Mark and I went to Bolivar a week or so ago. We hadn't been since Hurricane Ike and wanted to see for ourselves how bad it was. Bolivar has been one of our favorite places to go because Mark can drive on the beach there. And there are places we can take the dogs and let them run and play. Well, it was amazing and very sad to see how thorough the destruction truly was. From the moment you get off the ferry from Galveston and still see trash caught on the fences. Just to the left is a junk yard for cars and another one for appliances.
We went down to the beach where we normally cut over - by the Audobon Society Preserves. All of the viewing decks are gone. And then we started to drive up the beach - fully 80-90% of the houses are either totally gone or so badly damaged as to be uninhabitable. At first, you would think the house was just missing a deck, and then you realize you are seeing through to the kitchen. Or all that is left is a pile of rubble or the pilings.
Several places along the beach, there were huge mounds of sand - probably as big as my house. What they were doing was scraping the beach, then sifting the sand to remove the debris. The clean sand was then being dumped to form the basis for the dunes that were destroyed. That was another thing - I'm used to seeing the dunes, yet this time was it was so totally flat!!!
But there were signs of strength and the fortitude of the residents. You could see American flags when there was nothing else.
And there was signs of rebuilding - it's going to be slow, but Bolivar will come back!!!
1 comment:
since i just came upon your blog i thought i would comment on this post. we lived in the freeport area for 20 yrs(1981-2001) so seeing these pictures makes me cry all over again. we use to go to the Bolivar all the time. but once again i am reminded that living directly on the coast has its drawbacks and sooner or later this was bound to happen
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