Slush Pile: Ike death toll at 47; power scarce

2008 Slush Pile

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Ike death toll at 47; power scarce

2008 Reader Submission
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Hi Guys-

My favorite is the two golfers killed by a falling tree. Playing golf in a hurricane! Smart. (Scroll down)

best, lt

Ike death toll at 47; power scarce in Houston Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Wednesday, September 17, 2008

(09-17) 04:00 PDT Galveston, Texas -- About 250 people who withstood Hurricane Ike on a coastal sliver of land will be forced off it so crews can begin the recovery effort, authorities said Tuesday, vowing to invoke emergency powers to make it happen.

County Judge Jim Yarbrough, the top elected official in Galveston County, said those who defied warnings that they would be killed if they rode out the storm on the Bolivar Peninsula are a "hardy bunch" and there are some "old timers who aren't going to want to leave."

The Texas attorney general's office is trying to figure out how legally to force the holdouts to leave, Yarbrough said. Local authorities are prepared to do whatever it takes to get residents to a safer place.

The peninsula is too damaged for residents to stay, and with no gas, no power and no running water, there is also concern about spread of disease, officials said.

"I don't want to do it," Yarbrough said. "I'm doing it because it's in their best interests."

Authorities may never know if people who tried to weather the storm were washed out to sea. So far, there are no confirmed fatalities, but Yarbrough and other officials said he didn't think that would hold.

"I'm not Pollyanna. I think we will find some," he said.

Ike's death toll officially stood at 47 Tuesday, with most of the deaths coming outside of Texas.

Authorities confirmed a total of nine deaths in the Houston metropolitan area, all from post-storm debris-clearing work, house fires or carbon monoxide poisoning by generator use. Dozens of others had been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, health officials said.

The majority of Houston was still without power late Tuesday, with CenterPoint Energy projecting most would be without electricity for another week. Residents again waited in line for hours on end at the 22 supply distribution centers set up in Houston to hand out food, water and ice.

Houston Mayor Bill White complained the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't bringing in the supplies fast enough. White eased the city's curfew, now from midnight to 6 a.m., but urged drivers to stay off the streets after dark. So far, about 100 people have been cited for curfew violations and 94 arrested for looting, authorities said.

Rhonda Clayburn, who lives in a trailer park in the Houston suburb of Klein, said she's been told her water service could take up to six weeks to restore. Her family has been using an aquarium to flush the toilet.

"We have a lot of people in here. It's going to get nasty with no toilets," she said. "How do we live without a toilet for a month?"

Also Tuesday, President Bush got a firsthand look at the fury that Ike unleashed on the Gulf Coast and was greeted by a virtual ghost town in Galveston where it made landfall. He urged frustrated storm evacuees to keep it that way until local officials say it is safe to return.

"I know a lot of people are anxious to get back in," Bush said. "I urge you to listen to state and local authorities before you come back."

In light of the continuing need from Ike and other storms in this year's busy hurricane season, Bush pleaded for donations from the public to relief organizations like the American Red Cross.

"I hope the country does not have disaster fatigue," he said.

Many thousands of displaced residents face weeks or months in shelters, and Bush assured them personally and publicly that the federal government would reimburse them for their costs, up to 30 days, of interim housing.

ke fatalities

Authorities have reported a total of 47 deaths in 10 states as Ike moved from Texas northeastward across the U.S. midsection:

Texas: 17, including five from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Louisiana: 6, including two contractors who were electrocuted.

Tennessee: 2, both golfers killed by a falling tree.

Arkansas: 1, a man killed by a tree falling on a mobile home.

Ohio: 6, including five by falling trees and one person electrocuted while working on a generator.

Indiana: 7, including a father and son killed helping children escape from a ditch.

Illinois: 2, including an elderly man found in a flooded backyard.

Missouri: 4, including a woman struck by a tree limb and an elderly man thought to have drowned in a flooded yard.

Kentucky: 1, a 10-year-old boy struck by a tree limb while mowing a lawn.

Pennsylvania: 1, a 46-year-old man struck by a tree limb while helping remove a large tree from a house.

Source: Associated Press

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/17/MN7O12V220.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Submitted on 09/17/2008

Submitted by: Larry
Reference: San Francisco Chronicle, 9-17-08, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/17/MN7O12

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks, but we don't do mass awards for things like this. For one thing a number of these, like the people who died from carbon dioxide poisoning, are basically too common since we get similar stories all the time. The father & son who died trying to rescue others would likely be considered heroes and not acting with the extreme stupidity necessary for a DA. The 10 year old struck by a falling tree limb is not only below our maturity cutoff but also just a victim of an unfortunate accident. Etc.

Candi said:
Definitely Toss: Other
What Bruce said.

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2008 Slush Pile

Ike death toll at 47; power scarce

2008 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance