OTB 61 BP and the Storm


	Hurricane Ike - Gavelston - USA By Peter Davis - Lifeguard Chief
	OTB 61 BP and the Storm The first day was a shock when I got up to surf at first light and found waves already in my yard. I threw my favorite three boards in my Beach Patrol truck and drove through the neighbors’ yards to get to the highway. It was blocked already by water, but I found another way out. The water wasn’t supposed to get very high till the afternoon. Lt. Tony Pryor and I had split the crew the day before with most of our resources and people up in Santa Fe High School led by Supervisor Penny Shull. A skeleton crew of five remained in Galveston and were to stay at the San Luis Hotel. This was comprised of myself, Lt. Tony Pryor, Supervisor Loree Pryor, Supervisor Sean Migues, and Senior Guard Joe Cerdes. My thinking was that if we got wiped out on the island there would be resources who could get in quickly by road or water to help. The rest is a blur. We started pulling people out of the north side of the island by about 9am or so. Most of these were wading assists. We would get them to high ground and the police department would take them to Ball High School for emergency shelter. As the day went on this relatively easy task got more and more difficult as the water and wind rose quickly, transformers blew, fires broke out, and people got more and more panicky as they realized this could and would actually kill them if they stayed. I don’t know how many people we rescued exactly, but we didn’t stop until about 9:30 or so, when the winds were up in the mid ‘80s. Tony and Loree had just made a phenomenal jet ski rescue over on 59^th street of an older gentleman who was already waist deep in his living room. I finally made the difficult call to get everyone off the streets. Apparently, during the night, there were many, many desperate calls for help. Early the next morning we partnered up with Captain Walter Braun and the rest of the Police Dive Team. As soon as the wind dropped below hurricane force we shared boats and members. We started in the neighborhoods finding people who had survived the storm. Around noon, Supervisor Penny and her team of Senior Guards Justin Ridel, Chris Holmes, Matt Healy, Aaron Shaffner, Mark Butler, Travis Turnbull and Supervisors Kara Harrison, and John Beverlin. As more and more people were able to get word to the Police Dispatch and the Emergency Operation Center the calls started piling up. The fresh team went to work wading, on paddleboards, and by boat. With little or no thought to the dubious water quality and the piles of debris floating all over, they swam, waded, climbed to get people to safety. Later in the afternoon the troupes arrived. State and Federal agencies started making it in with lots of resources. Texas First, Parks and Wildlife, and a multitude of search and rescue teams went to work to relieve and supplement our tired crews. All told we rescued over 300 people. By Sunday, we changed tactics. The Police were swamped. Over the next few days, we took over all welfare checks, trying to locate missing people. Our EMTs checked patients and tracked what happened. We searched buildings, took people to the hospital or evacuation site, passed out food, gave information flyers out, used our vans to shuttle people to get resources or elsewhere, and prevented people from being on the south side of the seawall until the area could be checked. We also supplemented the police department during the night shift with vehicles and officers until their support arrived from other agencies. Like many of the other first responders, we are only now beginning the long process of looking to our personal needs, houses, families, etc. One thing I already know, is that we have many lessons to learn from this. Some are logistical, but most are more ethereal and have to do with teamwork, trust, relationships, and the remarkable resilience and heroism we are capable of when the demand is there.

