Left In The Wake Of Hurricane Ike

CBS Evening News: With More Than 100 People Still Missing, Parts Of Texas In Dire Condition

(CBS)  Mark Davidson of Crystal Beach, Texas, was in his home when Hurricane Ike struck. The storm surge tore his house off its foundation and flung Mark, a 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard, out into the raging water, CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reports.

"I went about 14 miles - all the way over to Smith Point," Davidson said. "Drifting."

In all, Davidson estimates he spent nearly 17 hours in the water before being rescued the next day.

The storm surge from Hurricane Ike swept Davidson's house, and almost everything else, off Bolivar Peninsula, clear across a section of Galveston Bay and several miles inland to Chambers County.

Today, there are at lease 54 debris fields, spread out across 80 square miles. Authorities are still using cadaver dogs to search for the 137 people still missing.

"The biggest frustration is the not knowing; it's like we're looking for a needle in a haystack out here," said Sheriff Joe LaRive of Chambers County, Texas.

Dolores Brookshire, 71, is among those still missing. She made one last phone call to her cousin Joann Meir on the day of the storm, fearing that she would not make it out alive.

"I called to tell you goodbye, and I love you, and I'm going to drown," Meir recalled her cousin saying during their last conversation.

In addition to the missing, thousands more are still suffering. Almost 8,000 households are still in temporary FEMA housing, and more than 400 people are still living in a tent city in Galveston.

While the beaches may be open, there is hardly anyone on them - and that's taking a financial toll as well.

"Our beaches are gone; they've been eroded. Our hotels are damaged. Restaurants [and] entertainment venues are out of commission," said Galveston County Judge James Yarbrough.

Meanwhile, people like Davidson feel like the nation no longer cares what happens to them.

"They forgot about us and moved on to the stock market."

[ebkbmaine]

Dear Katie,
I just watched your segment on the aftermath in Texas after hurricane Ike. I just want Mr. Davidson to know that I as one have not forgotten about him or all of the others in that area who are in such horrible situations. My heart goes out to him and all the others that are so entrenched in this horror. I have a very heavy heart and have cried for these people whom our government seems to have forgotten. My heart is heavy and I wish I could embrace each and everyone of them and comfort them in some way. I am not a wealthy person but if I were Mr. Davidson and the others who are suffering along with him would be at the top of my list to move them away from that devastation and into warm and comforting places to live to start over again. I pray that they won''t be forgotten as well as the victims of Katrina.

I hope that Mr. Davidson will somehow know that he is in my thoughts and prayers.

Kathleen B.

[ebkbmaine]

Dear Katie,
I just watched your segment on the aftermath in Texas after hurricane Ike. I just want Mr. Davidson to know that I as one have not forgotten about him or all of the others in that area who are in such horrible situations. My heart goes out to him and all the others that are so entrenched in this horror. I have a very heavy heart and have cried for these people whom our government seems to have forgotten. My heart is heavy and I wish I could embrace each and everyone of them and comfort them in some way. I am not a wealthy person but if I were Mr. Davidson and the others who are suffering along with him would be at the top of my list to move them away from that devastation and into warm and comforting places to live to start over again. I pray that they won''t be forgotten as well as the victims of Katrina.

I hope that Mr. Davidson will somehow know that he is in my thoughts and prayers.

Kathleen B.

[ebkbmaine]

Dear Katie,
I just watched your segment on the aftermath in Texas after hurricane Ike. I just want Mr. Davidson to know that I as one have not forgotten about him or all of the others in that area who are in such horrible situations. My heart goes out to him and all the others that are so entrenched in this horror. I have a very heavy heart and have cried for these people whom our government seems to have forgotten. My heart is heavy and I wish I could embrace each and everyone of them and comfort them in some way. I am not a wealthy person but if I were Mr. Davidson and the others who are suffering along with him would be at the top of my list to move them away from that devastation and into warm and comforting places to live to start over again. I pray that they won''t be forgotten as well as the victims of Katrina.

I hope that Mr. Davidson will somehow know that he is in my thoughts and prayers.

Kathleen B.

[j_flood]

Perhaps CBS should broadcast a weekly segment on the aftermath - alternating on the evening news and their morning program. Keep the candle burning CBS!

[lilsarg01]

Mr. Davidson, you have my prayers that God will comfort and strengthen him and his family for the tasks that law ahead.

[bfromboston]

I have not forgotten! I still think about and read up on the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and likewise will be thinking about Galveston and the other areas hit for years to come. Keep faith and hope; you are *not* forgotten.