No Bodies Found Yet Following Ike

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - As repair crews continue working to make this hurricane-ravaged island city inhabitable for the thousands of residents set to return this week, the mayor was headed to Washington to seek more than $2 billion in emergency federal aid.

The final price tag to fully restore Galveston after Hurricane Ike plowed ashore early Sept. 13 and displaced most of the 57,000 or so residents is still unknown.

"We haven't even begun to figure that out yet," Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said Monday - two days before residents were to be allowed back to a hometown sorely lacking in basic services.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, along with officials from the Port of Galveston and the University of Texas Medical Branch will meet with a Senate ad hoc committee Tuesday to seek $2.3 billion in emergency appropriations. Galveston is hoping to get nearly $1.2 billion; UTMB, the city's hospital, about $600 million; and the port about $500 million.

"We hope the federal government will step up to the plate," LeBlanc said.

Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm, battered Galveston with 110 mph winds and a 12-foot storm surge, flooding homes and destroying businesses. The storm has been blamed for 61 deaths, including 26 in Texas.

Fearing some people were swept out to sea, authorities have searched some coastal counties since after the storm hit but have had difficulties reaching certain areas.

On Monday, teams with cadaver dogs found no bodies as they continued searching for victims in mounds of debris in Chambers County, off Trinity Bay, said Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesman Aaron Reed.

After traveling by boat or all-terrain vehicles, teams sometimes encountered 20-foot-tall piles containing everything from tree limbs, marsh grass and lumber to mattresses and golf clubs, he said.

"We don't have a solid list of who's missing or where they were when they went missing," Reed said.  LeBlanc said that while search and rescue operations on Galveston island have long concluded, officials are still trying to track down about 50 Galveston residents who have been reported missing.

More than 1 million people evacuated the Texas coast as Ike steamed across the Gulf of Mexico. About 45,000 residents evacuated the island, located about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

Many are expected back Wednesday, and LeBlanc said officials are working on a plan to provide temporary shelters on the mainland for those who find homes they can't live in. But LeBlanc stressed the shelters would be available only for a short time.

"It's not there to sustain life on the island," LeBlanc said. "We cannot possibly provide shelter and homes and setups for you long-term."

City leaders are also looking at setting up a shuttle service to take residents from the temporary shelters on the mainland to their houses during the day so they can make repairs and clean up.

Sandra Harden, a nursing student in Galveston, said she thought the city's idea of providing temporary shelters and transportation to residents who can't stay in their homes is a good idea. Harden said she is lucky she won't need the service because she is staying with a friend in nearby Texas City.

"You can't stay in your house. You can't live in your house. It's really bad," Harden, 52, said Monday, standing near a pile of ruined furniture, clothing and other personal belongings that she and friends had put on her front lawn.

LeBlanc reminded residents who planned to come back Wednesday that the city still only has limited medical, power, water and sewer system capabilities, and that life for them will be difficult upon their return. It could be several weeks before services are restored.

Residents of the island's west end, which was severely damaged by Ike, were allowed Monday to begin visiting their homes, but they will not be allowed to live in them because that part of Galveston still has no power or water service.

Power had been restored to most of the customers in Texas whose electricity was cut by Ike, and in some areas work was ahead of schedule.

About one-third of customers in the Houston area remained without electricity Monday. Entergy Texas, which serves most of Southeast Texas east of the Trinity River, said it expected to have electric service restored to its hardest-hit areas by Sunday - a week sooner than previous forecasts.

Not included in the forecasts are High Island and the Bolivar Peninsula, where the transmission infrastructure will have to be rebuilt, said Joe Domino, president and chief executive officer of the Beaumont-based subsidiary of Entergy Corp.

Evacuees from the hard-hit peninsula will board dump trucks and other heavy vehicles this week to examine their homes because the main road is impassible in many spots.

Elsewhere around the state, Southeast Texans continued streaming home. American Red Cross officials said only about 7,600 evacuees remain in shelters around the state. That's down from a peak of more than 40,000 in the days after Hurricane Ike came ashore.

But the relief agency said Monday it isn't sure how long Texas operations will last.

"I can tell you we won't be measuring this operation in weeks," said Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services for the Red Cross. "We will be measuring this operation in months."

Gov. Rick Perry on Monday encouraged Texans to donate to the Texas Disaster Relief Fund to help communities slammed by Hurricane Ike. Perry unveiled a public service announcement that will air on donated air time throughout the state. The Legislature has not given a significant amount of money to the state disaster relief fund in years. The private fund was developed as an alternative in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

By JUAN A. LOZANO

Associated Press Writer

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Associated Press Writers Angela K. Brown in Houston, Schuyler Dixon in Dallas and April Castro in Austin contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)