Crews Search for Missing on Bolivar Peninsula

Families are going back to the Bolivar Peninsula to check on their belongings or recover what little may be left.

But some people will never return.

They are the victims washed into the gulf, or the bay, by hurricane Ike.

Their numbers are uncertain, but there is no question searchers are determined to find every one of them.

Emergency Management coordinators in Galveston County say there are about five people they know are missing from Bolivar. But that number is not firm and can change.

In an effort to find the missing, authorities are using volunteers and cadaver dogs to bring closure to families.

The dogs can locate the scent of victims that may be buried in the debris all across the peninsula and on islands where no one lives.

The Crystal Beach Fire Chief says more help arrived yesterday, after the original search began weeks ago.

There are five areas on Bolivar that are considered hot spots, where the trained dogs will be taken.

The process is slow because of the size of the area and the difficult conditions, snakes, alligators, mosquitoes as well as the amount of debris they have to search.

"It's very high debris, it's tall, compact. It's stuff from people's homes, construction debris, as well as natural debris like trees and other debris. We have to be cautious of how we move stuff when we do have people around and it's a danger to the dogs as well as handlers," says Colin Rizzo, the Community Emergency Response Team Coordinator for Galveston County.

There have not been any bodies found on the peninsula. One person was found last week on Goat Island.

Volunteers, along with law enforcement officers and first responders will go back out tomorrow and they vow to continue the search until the job is done.