to the island and get their lives back to normal

lives.

" You've got to keep going forward, " said Pam Fitch. " You can't stop.

You're alive. You survived. You've got to pick up and keep going

forward. "

Ike drove floodwater six feet deep into the Fitch's home. It ruined

everything. She her greatest loss was her Elvis bust. The electronic

doll gyrated and sang in Elvis voice.

" It's just sitting there like a dead Elvis, " she said.

In less hard-hit areas, residents said about a foot of water flooded

their homes. They said they could live in the second floor of their

two-story homes, but they'd rather make sure the entire house was

repaired and safe before they moved back to the Island.

Arthur Lozano said he was glad Mayor Lyda Ann had closed the

Island for nearly two weeks after Ike hit Sept. 13. The lack of

electricity makes living here dangerous.

" I think the mayor did a great job, " he said.

Lozano, 62, said ' previous program that allowed residents to

enter the Island, assess damage to their property and then leave

also had been a benefit. He was able to see that he still had his

home and the building that houses his auto and body repair shop.

He doesn't know when he can reopen his business, which was heavily

damaged. But today he and his family members were mopping out mud

from his home and hauling out muddy, water-soaked furniture.

" I'd say within a month's time, " he said, " we'll be back to normal. "

Others said they'd move from the Island.

" When I came back d here to this house, my son said, 'Oh, boy. We're

back home. We'll clean it.' I had to tell him: 'No.' "

Balderas said he and his family have rented a house in

Galveston for four years, but now they're moving to Houston to find

another house near where his relatives live. Their muddy, water-

logged couches, chairs, television sets, stereo and some of his

son's ruined toys were piled on the curb to be thrown away.

Balderas and his nephew, Edgar Calles, 14, struggled to drag and

refrigerator from the kitchen out to the curb to be as trash. His

son, Balderas Jr., watched them. He picked up some of his

muddy toys in the trash pile.

" I'd like to clean up and stay here because this house is mine, " he

said. " But it's gross here. "

dale.lezon@...