Orange County completely under water

[WOS87]

Even though it's 100 miles from where the center struck, Orange looks to have suffered major damage from the flooding....

16th Street (aka Highway 87, the major North-South Thoroughfare through town)

http://idisk.mac.com/cboehme69-Public/nonsports/orangeike1.gif

I'm pretty sure these are the government housing houses on Park in Orange

http://idisk.mac.com/cboehme69-Public/nonsports/orangeike.gif

[Antec]

We have friends in a small community near Vidor so im sure they are in same shape

Our Prayers to all the folks in those neigborhoods

[WOS87]

if anyone saw Anderson Cooper standing in chest deep water on CNN, he was actually reporting from Bridge City (Orange County)

[WOS87]

Latest from the Orange Fire Department:

CLICK HERE --->LINK (http://www.orangeleader.com/local/local_story_257192123.html)

[WOS87]

Local Orange sports reporter thanks Anderson Cooper..

CLICK HERE --->LINK (http://www.orangeleader.com/ReportersBlog/local_story_244232221.html?keyword=topstory)

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by WOS87
Local Orange sports reporter thanks Anderson Cooper..

CLICK HERE --->LINK (http://www.orangeleader.com/ReportersBlog/local_story_244232221.html?keyword=topstory)

I told my father earlier that I thought the coverage had been very poor. It seems as if the media is waiting for some undiscovered devastation in Houston or Galveston rather than going out and reporting on the story.

[WOS87]

Originally posted by kepdawg
I told my father earlier that I thought the coverage had been very poor. It seems as if the media is waiting for some undiscovered devastation in Houston or Galveston rather than going out and reporting on the story.

I only heard about it through text messages my parents and siblings, who are currently all still there, sent me

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by WOS87
I only heard about it through text messages my parents and siblings, who are currently all still there, sent me

I received a message from a friend at 9 this morning about 4 feet of water in a friend's house.

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by kepdawg
I told my father earlier that I thought the coverage had been very poor. It seems as if the media is waiting for some undiscovered devastation in Houston or Galveston rather than going out and reporting on the story.

The local stations have done a pretty good job of sticking to the story. The national networks have been quite a bit sensational in my opinion.

[WOS87]

Originally posted by kepdawg
I received a message from a friend at 9 this morning about 4 feet of water in a friend's house.

My parents live on 15th Street, literally 2 blocks from where the first photo above was taken...

[Old Green]

We be praying for everyone in SE Texas.

[kepdawg]

This pic from a skycam in Jasper may not look like much but it tells me there is power!

http://skycam.jas.net/jpg/skycam.jpg

[Cat22]

KOGT is reporting the 90% of Bridge City is underwater!

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by Cat22
KOGT is reporting the 90% of Bridge City is underwater!
:( Many prayers for all in the area.



I read an article in the Leader about one of the BC athletes that went to Slidell.

[LH Panther Mom]

Those who stayed in Southeast Texas are rescued from Ike's wrath
Ignoring evacuation order is costly.
By Marty Toohey

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Sunday, September 14, 2008

ORANGE — As Hurricane Ike loomed, many residents refused to evacuate Bridge City and Orange — two small, storm-weary towns at the southeastern tip of Texas.

But as the storm swept through on Saturday, the resulting surge almost totally flooded the towns, prompting rescue efforts and uncomfortable stays at makeshift shelters.

Throughout the day, rescue crews in skiffs pulled residents off rooftops and out of the water, which rose several feet above the levees and flooded the area's bayous. Some homes started flooding in less than an hour, residents said.

"We should have left; I wish we'd left," said 47-year-old JoAnn Stroupe of Orange, a recent North Carolina transplant who wore the blue T-shirt and jeans that she figures are about all she owns now. "We know hurricanes. But we just didn't think it would be this bad."

Some residents blamed the government for not taking better care of them; others said they should had left but did not expect floodwaters that came so swiftly and rose so high. Their expectations were shaped by Hurricane Rita, whose eye passed over the towns in 2005 but didn't bring much flooding, and by Gustav, a storm that struck earlier this month and one that most of the people who remained here say deflated their opinion of what a hurricane can do.

"These people just didn't take this seriously after what they feel was a false alarm with Gustav," said Orange Mayor Brown Claybar, who was going through his second stint in an emergency operations center in less than a month.

