Surfside Beach completely destroyed. Police and firefighters who rode in the bed of the high-clearance truck appealed to holdouts to leave in order to save their lives.
There were blunt words for those who wouldn't.
"We asked them to write their Social Security numbers on their arms for us," Police Chief Randy Smith said solemnly.
The region's tourism industry also took a blow, as Ike pummeled the popular barrier island town of Galveston. A nightclub — perched on a pier over Galveston Bay — that once featured Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope was reduced to sticks
To prevent such a natural disaster from devastating the island again, the city built a seawall seven miles long and 17 feet high and began a tremendous project to raise the level of the island.
Galveston’s seawall now extends 54,790 feet, 10.4 miles, and covers one-third of Galveston’s Gulf side. Total cost of the construction of all parts of the seawall was $14,497,399. The original seawall was 15 feet thick at the base, five feet thick at the top, 17 feet high and weighed 40,000 pounds per foot.
Thousands of structures were jacked up during the grade raising while dredges poured 4 to 6 feet of sand beneath them. In other cases, (such as Ashton Villa) the fill was pumped into the raised basements Residents used elevated wooden sidewalks to walk through town. The grade-raising project began in 1902 and was completed in 1910 and included more than 500 city blocks.
Hurricane Ike lands 3:10 AM EDT 9/13/08
Hurricane Ike proved to be a huge storm system, 900 miles across at its largest. It remained a hurricane hours after crashing ashore over Galveston
