They are cleaning up the streets

They have moved in with some heavier equiptment and are cutting fallen trees and pushing stuff to the side. Still waiting for porta-potties at the hospital. Gonna go take care of some cats and birds and my place today (ground level was flooded).
I think that some of the thick soup left is a modern version of the primordial soup which gave rise to life. Just a bit more toxic. Have seen a few folks develop more nasty infections from small pricks in just 24 hours.
I am very proud to be part of this country and this recovery effort. I am thankful to all from the Coast Guard helicopter pilots and crews and other military pilots and crews who flew in the 50-70 mph winds to all those here today. I am thankful for all of the other ground support from the military and DMAT medical support and the SETRAC transport support. I am thankful to all who support this university operations and this city's operations. Please tell your loved ones who may be on this island that if they are staying, they are making a foolish mistake. Go, relax for a bit and you will be let back on. Stuff is stuff. If you stay and get very sick you will be going. No one is telling anyone to leave and never come back. We just want to let the folks supporting the recovery effort work on that and not worrying about John Q Public. It will allow it to proceed quicker. I live here and want to be back in full swing quick also.

Just to clarify - UTMB was never on fire. This proved to be an interesting issue (I can say interesting because the issue has come and gone). The acrid smoke only increased in volume and then came straight at UTMB. I had a sore throat for a few hours (yes, I was a dummy and was out in it some - helped move a locked motorcycle up to higher ground). The smell permeated the ED and went into the rest of the building. The ED was moved for a while, but then returned.

First One, a bit late

Hello all! A warm welcome to my new site and thank you for reading about Galveston, post-Ike. Let me tell you that I will tell you more in the coming days and show you more pics and vids of the island.
Let me reassure you also that there are not piles of dead that are being hidden anywhere. I have heard from many off of the island that the relative news blackout (also fed by a few news agencies suggesting that this is the truth) is because of the extreme destruction. Was it bad? Yes. Was it 1900 bad? No Way. Are there some dead so far? Yes, and there will be more found. Some poor souls may never be found. The news agencies are being kept out intially because they serve no purpose. There are news trucks on the island that weathered the storm already. Anyone else coming needs to be either first responders, or critical employees of the city or of UTMB. There is no water, no electricity, probably no effective sewer drainage.
There is no food, no gas. If you live on the island, give it at least 2 weeks to get back. There is no medical care - anything of consequence will be shipped off the island as the hospital has only minimal functions. There are no pharmacies open.
There are plenty of people walking around (alive, unlike the implications by the news agencies). There are plenty of boats in the wrong places (on Harborside, near the ED, on Broadway, on the Causeway).
I am going to sleep now. We are here. We appreciate all of the federal teams that have come in to support the operations (military, DMAT, state and private agencies) and are helping them where we can.

These pictures are from before the storm! The water was already backing up (the surge) before we felt any wind of consequence.

The little fella crossed Harborside drive and was walking to the emergency department (didn't like what was going on - the storm coming).

The ED had closed all hurrcane blinds except for one door.

A ground level parking lot is empty.