The UTD Mercury

Media Credit: USGS The Bolivar Peninsula sustained some of the worst damage caused by Hurricane Ike. The storm surge also deposited sand far inland from the shoreline.

When Hurricane Ike made landfall Sept. 13, millions of south Texans lost power and faced potentially deadly flooding.

Counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area send the largest number of students to UTD, followed by Harris County, according to UTD's University Profile. Students from the Gulf Coast faced difficulty reaching their families, damage to property and hosted guests weathering the storm in Dallas.

Tim Schweitzer, a political science senior, is from Galveston. His family evacuated to Houston from their home behind the sea wall two days before Ike reached the coast.

"Our house had at least 3 feet of water in it, which isn't that bad, actually," Schweitzer said. "Flooding on the Strand reached 10-12 feet."

After authorities reopened access to Galveston Island, residents were allowed to return during daylight hours and assess the damage, Schweitzer said.

He's not yet certain how long it will take to repair his family's home, but he said he thought the seawall, built after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed thousands, protected Galveston more than many residents expected.

"Maybe they'll consider building it out to protect the western part of the island," he said.

Geography senior Richard Sellar's mother evacuated to Dallas, but his father stayed at the family's home northeast of Houston to monitor damage. After call reception was lost, Sellar and his mother received a text message that said a tree had fallen on Sellar's bedroom.

"We didn't hear from him for about two hours. My mom was worried he'd gone out to look at the damage and had gotten hurt," Sellar said.

After Ike passed over the area, Sellar's father confirmed he was safe. When his family learned authorities didn't expect to restore power for 3-4 weeks, they moved into his apartment near campus.

Business administration senior Priscilla Wan said poor cell phone and land line reception persisted as of a week after the storm. Her family owns two restaurants in the Houston area. Power was restored within a few days, leaving the family to contend with spoiled food, she said, but their network and billing systems couldn't function because phone infastructure hadn't been repaired.

Service Learning and Student Life staff and volunteers collected donations for the Red Cross, scheduled a blood drive and organized a canned food for the North Texas Food Bank Sept. 17-19. Food banks in North Texas sent non-perishable food south after the storm, and needed donations to help meet demand, said Dean of Students Donna Rogers.

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