‘God taught me lesson’ about taking Ike lightlyBy Rhiannon Meyers
The Daily News
Published September 14, 2008
GALVESTON — The proud son of a 1900 Storm survivor, Fletcher Harris, 85, always told anyone who would listen that he’s not the type of man who flees from a hurricane.
But after a harrowing night in his apartment and a near-deadly flee from rising floodwaters, the former city councilman, who stayed through hurricanes Carla and Alicia, said he’ll never weather another island hurricane again.
“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” he said as he sat in a hard-backed chair outside of Ball High School, wearing a shirt smeared with mud and blood from his arm.
Harris grew up hearing his father’s stories about how he survived the devastating 1900 Storm by fleeing to high ground.
Harris spent the early part of Friday night in his downstairs apartment at Ashton Place, 6904 Lasker Drive.
He said he figured if flooding got too bad, he, like his father, would flee to high ground.
When the waters rose, Harris grabbed a crowbar and headed upstairs to pry open a second story apartment door.
About 9 p.m., Harris, who has only one hand, fumbled in the dark to loosen the lock, but high winds knocked him down again and again.
He cut his arm, bruised his body and severely injured his hip. Firefighters said they thought it wasn’t broken.
Harris took to the streets to seek shelter.
He grabbed a stop sign for support but it snapped apart in his hand.
When the winds died down Saturday morning, rescue crews plucked Harris from the street and brought him to Ball High School.
“Can you imagine me being so smart-alecky that I thought, ‘It’s just a hurricane?’
“God has sent me this to teach me a lesson, and a bunch of other people, too. I’m never going to mess around again.”
Islanders who fled rising waters in the middle of roaring Hurricane Ike echoed Harris’ words.
Jesse Segura lives in a two-bedroom home at 2115 71st St.
He stayed, thinking Ike would do as little damage to his place as Hurricane Rita did three years ago.
But when the storm made landfall, Segura’s home started to flood.
Electric sockets shorted out. He shut off the electricity, stacked two mattresses atop his kitchen table and tried to sleep there.
The waters rose higher.
When the water was chest deep, Segura panicked. He waded to the bathroom, climbed atop the sink, punched a hole in the sheet rock, and hauled himself into the attic, where he waited for the winds to die.
Rescue crews found him Saturday morning on 69th Street. When they scooped him up, Segura was barefooted, and his jeans and T-shirt were soaked. He could barely stand on his swollen feet.
“This was a real close call to death for me,” he said. “I’ll never do it again, man. I learned my lesson.”
Segura joined a group of islanders at Ball High school who had been rescued from their homes.
The survivors bummed cigarettes, petted each other’s dogs, held babies and swapped survival stories. Some needed medical treatment.
One firefighter was treated on the front steps of Ball High School for burns he sustained in a fire.
Those sitting on the steps with him paid no attention as medics hooked an IV to the firefighter’s arm and swung an IV bag over his shoulder. They were too worried about their own family members.
Destin Fluellen’s father was flown to a hospital after the storm Saturday because he hadn’t received dialysis treatments in two days.
Rescue crews said they found Fluellen, who lived at 19th Street and Avenue I, carrying his father along Broadway.
On Saturday, Fluellen and his family shouted out thanks to Galveston police and fire crews as they headed back home to assess the damage.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=687c7e9d44b33ed2
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