stationed in Galveston to provide medical support for relief workers after Ike, I have had the opportunity to see the devastation left behind by the storm. Although the seawall here has prevented the kind of destruction that occurred during the storm of 1900, but it is still a grisly scene down here. The damage is no longer front page news due to the election, the financial crisis, and the plethora of other national news items. The damage, however, is still very real and incredibly pervasive. Where the camp that I am helping to staff is there was 10 feet of water during the hurricane. There are 18,000 homes on Galveston, and 90% of them were damaged in some fashion, many of them to the point of having to be destroyed and rebuilt. Of all the businesses here on the island, some are re-opened, and some will never be re-opened.
this photo is amazing to me. these people are fishing for food in water that is so choked with debris that it will be years before it is truly "back to normal". Anytime you have to stand among rusted out refrigerators, chlorine containers, household garbage, industrial waste, and all the other items washed up by the storm to fish...you may want to carefully consider whether or not you should eat those fish.
