A latent Texas law may
keep beachfront homeowners from rebuilding after Hurricane Ike's devastation. Texas's 1959 Open Beaches Act prohibits private homes on public beaches. Whether a beach is public depends on tide lines, which can be upset by hurricanes like Ike.
FEMA Struggles to Provide Aid As Ike Survivors May Wait Weeks For Food, Water, and Electricity More Hurricane Ike relief was on the way for evacuees Tuesday as tens of thousands of people waited for food, water, and ice, for the electricity to return to their homes or for their first hot meal and shower. President Bush viewed devastated areas, and urged people across the country to donate money to speed recovery. The number of distribution centers was to be quadrupled to 60 to deliver food, water, and ice. Still, for some, the wait for a return to normalcy could be days. For others, it could be weeks.
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Hurricane Ike Slams Texas Coast With Major Floods Massive Hurricane Ike ravaged southeast Texas early Saturday, battering the coast with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts as residents who decided too late they should have heeded orders to evacuate made futile calls for rescue. The eye of the storm powered ashore at 3:10 a.m. EDT at Galveston with 110 mph winds, just shy of a Category 3 storm. The surge at Galveston was 11 feet, about half of what was predicted, but leaves 2.9 million people without power.
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