"How can the NO complex of levees, dikes and pumps stand up to such a surge of water? "
How can pumps work when there isn't any electricity?
When I lived in Galveston, they got hit one year. When I got home from work, I was listening to Houston news, and at the end, one of the talking heads mentioned in an offhand way that they were evacuating the West End of Galveston. I was on the road 45 minutes later. It had been a while since Galveston had been hit by a hurricane, the previous hit was Carla in the early 1960s. No one was prepared, least of all John Sealy, the big hospital there. There was some big meeting in Austin, so all the department heads were there. With no one to take responsibility, the didn't release people from work the next day until almost 3 pm. And with no one to make decisions, they didn't have time to evacuate patients. So most people wound up riding the storm out because by 3 pm there were already tropical storm force winds and people were afraid of driving over the bridge, one of two ways off the Island that doesn't involve swimming. The other is the Ferry, but the beach road was probably washed out at that point...
So there they were, hurricane bearing down on them and a full patient load. Employees sleeping the hallway. Then the power goes out. Ok, no problem. That is why they have backup power generators. But, the contractor who installed them obviously didn't have anything that smacks of a clue because they were cooled with city water. Given that the pumps for city water were powered by electricity also appears to have never crossed their minds. Of course, without power, respirators and monitors didn't work so well either...
There were some amusing moments, however. The emergency management team had their headquarters at the top of the towers in front of about the only windows in the building with a beautiful view Gulf. There were operational for only minutes after it came ashore. Sure, it was impressive when the big wigs came down from Austin for a tour, but it lost a little as far as utility. And the little handheld radios that were left didn't have the signal strength to go through all the concrete and steel of the buildings and the intercoms they had installed needed electricity. So they had no way to coordinate action in the hospital.
I came back early the next day. It is state law that state employees are required to work during a natural disaster. People would call in and I would tell them don't bother to come in, without power there was little to do. It wasn't until later that afternoon before power was restored to the hospital. I was grateful for that, the house that I was renting the second floor of was close enough to the hospital that it was on the same circuit. So I had power. Water showed up about the same time, but phone was out for almost 3 months. The substation that serviced my area was totally destroyed.
BTW, did you know that the Red Cross charges for sandwiches and ice under those circumstances? It was over a week before you could buy anything at stores, they didn't have power. While you could shop off the Island, if you didn't have power, your freezer and refrigerator wasn't working real well. As sort of a mixed blessing, employees could eat at the hospital for free. If you could figure out what was being served, some times it was hard to tell by looking at it. |
