Update

Dad safely arrived in Baton Rouge this morning. He was able to take off from D/FW airport before the effects of Hurricane Ike arrived. We are now receiving moderate, steady rain. There have been no dangerous winds as of yet....perhaps we are far enough west to miss the gusts. Ike is still moving our general direction, so we'll probably continue to see rain all day.

Galveston and Houston are still being pounded with rain and wind. It is difficult to gauge the damage and fatalities at this early stage until people can get in and start cleaning up. I saw Fox News interviewing a woman who barely managed to escape at the last minute before the authorities started ignoring the 911 calls. When the reporter asked her why she didn't evacuate earlier when she was told to do so, she replied that she just didn't want to stay in the car on a crowded interstate for a long time like she did during Hurricane Rita. Hmmmmm. Sitting on a crowded interstate vs. certain death. Call me crazy, but the choice seems pretty obvious.

I have not heard how authorities dealt with parents who refused to evacuate their children in areas of certain destruction. In my opinion, these children should have been taken into protective custody if their parents refused to take them to safety in areas of MANDATORY evacuation. We know that there were over 1200 calls to 911 after authorities starting ignoring these calls. The police sent a message out in the hopes that some of these people still had some form of media (TV, phone, radio) and told them to "find something that floats and hold on." There is no doubt that many of the people in mortal danger included children. I just pray that God had mercy and spared the people that weren't wise enough to heed precaution.