Those Who Stayed

In Hurricane Ike's wake, search-and-rescue teams have deployed throughout Texas's coastal areas looking for victims and those in need of help. On Galveston Island alone, an estimated 20,000 people (out of a population of 57,000) ignored or were unable to heed mandatory evacuation orders. Many of them have since fled, as living conditions in the foul, fetid aftermath quickly become intolerable. But some still remain. They're now being aided by first responders, including nine FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams, made up of engineers, medical personnel, canine units and search specialists, among others. One of them is Task Force Phoenix, led by Rick Bartee, 47, assistant fire chief with the Phoenix Fire Department. He has worked in the aftermath of numerous disasters, including the 1994 Northridge, Calif., earthquake and the World Trade Center after 9/11. His 34-person unit arrived in Galveston on Monday morning and has been working nonstop since. To learn more about the situation on the ground, NEWSWEEK's Catharine Skipp spoke to him by phone late Tuesday. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Can you describe the scenes when you arrived on Galveston? What were the conditions like?
Rick Bartee: I-45 is the only way in and the only way out. The whole southbound side was filled with boats, debris and the tops of houses so it is impossible to pass. It's amazing how the storm put those boats up there. And the houses, especially along the shoreline, the water came in through the back and out through the front and took every piece of furniture with it. It is amazing the force of nature that occurred. The other thing is the sight of people that hang on and continue, the resiliency of folks that want to remain where they are and want to start over as soon as they can. That impressed me. I hope that if this ever happens to me, I have that same attitude and resiliency to stay and rebuild without being devastated and give up after I've been there all my life. But the people that stay behind do put the rescuers that came in early at risk.

What about people that stayed behind with children?
Somebody said that today you can be arrested if you leave your kid in a hot car, but staying here is OK?

What is going on with the people who rode out the storm on Galveston Island?
More and more are wanting to leave. We are encountering more and more who decided to stay who want to get off the islands. With the flooding, there are very few who didn't get water in, or the water went completely through and blew out the walls on both sides. Some people have been here all their lives and they were thinking that things were going to turn around quickly but I don't see that happening anytime soon. And more are realizing that every day.

How bad are living conditions?
We have moved into an area where the infrastructure is totally devastated to the point that there is no running water, no electricity and no gas. There are no stores and the only meals they are getting out here are bottled water, ice and MREs [military Meals Ready to Eat]. Many are at a school with no running water or electricity. We've had to make a home for us to live, and we are living the same as the residents.

And there are still people there who don't want to leave?
Today our crew and the fire department heard about a 98-year-old female who didn't leave during the storm and had refused to leave after. Neighbors were taking her food and water, but she was refusing to leave. Our crew went and sat with her, talking to her and were able to convince her to go to the hospital to be checked.