Ike and Kemah Boardwalk

Using the link Jeffrey posted, even though I have seen this pic before, it still baffles me.

The whole aerial view of this area is wiped out, but yet, one house remains intact.

Freakin amazing.

http://www.wfaa.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12135&nextimage=15

Interesting. That house may have been designed to withstand hurricanes. That's my only guess.

Jeffrey Seifert said:

coasterqueenTRN said:

Are you guys kidding me?

Just remember, theme parks can be rebuilt. Lives can't be replaced. I am sure the people who lost their homes and the lives of their loved one's could give a rat's ass about a theme park right now.

The Kemah Boardwalk entertainment area consists of more than just an amusement park, there are several restaurants, shops, and a resort hotel. They employ hundreds of people all year round. In order for that area to recover, people are going to have to get back to work, even if they did lose their home. It may be just an amusement park to you, but to a lot of people it is their livelihood. I would hope you could muster up a little more compassion.

I think you totally misunderstood me. I actually agree with you. My whole point was that right now the millions who are affected are more concerned with their lives and finding family members and friends.

I was also referring to people on this board who are more concerned with a rollercoaster when they have no idea what people are going through down there. I can't even imagine what it would be like to come home and find my house or place or work totally gone, but my first concern would be finding family members and friends. I do feel bad about the park and all the buildings and homes that were destroyed. It's not "just" a park to me. My heart broke when I saw the damage, as well as everything else that was destroyed. But like I said, buildings (and Kema) can and will be rebuilt. Lives can't be replaced. I don't know how much more compassionate I can be.

-Tina

^LOL, knowing both of you, it's kinda funny how two people can agree almost completely, yet due to the nature of message boards be unaware of that. If the two of you were actually discussing it face-to-face, there would be infinitely more nodding than head-shaking....yet that's hard to convey solely in written form. Best wishes to all of those affected by Ike...hopefully he won't have too many storms following in his footsteps this year.

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/ike/geo-C25886033.jpg

In the middle of this page I believe you can see the Galveston Schlitterbahn's - it's near the airport. (make sure you expand the picture if using IE by clicking on the box in the lower left corner when hovering your mouse over it)

Chitown said:
Using the link Jeffrey posted, even though I have seen this pic before, it still baffles me.

The whole aerial view of this area is wiped out, but yet, one house remains intact.

Freakin amazing.

http://www.wfaa.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12135&nextimage=15

doh! someone else is thinking where is my house? this house looks like it was deposited there.

They have a Chaos? Cool! :)

^ Actually, it's more like the whole ISLAND in Choas.

Video from KHOU shows damage.

Ike's damage in Kemah, Seabrook

^ The manager is either the most mellow, good humored person there is or else he's been heavily sedated.

Here's another story from the Houston Chronicle regarding all of the Landry's properties (including Kemah Boardwalk).

Landry's takes hard punches from Ike

Kemah, the boardwalk specifically was featured on CNN earlier today. They interviewed the man in charge and he said that while the damage looks bad, they hope to have it reopened anywhere from 1.5 months to 2 months. They showed the Chaos ride, the ferris wheel and the observation tower. The owner also was quoted as saying they will be back and better than before, and was also bouncing around the idea of making a ride called Hurricane Ike.

Goliath Freak said:
The owner also was quoted as saying they will be back and better than before, and was also bouncing around the idea of making a ride called Hurricane Ike.

Now that is a man with a good sense for humor. If he does do that, make it some sort of crazy spinner that also gets you drenched. :)

Satellite view of the Kemah Boardwalk

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/ike/geo-C25960845.jpg

Looks like the owners have a very optimistic attitude in getting the boardwalk back up and running as soon as possible.

Most of the rides there are straight out of the Chance 

catalog. It won't be a stretch to repair or replace any

 of them.

In looking at the sat pic, I'm impressed how they shoehorned the coaster into such a small space. It doesn't appear like there is any significant damage.. hopefully their reopening time estimate is on track.

They might be able to make that timeline for reopening the park. But will the area actually be able to support toursists?

Hotel and other local businesses are also hit by this and may not have the money to rebuild without waiting for insurance payments. So rushing to open the amusements might not be a great thing.

I see this as something akin to having Mardi Gras after Katrina. It is something that will boost spirits and economy. I don't think that they are rushing to open it.

metallik said:
In looking at the sat pic, I'm impressed how they shoehorned the coaster into such a small space. It doesn't appear like there is any significant damage.. hopefully their reopening time estimate is on track.

You can fit anything anywhere if you have the know how and enough tools.

BTW, I found the specs on the coaster, the "Boardwalk Bullet," at RCDB.

Here's the link: http://www.rcdb.com/id3757.htm

dragonoffrost said:They might be able to make that timeline for reopening the park. But will the area actually be able to support toursists?

Forty-five minutes to an hour gets you to downtown Houston, which is still the largest city in the US without a major theme park...Ike would have had to have hit at least close to Cat 4 to damage Houston (inland) to the point where Kemah's reopening might be even remotely comparable to SFNO in terms of "too soon, the city is going to take years to come back." Of course, that's just my thinking on the subject, not objective fact. ;)