The smell of gas filled the air at the Rockport-Fulton High School where the gymnasium was destroyed; the auditorium’s doors were caved in, windows shattered.
Even as huge wind gusts and heavy rain continued to pummel the region, the road leading to Rockport was a scene of destruction: trailer homes twisted and toppled, flood waters inundating businesses and homes, debris choking the roads.
Rockport police, hampered by lack of cellphone or radio service, were assessing damage throughout the city Saturday morning and looking for any residents who might need rescue or medical help. Numerous police SUVs at the police station had their windows blasted out by the hurricane.
“Our town ain’t never going to be the same,” said officer Eli Ramos as he started a patrol.
As of 9:30 a.m., police said they hadn’t receiver any reports of deaths in the city. An estimated 60 percent of the town did not evacuate and authorities were following up on dozens of calls for service.
Downtown Rockport was littered with ruined businesses and historic homes that suffered catastrophic damage. Places like La Familia Salsa Company, Always Sunny fudge and ice cream and the Pelican Motel suffered extensive damage, as did an H-E-B grocery store. Palm trees were bent into unnatural positions and twisted metal signs gave evidence of the winds that tore through the city for hours last night.
Bob Kerber Jr., and his wife Dottie, who retired to normally picturesque Rockport four years ago, were cleaning up Saturday morning after riding out the hurricane overnight.
Kerber said it was a frightening situation, as 140 mph winds bounced debris off their sturdy brick home, which largely survived intact.
“I’d been through storms as a young putz in Florida, but nothing like this,” Kerber said. “It was the howling. You’re hearing all these things flying.”
A neighbor’s detached garage collapsed, leaving behind a pile of rubble, and Kerber’s yard was filled with debris from around the neighborhood. Much of the neighborhood was flooded with standing water, which drew an orchestra of small bullfrogs that croaked in a steady rhythm.
“They’re the only things in Rockport that are happy about all this,” he deadpanned.
Kerber said he didn’t think his city was prepared for the storm, especially after news reports before the hurricane focused largely on Corpus Christi, 30 miles down the coast, which was spared the worst of Harvey’s fury. After the couple lost power Friday, he said they were largely without news except for occasional updates from neighbors who had evacuated.
Kerber, who lost his fence, suffered roof damage and had a beloved tangerine tree split in two, said he is girding for weeks or months of cleanup. He said the next few days will be especially difficult, without power or water service. The couple filled a tub with tap water to use in an emergency.
Shannon Barnes, 29, said he spent the night checking on elderly relatives, including a grandmother, whose home was leveled soon after she was taken out of town by another relative. He said walking through Category 4 winds was a surreal experience.
“It’s called, ‘You have no choice.’ When you care about someone so much you don’t give a shit about yourself,” Barnes said Saturday morning.
He said he expects the coming days to be tough, especially if Harvey passes back through the area, as some forecasts predict. “There’s not going to be much life here for awhile, maybe even a few months,” he said. “The only thing people will be doing is helping each other out.”
Earlier:
CORPUS CHRISTI — Residents in the Coastal Bend woke up Saturday — if they slept at all while Hurricane Harvey raged — to streets filled with toppled trees and snapped power lines, as well as reports of widespread damage in the fishing village of Rockport, where the monster storm made landfall.
Packing winds up to 140 mph, the hurricane knocked out power to nearly 200,000 customers in a swath of Southeast Texas, including 146,000 in Corpus Christi, nearly half the city’s population. Officials have said it could take several days to restore power to all customers.
In the pre-dawn hours, the city continued to be battered by the tail end of Harvey, which has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane and has moved towards Goliad and Victoria. The hurricane is expected to churn in the area for perhaps several days, causing widespread flooding and rainfall amounts of up to 40 inches.
The popular tourist town of Port Aransas, located on the barrier island that separates Corpus Christi from the Gulf of Mexico, suffered major damage, the town’s mayor told Weather Channel on Saturday morning.
“The area of my county that has been hit the hardest is Port Aransas,” said Nueces County Judge Samuel Neal. “The eye of the storm passed right over Port Aransas. I have the mayor here in my (emergency operations center), and he’s been unable even to get back to his city this morning because of debris on the roads. But he has gotten reports of major damage in the city of Port Aransas.”
The county judge said that he had no reports of deaths.
Rockport Volunteer Fire Chief Steve Sims told CNN this morning that his department had lost all radio, cell and Internet communication, and that officials wouldn’t have a sense of damage in the town until the sun came up.
Rockport Mayor C.J. Wax said the damage is widespread, although no one has been able to fully assess it yet. “We’ve got about 90 mph wind and blinding rain, and it’s too dangerous even for our first responders to go out,” the mayor told the Weather Channel Saturday morning. “When the eye passed over the community last night and we had a chance to at least get out and assess the damage, we know there is widespread devastation. Our schools have damage. We do not know of any loss of life; however, that may be only because we have not been able to get out and assess the complete impact.”
An American-Statesman crew stationed in Corpus Christi is heading to Rockport. Check back soon for updates.
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