[srmom]

Hey, BTW, Gaido's is fine!!! They are serving free meals to workers along the seawall on tables outside, complete with white tableclothes, linen, and fresh flowers.

Most of the places on The Strand (not a strip mall, it is a part of historic down town Galveston that has alot of restaurants, bars, and shops) and in other parts of historic Galveston only have had a few feet of water damage and are salvageable (they've been there, done that over the years). The Galvez Hotel is saying that the only damage they have is to their lower level, including the brand new spa that was opened in March. The Tremont is reporting limited damage, and all of the museums, inlcuding the Elissa Tall Ship are reporting minimal damage.

As for homes (mostly vacation) on West Beach, some are fine, some are not, the biggest problem for first row people may be beach erosion (even if a house is fine, it could be condemned). My neighbors across the street have a house on Pirate's Beach and they said the only "damage" was that their patio furniture was in a tangle.

I think the hit or miss vagaries of the storm (especially in Houston) are because there was much tornadic activity and strong wind gusts, the storm surge was not as bad as they had anticipated in Galveston Island or in upper Galveston Bay, they were saying 16 feet, but it was more like 6 to 10 (my dad only had a couple of feet in his downstairs). The storm surge was at its worst on Boliver Peninsula, Crystal Beach and High Island, but even there it is still pretty hit or miss as to who got wiped out and who didn't. It's really strange how 2 houses can be totalled, but one between them is fine...

After the clean up and recovery, Houston and Galveston will be back and better than before!!!