Ike.kmz
This Google Earth File contains our GPS flight track and about 100 oblique aerial images of the Texas coast from High Island on the Bolivar Peninsula to the southern tip of Galveston Island.
A similar Google Earth file with all images (about 260) is available, but is about 11 MB. Please contact PSDS (
acoburn@wcu.edu) if you would like a copy of this file.
What an Adventure!
Capturing the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Ike along the Texas coast was an adventure that almost didn't happen.
On the morning of September 18, WCU photographer Ashley Evans and I arrived at Houston's Hobby Airport. However, due to damage - and for logistical reasons - we were unable to secure a small plane in Houston, and made arrangements to fly the Texas coast in a Cessna 172 out of Victoria, Texas (2 1/2 hours southwest of Houston).
Our flight was scheduled for 1:00, and everything was going according to plan until we arrived at the Victoria airport were Bob, our pilot, informed us that our plane had encountered mechanical problems and had to make an emergency landing outside of San Antonio.
Our only available option was a 1972 Beechcraft Musketeer - a single-engine, low-wing aircraft with windows that didn't open. After much discussion and debate, it became apparent that the Beechcraft was not a viable option, and it looked like our trip was going to end in Victoria.
Bob, however, was not going to let that happen. He got on the horn and eventually found an available Cessna 172 at David Wayne Hooks Airport, 30 miles northwest of Houston. So, we hopped into the Beechcraft and made the hour and a half flight to Hooks.
We arrived at Hooks to find the airport without power, and were immediately informed that the airport's fuel pump was broken. Fortunately, it was repaired and the fuel truck arrived an hour or so after we landed to fill us up. In the meantime, temporary flight restrictions that would have prevented us from flying below 2,000 feet had been lifted by the FAA.
Unfortunately, by this time, the weather had turned cloudy and hazy - unfavorable conditions for aerial photography. Anxious but hopeful, we fueled-up and set out for High Island at the eastern end of the Bolivar Peninsular at 5:00.
We persevered and made it as far south as the southern tip of Galveston Island before having to fly back to Hooks where we switched planes and finally touched down back in Victoria around 9:00 pm.
What we saw on the Bolivar Peninsula was incredible!! It looked almost exactly like the Mississippi coast after Katrina! Row upon row was wiped clean, with only pilings and concrete slabs marking where homes once stood. A sand tube (synthetic tubes filled with sand) snaked along the surf zone, a testament to a coastal engineering effort that failed to protect development that never should have been put there in the first place.
The images and associated Google Earth file (to the left) show the extent, location and magnitude of the damage (which actually extended as far south as Surfside Beach) and illustrates why we need to stop and think about our coastal development policies.
