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| Waterlogged: A confused cow refuses to move for a National Guard Humvee along Highway 27 in lower Louisiana, near Sabine Pass.
Farmers tried to move livestock to higher ground. Patrik Jonsson/The Christian Science Monitor |
In Ike's wake, holdouts complicate rescues
More than 100,000 in Texas and Louisiana are estimated to have refused hurricane evacuation orders.
from the September 15, 2008 edition
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Pat Murphy talks with
Monitor staff writer Patrik Jonsson about rescue and relief efforts along the Louisiana coast following Hurricane Ike.
Specialist Le – a sushi chef in civilian life – signed up for the National Guard after fleeing New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, fed up with images of looting and determined to not feel like a victim again.
"We'll go 24 hours, we're ready!" the lanky Le shouted enthusiastically as he piloted Charlie Company's two-ton personnel carrier down Highway 27.
Forging flooded highways toward Hackberry, ready to take on dozens of residents, they encountered confused cows, soaked rats, and hundreds of homes and trailers completely flooded in what had become a macabre sight: The view of the Gulf's salty waves encroaching nearly 20 miles onto what was once dry land. "Water, water everywhere," muttered former Marine Corps officer Sgt. Peter Legle.
The convoy motored nearly 10 miles into the flooded areas, ending up at a "lily pad" staging point – an abandoned refinery – just outside of Hackberry.
But the carrier remained empty as boat operators reported that most residents stuck in the flood were staying. "These are the most self-sufficient people in the country," said Sergeant. Legle.
"It's frustrating sometimes, but I understand where they're coming from," he said.
Agent Mayo encountered dozens of people who refused rescue. Generators were running, and many residents were watching TVs on the top floors, even attics, of their homes. "They told me, 'Come back tomorrow and I might be ready to go,'" says Mayo. "I told them we might not be back, but they were undeterred."
Agents pulled out about 75 people from the Hackberry area, including an elderly couple who had tried to flee in a small boat but had become entangled by the wind in a tree. Clutching two bags and a small mutt, the couple said they'd lost all their chickens and cattle. The husband thanked every National Guardsman he met.
At a staging point in Carlyss, La., along the major north-south road into coastal Cameron Parish, local farmers motored through the floods in a tractor, returning from moving cows to higher ground. Still, many cows remained standing neck deep in water, they said.
One resident had waded through the waters to release two chained dogs that had been left behind. Some who had fled began to realize the extent of the damage. "Our house is gone," said evacuee Tina Lyons.
Hackberry resident Darren East, his shirt soaked, came in on a rescue boat as a pale sun sank across the flooded prairie. "We sat around watching TV and listening to the news, and then we saw the water getting higher and higher," he said. "It was a little hectic."
Seventy-five people remained in Hackberry overnight, joining thousands of others determined to ride out the floods that clung to the Texas-Louisiana border. Attempts to get them out resumed Sunday morning, as rescuers across the region went back to work. The relief effort could last two weeks, said Legle.
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