Crystal Beach looks like ’someone set a bomb off’

By Mark Greenblatt and TJ Aulds, KHOU, Houston
The day after Hurricane Ike pounded the upper Texas Coast, it was quickly clear that one of the hardest hit areas was the Bolivar Peninsula. After more than 24 hours of air restrictions and hampering weather, 11 News was able to get an aerial view of the Peninsula. From the start of the aerial tour, it was evident that Ike laid waste to the Bolivar communities of Crystal Beach, High Island and Gilchrist.

Crystal Beach and the unincorporated portions of the peninsula were hardest hit.

“Crystal Beach looks like somebody set a bomb off,” said Kathy Rush of the Gilchrist Volunteer Fire Department. “For the most part houses are leveled.”

Rush and other members of the fire department, joined by members of the Crystal Beach fire department, conducted a series of search and rescue efforts on Sunday. Rush said many of those who remain on the peninsula refused to leave, even though officials had issued a mandatory evacuation order.

Rush wasn’t just an emergency responder, she is also a victim of Ike’s devastation. Her house was ravaged by the storm.

“My house looks like a slab with a sign hanging on it,” said Rush, who estimated that 80 percent of structures on the peninsula have been destroyed.