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Many Rescues, 1 Death in Texas

Galveston sees flooding as Ike prepares for landfall

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 12, 2008 4:25 PM CDT

(Newser) – With Hurricane Ike bearing down on Texas, rescuers continued to evacuate coastal residents from the flooding, the Houston Chronicle reports. Emergency workers used an Army personnel carrier to evacuate residents of High Island, in far eastern Galveston County, stranded by high waters. Tragically, a 10-year-old boy was killed by a falling branch as his parents cut down a tree in preparation for the storm.

The boy was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in Montgomery County, north of Houston. In Galveston, police rescued a disabled couple from a house near the seawall. The couple’s son said his father, 83, and mother, 72, had initially thought they would wait out the storm due to fragile health, but changed their minds when water flooded the first floor of their house.

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Steve Owen, right, and his son Austin Owen, 13, are swamped by a wave from Hurricane Ike while standing on the sea wall in Galveston, Texas, today. (AP Photo)

A parish worker takes a break from placing sandbags on the top of a levee as water blown over the levee by winds from Hurricane Ike flows into a canal, right, in Scarsdale, La., Friday, Sept. 12, 2008.... (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A home burns as waves from Hurricane Ike crash the shoreline today in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo)

A truck drives along the seawall past crashing waves as Hurricane Ike approaches Galveston, Texas, today. (AP Photo)

Fire destroys homes along the beach on Galveston Island, Texas as Hurricane Ike approaches Friday, Sept. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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"This is a serious event. If you had a plan that you were going to wait it out in place, that may have made sense yesterday. It does not make sense now. Don't wait until noon to decide whether to evacuate. - Bill White, Mayor of Houston

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Many Rescues, 1 Death in Texas