Hurricane Ike Devastates the Bolivar Peninsula

The communities of the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas have been nearly destroyed by Hurricane Ike. The Bolivar Peninsula is a 27 mile long barrier island just northwest of Galveston and includes the communities of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Gilchrist, High Island, and Caplen. It is a permanent home for approximately 3800 people and a tourist destination for thousands more every summer. The beaches of Bolivar Peninsula have been popular for fishing, camping, swimming and sunbathing for decades and the Peninsula has recently been undergoing a both a residential building boom and a transformation into a modern resort community.

It has been difficult to fully determine the damage done by Hurricane Ike to the Bolivar Peninsula thus far as search and rescue operations kept news helicopters from flying over the area until today, but survivors who have been rescued from the area have reported near total destruction.

Other reports on the Bolivar Peninsula have trickled in to a forum set up by KHOU-TV in Houston. Story after story tells of Bolivar businesses and homes leveled by the water and wind of Hurricane Ike. Those KHOU forums have become a touchstone for families who are facing the unknown. One thread has been set up to provide a place for survivors of Crystal Beach to check in and let friends know they are ok as rumors have been rampant of a high death toll on the Bolivar Peninsula. Other threads express the fear, anger, and frustration of the people as they wait for news of their homes and feel they are being ignored by the media.

When aerial video and pictures of the Bolivar Peninsula finally became available today the real destruction of Hurricane Ike became apparent. Images of Bolivar Peninsula from before Hurricane Ike show subdivisions full of expensive beachfront homes and the post-Hurricane Ike pictures show land scoured clean by water. The few houses still "standing" have severe damage and are surrounded by desolate sand and piles of rubble where neighboring houses used to be. Hurricane Ike's storm surge and winds have destroyed not only many of the buildings on Bolivar Peninsula, but also the very land itself.

One beacon of hope for the residents of the Bolivar Peninsula is the Point Bolivar Lighthouse that was built in 1872. The lighthouse survived the hurricane of 1900 that leveled Galveston and has also survived Hurricane Ike. Also still standing is Fort Travis, which has sheltered many residents through previous hurricanes and provided that safety through Hurricane Ike as well.

Tonight due to the terrible destruction and on-going search and rescue operations on the Bolivar Peninsula everyone has been ordered to vacate the Peninsula effective immediately.

The only good news for residents and frequent visitors to Bolivar Peninsula is that the death toll from Hurricane Ike has, so far, been very low. While they are gladdened by that news the people wait for more news of their beloved Bolivar Peninsula community and permanent residents hope that they will soon be able to return to see if their home and belongings survived. And in the midst of their fears and frustration the residents posting on the KHOU forum speak of the spirit of their Bolivar Peninsula communities and wonder when they will be able to begin rebuilding. Hurricane Ike destroyed houses and businesses, but it did not destroy the heart of this community.