Grisly finds put Houston-area Ike death toll at 32
2 bodies found along Galveston shore, another in Orange County
By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 30, 2008, 12:19AM
The Houston-area death toll from Hurricane Ike has reached 32 with the discovery this weekend of two unidentified bodies along the shore in Galveston County and the body of a Port Neches man found in Orange County.
Meanwhile, 40 people who went missing during Hurricane Ike have been reported found, according to dozens of calls received by Laura Recovery Center's hot line. However, the hot line also received about 16 new cases, leaving its count of storm-related missing persons at 365, according to an estimate from Bob Walcutt, executive director.
Walcutt said privacy laws that keep hospitals and shelters from confirming the location of evacuees and patients have kept many families apart.
"Because of that, we've got people who are desperately looking for loved ones who are safe in shelters," he said.
Walcutt said he hoped the list of missing will be pared down significantly in the next week or two to those who "really are missing."
His current list includes many elderly people and at least 26 children. Most of the missing live in Galveston County, more than 50 from the Bolivar Peninsula alone.
Chambers County officials, meanwhile, are awaiting reinforcements to help continue the search of miles of debris washed six miles inland by Hurricane Ike. Searchers have been picking through Bolivar's wreckage for any signs of people who have been reported missing.
"The state has promised to send us as many workers as we need from Task Force One to do the job," said Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia. Until taking a break this past weekend, an exhausted band of eight sheriff's deputies, state game wardens and national refuge workers had been conducting daily searches.
Rescue attempt delayed
The three bodies found this weekend include that of a Port Neches man who had been missing since he called 911 when Hurricane Ike made landfall, authorities said.
Texas EquuSearch volunteers discovered Greg Walker's body Sunday about a mile from where his truck was found, said Lt. J. LeBoeuf of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Walker called in distress early Sept. 13, but no rescue attempt could be launched until the next day, LeBoeuf said.
"The wind was too high, and water was still white-capping," he said.
Walker, 40, was married with three children. Port Neches is southeast of Beaumont in Jefferson County.
Tim Miller, of Texas Equu-
Search, said his volunteers had spent four days in Orange County searching for Walker. A friend of Walker's spotted his body Sunday, Miller said.
The two unidentified bodies, both found Saturday in Galveston County, are greatly decomposed, but authorities hoped to find more clues to their identities during autopsies conducted Monday. Results were not immediately available.
A fisherman discovered the body of a person believed to be a Caucasian male about 3:15 p.m. Saturday on the rocks two miles west of an area known as Severs Cut. The other body, believed to be a Caucasian female, was spotted in a debris pile about three hours later by all-terrain vehicle riders on the northwest side of Pelican Island, about 300 yards from Pelican Cut.
"The more people that are out and about going places, the more likely they are to find folks," said D.J. Florence, chief investigator at the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office.
The weekend discoveries bring the total number of deaths nationwide from Hurricane Ike to 67, according to The Associated Press. The 600-mile-wide storm caused flooding as far north as Illinois.
Searching for remains
State game wardens and other law-enforcement officers have shifted from looking for survivors to finding the remains of the deceased, said Aaron Reed, a spokesman for Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.
"Our expectation is there are certainly more storm victims to be found," he said. "Whether we are able to find them, I don't know."
Aerial spraying has begun to fend off massive numbers of mosquitoes that make search options almost impossible.
"A great deal of debris was washing out to sea, and some of the missing may never be found, unfortunately," Reed said.
Capt. Rod Ousley, also of the parks department, is overseeing search efforts in an enormous coastal area that runs from the Louisiana state line to the Harris County line.
"In this deal, we've tried by airboat, four-wheeler, four-wheel-drive truck and helicopter, and we're just going to keep trying," he said.
Staff writers Lise Olsen, Rosanna Ruiz and Cindy Horswell contributed to this report.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6031153.html
dane.schiller@chron.com
--
No comments:
Post a Comment