Hurricane Ike: Restoring lives and livelihoods for NOAA Galveston Family

Jennifer Schull
NOAA Fisheries Service

January 15, 2009 — Hurricane Ike roared ashore at Galveston Island, Texas, in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2008, devastating the community.  Historic Fort Crockett, home to NOAA’s Galveston Laboratory, was battered but still standing.  In Ike’s aftermath, the NOAA family in Galveston showed great resilience in putting their lives and livelihoods back together.

Ready for the Storm
The Galveston Laboratory is a complex of buildings located on the water and inside the walls of a former Army fort full of historic buildings that NOAA has restored and put to use.  Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NOAA made significant capital investments in hardening its facilities to the risk of hurricanes – installing impact resistant windows, strengthening roofs, and adding generator capacity. The regional management prepared solid emergency procedures, evacuation plans, and tracking systems to identify personnel who need help. 

The fort is located next to a seawall on the Gulf of Mexico, one of the highest points on Galveston Island.  The seawall and recent NOAA capital improvements protected the laboratory from the flooding that devastated much of the island.  This, plus the investments NOAA made in strengthening the lab, helped it withstand Ike’s worst.

The laboratory houses not only the Southeast Fisheries Science Center, but also the NOS Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, and Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network staff. 

Mobilizing Support
In the early days following Hurricane Ike, employees returned to the lab to assess the damage and started the process of getting it up and running.  The lab was open for business within the first week after the storm, serving as “command central” for employees putting their personal lives back together from flooded, even destroyed, homes.

Other NOAA Fisheries Service facilities in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida loaded trucks with generators, dehumidifiers, chainsaws, food, water, fuel and other supplies. Dedicated NOAA Law Enforcement officers converged on Galveston to protect NOAA assets, escort NOAA personnel, and the relief supplies through the island’s security barricades.  They also helped clean up homes.

Local employees who fared better than others rolled up their sleeves to help their co-workers – sharing their homes with those who had no place to live and lending their labor to clear out water soaked furniture, drywall, insulation, mud and debris before mold set in. NOAA personnel from all over the country and across line offices lent expertise and sent supplies and much appreciated gift cards so families could buy necessities to start the recovery process.

 “It was truly a One NOAA moment.  It was inspiring to see the genuine concern from colleagues who wanted to help our staff.  We appreciated it so much,” said Roger Zimmerman, director of the Galveston Laboratory.

Galveston’s famous sea turtles
Hurricane Ike dealt a devastating blow to the lab’s well known and unique sea turtle rearing program - the only federal facility dedicated to captive rearing of sea turtles for research. Pumps, pipes and electrical lines that deliver seawater were severely damaged, and staff scrambled in the early hours after the hurricane to provide makeshift seawater flow for the turtles. The facility’s “sick bay” building, where sick and injured turtles are rehabilitated was completely destroyed.  Still, of over 400 sea turtles at the facility, only one small hatchling was lost. The temporary system now relies on portable generators, which must be attended constantly and fueled daily. Seawater delivery is at about half-capacity, and the Lab had to reduce the number of resident sea turtles by half to 92, the bare minimum to ensure successful turtle excluder device testing and fishing-gear trials this summer.

Life after the storm
It is now four months after the storm, and the clean up and rebuilding continue.  About half of the 60 NOAA Galveston area staff had substantial damage to their homes, and many are still juggling work, family life and the ongoing coordination of contractors, insurance adjusters and the like. At work, wetland stabilization and restoration are even more critical now, as is ensuring the sea turtle facility continues to operate. It is still a very long road to full recovery, but our friends and colleagues in Galveston are progressing well thanks to continuing help from others.