Fire burning entire Galveston block

Sept. 23, 2005, 10:36PM

Fire burning entire Galveston block
By KEVIN MORAN and HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

GALVESTON -- Galveston emergency officals raced to the scene of a fire that was consuming an entire residential block at 21st Street and Church Street shortly before 10 p.m. A mass of firefighters could be seen running from their command center at the San Luis Hotel to fight the blaze.

At about 8:15 p.m., the west end of Galveston near Offat´s Bayou now had about 2 feet of street flooding, said mayor pro tem Joe Jawoski.

Jawoski also reported that power is out at two of the pump stations that treat sewage. He said there are no health concerns for overflow or contamination. The city has a diesel-powered backup generator, but because of the looming storm, does not want to use it, he said.

CenterPoint Energy reports 60,000 customers in the Galveston County area are without electricity.

Meanwhile, in League City, residents should expect winds of 80 to 85 mph by midnight, said John Simpsen, public information officer for the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management.

Those winds are expected to last four to five hours, said Simpsen, who said he has been in contact with officials from the National Weather Service. Storm surges will be from 5 to 7 feet there; 7 feet at Bolivar and 5 feet at the west end of Galveston Island, he said.

Officials are also expecting significant erosion damage on the west end, he added.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew for Galveston, as the city manager said residents should prepare for 80 to 90 mph winds beginning about midnight.

The cities under curfew include La Marque, Texas City, Galveston, League City and Friendswood as well as the unincorporated areas of Galveston County.
"By 5 a.m., it should start dying down," City Manager Steve LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc said police, fire and public works crews would immediately begin assessing the city for damage. He said crews will make sure there is access to the emergency room at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

"The first thing we´ll do is clear roadways," he said.

Thomas said officials will not make a decision on reopening the city until after the damage is assessed.

Meanwhile, she noted that 11 people had taken shelter at Alamo Elementary School, which was opened around noon. At least three people there had missed the last bus out of town for evacuees on Wednesday. Others included homeless people offered shelter by police.

"We are glad to be able to give people that one more chance to get out of the storm," Thomas said.

Some of the first arrivals were Raul Rincon, 73, his brother, Miguel, 66, and sister, Angie, 60. The three moved from their frame home near the seawall to the school, which Raul Rincon attended when he was 9.

Miguel Rincon, a retired Texas Department of Transportation worker who suffers from colon cancer, said the three went to the island community center Thursday but missed the last bus the city had provided to take people to shelters north of Houston.

"We heard about the shelter from a neighbor of ours,´´ Miguel Rincon said. "So we got cleaned up and came up here.´´

Unaware of the shelter, Linda Blankenship decided to ride out the storm with her son at their Galveston duplex because she didn’t have enough money to stay in hotels and was worried about the jammed highways. She said the wind has started to pick up, but wasn’t worrisome yet. More unsettling was the fact that her block was deserted.

A more encouraging sign: "One of the bars is still open down on the seawall."

"I think we are going to be OK," she said.

The impact from Hurricane Rita so far:

• The power is out in areas around the San Luis Hotel, where officials are sheltering, and covers from lights have been ripped from under the hotel.

• Exploding transformers are showering the street with orange and blue sparks across the city.

• The west end of Galveston near Offat´s Bayou now has about 2 feet of street flooding.

• Waves began lapping at Galveston´s seawall this morning, sending spray, trash and driftwood onto the sidewalks. The scene was much the same this afternoon.

• At the popular tourist destination Stewart Beach, water has surrounded the pavilion containing a snack shop and restrooms, but isn´t likely to reach inside.

• On Heards Lane, from 57th to 69th Street, streets were flooding as the tide rose. Forecasters don´t expect water to reach inside houses.

• At Bermuda Beach, a west end subdivision 5 miles from the end of the seawall, seawater covers the ground below the first row of homes on stilts, many of which were already undermined by Hurricane Claudette in 2003. The water is unlikely to reach the houses, however.

• At the San Luis Resort, winds toppled a 15-foot palm tree, snapping it in half 2 feet from the ground. Others palm trees were being bent back by the wind.

A more immediate worry is how residents react to the storm.

LeBlanc said Galveston police had responded to two burglaries of evacuees´ homes.

Galveston police also reported arresting a drunken surfer who jumped off the Flagship Pier.

Television crews who filmed the 4 a.m. plunge called police, who cuffed Mike Scurry, an operahouse stagehand, as he emerged from the surf.

As for tonight, LeBlanc said, police, fire and other public safety personnel will take shelter inside the San Luis Hotel and will not perform any emergency response.

The excitement bypassed 80-year-old Bill Snipes, who was taking an 18-block hike to a friend´s downtown building, nearly as old as home, that will be his shelter tonight. He parked his car in a high spot not far from the city´s seawall.

Snipes said he has weathered every storm since 1950 in his frame home off of 48th Street, sending off his wife and kids so he has no one to worry about but himself. This time, however, early predictions of 175 mph winds rattled him and he opted for sturdier shelter.

Snipes said he was grateful that Rita seemed to have taken a turn that would reduce damage in Galveston.

"You have to feel sorry for those folks but, being selfish, it feels good to be on the clean side of a hurricane.´´

Across the street from Galveston´s Grand 1894 Opera House, Bob Faris was selling last-minute items from his store to people who live in the apartments and condominiums around Postoffice Street.

"They´ve been getting canned goods, beef jerky, chips and batteries -- all the necessities,´´ Faris said. "They haven´t been buying as much beer as I was expecting.´´

Luke´s Caterers was also ringing up sales from police, media and stubborn Galveston residents. A.R. Lucas was selling bottled water, beer, soft drinks and other goods so fast that many items, such as batteries, were running out.

"We´ve been out of bread for two days,´´ said Lucas, who vowed to stay open as long as he has electricity. "We´re selling the hell out of hot food.´´

He said he was surprised that in such dire straits one of his largest sellers has been condoms.

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