We figured we might as well begin our search and rescue blog with the most reported news event of the past few days: Hurricane Ike. Some 20,000 people decided to ignore mandatory evacuation orders and instead ride out the storm in their homes. According to the Associated Press, nearly 2,000 people in Texas who refused to evacuate have now been rescued by land, air and water.
Read the full AP story and view photos here.
Twenty-four hours after Ike's 110-mph winds and storm surge crashed into the Texas coast, rescuers began dealing with downed power lines and risking their lives to help those who stayed behind. As of today, 394 of those rescues were by air. Watch one of those rescues in this CBS video (after the unavoidable commercial), when Galveston officials make a daring helicopter rescue, plucking a man out of his pickup as it washes away in Ike's high tides.
The U.S. Coast Guard issued a news release with summaries of selected search and rescue cases.
News reports, photos and videos of Hurricane Ike abound on the web. After a lengthy search, the above are just a few of those we thought worth including here.
**Just as I was typing this entry, CNN's Rusty Dornan reported that folks who did not evacuate who were later asked, if they had it to do over again, would they stay behind replied, "Absolutely NOT!"**
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