So most of you have probably heard the rumor that the death toll on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island aren't just a hand full. Aerial flyovers by media have been halted since the hurricane by the federal government. I have word from someone that lives at Crystal Beach that she knows personally many many people stayed but she has not heard from them since. Also i know from as reliable source as possible that there are freezer 18 wheelers sitting at Ford Park in Beaumont with body's in them. The same source says that before the hurricane is done with that there will be approximately 1300 bodys missing/found. What do you guys think is the government covering this up?.. or is this a bunch of nothing?
I'm not sure it is a good idea to be speculating about stuff like this, particularly given the fact that what you are posting doesn't even rise to the level of hearsay.
OK a little cred.. http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/801990.html Searchers ponder mystery of thousands of people missing after Hurricane Ike By JUAN A. LOZANO and MONICA RHOR The Associated Press GALVESTON, Texas | The death toll from Hurricane Ike is remarkably low so far, considering that legions of people stayed behind as the storm obliterated rows of homes along the Texas coast. But officials suspect there are more victims out there and say some might simply have been swept out to sea. Exactly how many is anybody’s guess, because authorities had no sure way to track those who defied evacuation orders. And the number of people reported missing after the storm, whose death toll stands at 17 in Texas, is fluctuating. Search-and-rescue crews cleared out Wednesday after plucking survivors from Galveston and the devastated Bolivar Peninsula, and authorities are relying on Red Cross workers and beach patrols to run welfare checks on people named by anxious relatives. “We don’t know what’s out there in the wilds,” said Galveston County medical examiner Stephen Pustilniks. “Searchers weren’t looking for bodies; they were looking for survivors.” As the hurricane closed in, authorities in three counties alone estimated that 90,000 people ignored evacuation orderst. Post-storm rescuers in Galveston and the peninsula removed about 3,500 people, but 6,000 refused to leave. Nobody is suggesting that tens of thousands died, but determining what happened to those unaccounted for is a painstaking task that could leave survivors wondering for years to come. Authorities concede that at least some of those who haven’t turned up could have been washed out to sea, as at least one woman on the peninsula apparently was, and that other bodies might still be found. “I’m not Pollyanna. I think we will find some,” said Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough, the county’s highest-ranking elected official. Pustilniks’ office brought in two refrigerated tractor-trailers to store bodies until autopsies are performed. One sat in front of the medical examiner’s office Wednesday morning with a sign on the side: “Jesus Christ is Lord not a cuss word.” By the afternoon, five deaths had been reported in Galveston County: one man who drowned in his pickup, another found inside a motel, two dialysis patients who could not get to their treatment, and a woman with cancer whose oxygen machine shut down. In Galveston County, where about 15,000 residents stayed behind, the Red Cross is helping track down the missing by setting up registries at shelters, Yarbrough said. At Galveston’s emergency management center, 12 phone lines rang constantly with calls from people trying to find relatives. As the calls came in, the city’s beach patrol would go to the homes and check. Sometimes, the searches end in relief. The Red Cross quickly found an elderly Galveston couple reported missing Wednesday morning by relatives in Wyoming, Yarbrough said.
I don't know about Galveston or Bolivar, but I know that police have been combing the marshes between Port Arthur and Bridge City every time I've gone through there (4 times since the storm now). And I don't think that the dive teams are looking for survivors.
Judging from the homes that were destroyed and piled up on the opposite side of Crystal Beach and the level of destruction throughout Galveston and the Boliver Penninsula, I suspect we haven't even begun to realize how many perished from Ike.
I don't think that it's some sort of conspiracy, I just think that they don't really want aerial shots of bodies floating around in water. Yeah, I think a lot of people were washed away, but when you are on an island it isn't as if it's easy to determine when you get swept out to sea
I think eventually the death toll will be released. If truly that many people stayed on the island and Ike did that kind of damage, there has to be more deaths than that, or we were just extremely lucky.
Not only that, it doesn't mention anything about a cover up. And why would the government want to cover this up in the first place, if anything, they would want to show a high number of deaths to encourage people to listen to follow evactuation procedures. Also, I believe the death toll is the number of confirmed deaths. If people are missing, they aren't going to add them to the toll.
Simple. They don't want the images during an election year. Same reason they don't show the bodies of deceased soldiers returning home.
So does that mean you think on November 5th we're going to start seeing/hearing about all the dead people from Ike? There is no cover up.
A few thoughts: 1. Of course they do not want aerial flyovers. First, they get in the way of flights for relief workers. Secondly, as somebody pointed out, if there are bodies, we don't want them on the news. 2. It is likely that many were washed out to sea. You do not want to speculate on that publicly though. We may never know how many. Some will never be found (eaten by marine life, etc). 3. They do not know who stayed. A good many of the missing may be in shelters with no way to get word to relatives that they are ok. It is going to take a long time to sort all this out. Once the recovery is well under way, and those in shelters come home, we may be able to get a better grasp on how many were taken by Ike.
As though anybody believes that the hurricane was created by a candidate? By all accounts, the local, state and Federal response has been MUCH better done than Katrina. Nobody with at least 3 brain cells rolling around in their cranium would allow this to become a campaign issue.
Did McCain vote FOR the hurricane? What about Obama? This issue will decide who I vote for. Sheesh, not everything is Republican vs. Democrat.
I think that the government is being shady, like always for who knows what reason this time. They don't care about us, they only care about self preservation. Sure there's some legit reasons not to release a number, but what about estimates? Jeff, The government is probably going to be visiting clutchfans now because of this thread!
That is the thing, no one knows how many people stayed in the devastated areas. If the bodies are in the Gulf now, they may not be recovered for some time, if ever. When all the "missing" people never show up, then you can get an accurate count. Remember the count now is only the confirmed deaths. I do know that the state's missing persons line was extremely busy after the storm. But honestly, does it really matter at this point? I am sure it maters to the families and it would help get more funding, but I am not on the edge of my seat waiting for the gruesome numbers.
My brother-in-law works for the state and I know for a fact that he surveyed Bolivar Peninsula in a black helicopter.