	On the Beach #60 9-12-08 Now We Know Now we know what we are made of. The big one finally came. The past few days are a blur. No sleep, irregular meals, stress, fear, worry, conflict all balled up into one tight knot. All of us that went through this had different roles, but all of us share this combination of emotions and factors. Some crumbled and became bitter, self absorbed, and resentful, but there were many who showed the amazing potential that hadn’t been realized until now. There are heroes among us and they aren’t always who we expect. Many of them are city officials who have worked 18 hour days under incredible conditions. Others are public safety personnel who have made rescues, put out fires, and handled medical emergencies. There are many in public works who are working tirelessly around the clock to restore the basic necessities of clean water, power, and a debris free environment. Some are people who were chosen to be put in leadership roles, but there were many who you wouldn’t have expected to show the grace, tenacity, and courage that they have displayed. For me, it’s an absolute honor to work along side of the quality of people like Paula Ozymy, Steve Leblanc, Lyda Ann Thomas, Mike Dricks, Charlie Kelly, Henry Poretto, Walter Braun, Tony Pryor, Suzie Green, Norma Horton and many, many more. In our little piece of this, I can’t express the amount of pride I feel about the Beach Patrol crew. A core group of about 12 guards have made around 300 high water rescues, working closely with the GPD dive team. I expected that, although was impressed with the courage they showed under extraordinary and unfamiliar conditions. Since then, they have turned their attention to new tasks with equal fervor. The past few days have been spent following the mayor’s directive to keep people on the north side of the seawall, assisting the EOC (emergency operation center) with welfare checks on people who are still here on the island, providing a shuttle service to residents so they can get food and water or evacuate, helping the police department with laundry, and passing out information flyers that the city’s Public Information Officer, Alicia Foyt, provides us with daily. Some of the stories that people we helped out of their houses were amazing. There was an elderly woman who spent the night in water up to her neck with her cat on her head. One couple climbed into their attic and lay on a mattress holding hands as the water rose all the way up to the point where the mattress was wet before it began to recede. There was another guy who was worried that he and his grandmother would drown as the water rose. He swam her out of the house into the storm only to realize they wouldn’t survive. Then he pulled her back into the house where they rode out the storm breathing in the airspace right below their roof. There was a group that launched their boat and rode over a mile to the relative safety of the San Luis Hotel during the eye of the storm. These are but a few. We are all capable of amazing things. Galvestonians have already shown a resilience of spirit that seems impossible. The road to recovery will be long, hot, mosquito infested, and taxing. The one thing I know now to the core of my being is that we will rebuild our home. The crucible of our loss will forge a previously untapped strength. With all these heroes among us, how could we possibly fail at anything we set out to do? Now we know.

	Galveston Beach Patrol Hurricane Ike Summary What follows is a brief breakdown of the Beach Patrol’s activity during Hurricane Ike. 1. Hurricane Plan- We learned a lot and will tweak our plan, but overall it worked really well. We kept a skeleton crew on the island, sheltered at the San Luis. The rest of our assets and personnel were at Santa Fe High School, staged to come in immediately after the event. Our thinking was that if we lost people or equipment during the storm, the larger crew could come in immediately after the event. We lost minimal equipment. One truck was lost during a rescue attempt and all vehicles stored on Park Board property were lost. 2. Interagency Relationships- We have always worked really closely with EMS, but in this event we interfaced very well with the GPD, the GFD, and the EOC. We were able to do a lot of things other agencies couldn’t and were able to take a lot of the minor stuff off of the GPD’s hands using both certified and non-certified personnel. The city is now planning on integrating the Beach Patrol into their revised hurricane plan. 3. Activities During the Storm and the 3 weeks following (No particular order): -300 water rescues -750 welfare checks (ongoing) -shuttle rides pods, evacuation sites, and transports to hospital -distribution of food, water, ice -animal rescues -motorist assists -daytime patrol on seawall (ban on south side and in water) -media relations- numerous interviews, several ride alongs -coordination of donated materials -property checks for board members/family -partial cleanup in Mardi Gras Warehouse -fuel and supply shuttling for Jamaica Beach Fire Department -distribution of information flyers to city to streets and houses -attendance of city meetings for Beach Patrol/Park Board (2 per day) -radio dispatching for Galveston Police Department -liaison with city for FEMA housing for Park Board personnel -laundry detail for city 4. Park Board Police Department mutual aid to Galveston Police Department The Galveston Police department was stretched really thin during the week after the storm with the curfew, road block, and the volume of high priority calls. Our staff members who are peace officers were integrated into the GPD’s night watch (6pm-6am). For the most part we partnered with their officers in either one of our vehicles or one of theirs. We have a mutual aid agreement between the Park Board Police and the Galveston Police Departments. Once the DPS and other agencies arrived we rolled our guys back into their “normal” duties. 5. Personnel/Hours worked summary- Many of our personnel worked continuously for the first 48 hours of the event. After that time we worked 10 hour shifts. This continued through Sunday, Oct. 5th. The exception to this was the officers who worked the night shift with the GPD. They worked 12 hour shifts, with two days on and one off during that week.