A week after a series of hurricanes hit the Caribbean and Gulf Coast, residents and travelers are cleaning up the debris and assessing the impact of the storms.
Hurricane Ike devastated cities and towns all around the Gulf coast, especially Houston and Galveston, Texas.
Houston is under a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew until Saturday to prevent looting, and in Galveston, where at least five people were killed and hundreds of homes were flattened, there is still no power, no operating sewage system and no fully functioning hospital. Residents are being advised to stay away for at least another week.
In both places it may take weeks for electricity to be fully restored. Repairing the flood damage and removing all the debris will likely take much longer. Tourism officials are asking visitors to postpone visiting for a while because most hotels are full of evacuees.
Some of the 12 oil refineries that were shut down along the Gulf coast are now going back online, which should bring the price of gasoline down a bit from where it spiked earlier this week.
Houston-area airports, all of which were closed over the weekend, reopened again Monday to commercial air traffic. Most airlines resumed normal service that day, though Southwest only offered limited service until mid-week.
Several airlines suffered big financial losses as a result of Hurricane Ike, notably Continental, which lost $50 million due to the two-day closure of its Houston hub.
Passengers on two Carnival Cruise ships that sailed from the Port of Galveston before Ike hit have been re-routed to New Orleans. Other Carnival cruises departing from Galveston have been canceled and passengers are being offered full refunds.
Hurricane Ike, plus two earlier hurricanes, Hanna and Gustav, caused widespread damage in many parts of the Caribbean including Haiti, Cuba, the Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands.
The cruise ship terminal on Grand Turk was damaged during the storm, and will remain closed until October 8. Carnival Cruises plans to re-route its ships until then. At least 10,000 tourists were evacuated from seaside hotels in Cuba, which suffered up to $5 billion in damage. Hundreds of travelers canceled trips to the Bahamas, resulting in a loss of about $1 million in revenue.
However, many other Caribbean resort destinations such as Puerto Rico and Martinique were untouched, and some of the storm-drenched areas are already bouncing back. Commercial air service has resumed on the Turks and Caicos’ main tourist island, Providenciales, and many hotels, including Club Med and others in Grace Bay, have re-opened. In addition, many tourists have already returned to Cuba, where all airports are reportedly functioning normally.
By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.
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