Newswise — Roaring winds. Flying debris. Pelting rain.
Sleeping in two-hour shifts, Mike Gillum and Eddie Horace listened, watched and waited for Hurricane Ike to do its worst.
Hunkered down with flashlights, a supply of meals ready to eat (MREs) and cots to sleep in, Gillum and Horace were the team from Environmental, Health and Safety at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston who rode out the storm on campus.
Their decision to stay was just one of many actions taken by the leaders of UT Health Science Center in the days before Hurricane Ike. It all began 72 hours before the wind began whipping and the waves began pounding the Galveston seawall.
"We begin tracking storms in the Gulf of Mexico 72 hours before they make landfall," said Dr. Robert Emery, assistant vice president for safety, health, environment and risk management. "We've been pretty lucky for a number for years... but something just told me this would be the one that would hit. And as we continued to watch the track change, more of the models began to point it right at us."
Emery and his team began making preparations across the campus on Sept. 10. "We were gassing up vehicles, gathering food and water supplies and distributing cots to groups such as Facilities, Animal Care and Information Technology. The EH&S team 'rides out' the storm at the CYF (Cyclotron Building). It is a small building located in front of the medical school in the loading dock area. We wanted to make sure it was fully stocked for the ride-out team. We had no trouble getting folks to volunteer to stay behind and ride out the storm," said Emery.
The team continued to track the storm into Thursday and Friday. Not knowing how much potential rain Hurricane Ike could bring, the heavy flood doors located on the ground floor of the medical school were closed at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12. Safe and secure inside the CYF building, Gillum and Horace waited for Ike to make landfall. Their job: as soon as the hurricane passed and it was safe to surface, assess the damage to the health science center's campus.
Ferocious noise battered about just beyond their door. The winds sounded like a speeding freight train. "To see the light show from the exploding transformer was amazing," said Horace. "What amazed me the most was to see the medical center, the largest medical center in the world, resemble a ghost town.Horace and Gillum tried to open the door at 4 a.m. to look around, but flying debris and fierce winds forced them to retreat. At 5:30 a.m., they were finally able to come out and see the damage.
"What they saw was water in the lobby of the Institute of Molecular Medicine. The front awning of the UT Professional Building was tattered, blowing in the wind. There were a couple of windows on several buildings that were blown out, which meant some water damage. An entrance on the Pressler side of University Center Tower was blown out, but the most impressive display of Ike's power was found on the roof of the medical school. There were vents that were just sheared off by the winds, allowing rain to blow in," said Emery.
Horace and Gillum phoned in to Emery to report damage. It was time to regroup on campus to patch some of the problems.
Walking out his own front door, Emery realized it would be a challenge to actually get to campus. Trees that normally lined his street were now blocking the roadway. Determined to reach his team to help out, Emery pulled out his bike, now dubbed his "Ike Bike" and pedaled about a mile and a half to campus dodging flooded streets, downed power lines and debris all along the way.
"Once I could see the UT Houston campus, I realized how lucky we were. The health science center didn't even suffer a major power outage. From what I was hearing on the radio, I was expecting the worst," said Emery. "Unfortunately, our neighbors to the south did not fare as well," he said. "The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is still struggling, and that may be the case for months."
According to Emery, as part of a mutual aid policy established at UT System, the UT Health Science Center will be doing whatever it can to help its colleagues. "Some of our team members will likely be going to UTMB soon with our infrared camera to help assess the damage.
One thing we learned from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 was how bad hidden moisture damage can be. With this infrared camera technology, we can detect hidden moisture damage and ensure the area is fixed before mold problems arise," Emery said.
If there is any lesson to be learned, it is that you can never be too prepared. Emery said a lot of thought had been put into how a major storm could impact the campus. Maps were even drawn up using every employee's home zip code to see how much of the university could be impacted by mandatory evacuations. Only 20 percent of the employees live in those communities.
However, the impact that wasn't calculated was how many of us could be living in a severely impacted area with no electricity, water, phone, internet, food or gasoline.
"This was a new experience for us. One I hope we don't have to go through any time soon, but we will go back to the drawing board and take a look at what worked and what didn't...and see what changes need to be made," said Emery.
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