Residents say the waters appeared suddenly in midmorning and were waist-deep quickly (recollections varied from a few minutes to an hour). Orange and Bridge City sit at sea level, surrounded by small rivers, with virtually no high ground. The first, makeshift emergency operations center was reachable only by boat. Despite rumors, the levees did not break, according to public officials.

Claybar said a general call for volunteers was issued in the late morning and about 20 residents with boats responded. They, the fire department and later state rescue crews spent the day navigating the narrow streets. Some evacuees got off rooftops by simply stepping into the boats.

Pauline Woodson, 47, and her 16-year-old son, Eric Geral, said they swam four blocks to the center of town, where they were picked up by a rescue crew.

"The inside of home, it's destroyed. The fence, it got washed away," said Woodson, pulling out a digital camera and showing pictures of her ky blue mobile home, the waters just above the front door. As she sat on a folding chair at the entrance to Orange's main shelter, she said, "I don't know what's going to happen. I just want to get to my mom's place in Louisiana."

Officials could not give good numbers for how many people stayed in Orange, but City Manager Shawn Oubre estimated that between a quarter and a half of Orange's approximately 17,500 residents might have refused to obey the mandatory evacuation order, with similar estimates coming for neighboring West Orange (approximately 4,000 residents) and Bridge City (about 8,600 residents, according to the 2000 census).

Nearly 400 people rescued in Orange passed through the town's shelter, which was set up at West Orange Baptist Church, one of the few dry spots in town. Some evacuees stood in confused clumps outside the doors, a few complaining about a perceived lack of information.

Some people at the church seemed likely to stay, but others were picked up by friends or relatives.

"All these people have now is the clothes on their backs," said Claybar, the Orange mayor. "And those clothes are wet."

Shelter workers worried that supplies might not arrive to feed those staying at the shelter Saturday night. Oubre, the city manager, said Orange was not equipped to care for them and expected supplies from the state to arrive today.

But he stressed that the state responded quickly and appropriately.

"This is not a failing of the state," Oubre said. "The failure of the system came when the general public ignored a mandatory evacuation order. We should already be in the recovery phase, but all our firefighters are out rescuing people."

He said that the levees have trapped some of the water on the land side and flooded the drainage pipes. Some of the water will recede naturally, he said, and when it does the pipes will begin draining the rest.

"We will do a reassessment Sunday," he said.

David Craig, an Orange resident, waited for his daughter to pick him up from the shelter.

"We lost our retirement home in Katrina," he said, "and now we've lost our home and everything."

A few feet away, his wife, Deanna, quietly sobbed and whispered to their daughter, "We'll never get it back."


AAS link (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/14/0914ikesetexas.html)

[Looking4number8]

nm

[Cat22]

Pic on KOGT.com Most are of Bridge City!


http://kogt.smugmug.com/gallery/5953607_Nn2hu#P-1-12

[WOS87]

http://idisk.mac.com/cboehme69-Public/nonsports/orangeike3.gif

[Aesculus gilmus]

The national media have declared this whole situation "not nearly as bad as feared" and moved on.

Whether it's true or not, that is the perception being broadcast nationwide.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by Cat22
Pic on KOGT.com Most are of Bridge City!


http://kogt.smugmug.com/gallery/5953607_Nn2hu#P-1-12
I just went through the gallery. :(

[Gontex]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
[B]Those who stayed in Southeast Texas are rescued from Ike's wrath
Ignoring evacuation order is costly.
By Marty Toohey

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Sunday, September 14, 2008



Some residents blamed the government for not taking better care of them; "This is not a failing of the state," Oubre said. "The failure of the system came when the general public ignored a mandatory evacuation order. We should already be in the recovery phase, but all our firefighters are out rescuing people."


My condolences to all who lost so much. As far as blaming the government, what were they supposed to do? Force them out at gun point.

[Aesculus gilmus]

I am guessing that some did not leave because they didn't know when or even whether they'd ever be allowed back home, not that this is a good excuse for what they did.

I suppose there are some practically destitute people in these areas as well. I am not aware of whether there was some sort of program to finance their evacuation. I know there was in Louisiana a few weeks ago.

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
I just went through the gallery. :( me too :(

I sent WOS1 a text message, but haven't heard back from him. I hope they evacuated and are okay.