It’s not unusual for the streets of Texas City to be quiet in the wee hours of the morning, but the calm Thursday was eerie.
Eight hours after the first of a three-stage mandatory evacuation began, the second phase of Galveston County’s mass exodus was not as hectic. The clear-out of the mid-portion of the county that includes Texas City, Hitchcock, La Marque and Dickinson saw very few cars on the road.
Actually, the cities resembled more of ghost towns. Boarded windows, duct taped doors and plenty of messages to the county’s would-be visitor were practically the only signs of life overnight.
Emergency management officials took that as a sign that people heeded warnings of Hurricane Rita’s destructive and possibly fatal power. Even more news that possibly much of the county had decided to skip town came as Galveston city and county officials noted that calls out to residents seeking people who may need assistance to get out were going unanswered, indicating no one was home to take the information call.
Just in time, too, as the early morning forecast from the National Weather Service had the storm trekking more eastward with sights set squarely on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Even the famed Texas City Dike, which was actually built to provide storm surge protection for the city’s petrochemical complexes, was absolutely empty. On any given summer late night or early morning one could expect more than 100 fishermen casting their lines in search of a bit.
But on Thursday morning, the dike’s three bait camps were closed and boarded up and the only sign of life was a handful of stray cats that would usually survive off scraps from anglers, but now have to fend for themselves.
Even the nearly two dozen shrimp boats that give the dike character were nowhere to be found, their boat slips empty. Most were in perceived safe harbor in Moses Lake behind the Texas City floodgate and levee.
The cars that were on the road were packed to the rooftops with bedding, suitcases, pets and kids. They also seemed to travel in small convoys.
One such caravan mustered in the parking lot of the H-E-B grocery store on Palmer Highway in Texas City. Actually, Linda Graff, her mom, her brother’s family and a neighbor family had planned to meet up Thursday morning for a trip to San Antonio anyway.
In fact, the trip had been planned three months ago so the group could attend a wedding. The wedding is still on, but in addition to the invitees came much of their dearest possessions and their pets.
“The dogs weren’t invited to the wedding, but they are coming anyway,” said Graff who moved to Texas City from central Texas just 18 months ago. Rita was her first experience with a hurricane evacuation.
But before the trio of cars could make the trek westward to the Alamo city there was the issue of gasoline. In addition to every other business in town that had boarded up and closed up shop, none of the area’s gas stations were open.
John Simmons was less than 20 feet from a H-E-B gas pump, but resorted to taking spare fuel from a tank to get enough in his car for most of the trip.
“This will just have to last until we find a gas station,” said Simmons, who had his wife Michelle and sons Todd, 11, Austin, 8 and Brandon, 5 loaded up with the family dog.
But theirs was the only activity; even the predetermined evacuation route of state Highway 146 was barren.
Entire neighborhoods in Texas City’s east end were void of people or their vehicles. La Marque was just as quiet.
Dickinson’s only indication of activity was from the police patrols slowly driving by businesses and homes keeping a watchful eye.
“My mom just told me this looked like a ghost town. You never see it this quiet,” said Graff. “It’s kind of scary.”
