Port Arthur, TX update

My dad's hometown is Port Arthur, TX, one of the towns hardest hit by Hurricane Rita. One of my uncles still lives there, in my grandmother's house; the other uncle lives in Dallas. Here's what my Dallas uncle wrote today about my Port Arthur uncle:

Uncle J did not get out in time and had to ride it out in a shelter there in Port Arthur. The shelter took a direct hit and everyone was ordered to leave. He said (actually an emergency worker relayed this to me ) that he walked several miles back to our home on the West Side. There was street flooding, but the house was OK.

There are no utilities and no gasoline in the town for now. Officials predict that it will take 3-4 weeks to get basic water, electric, gas, and phones up and working. Even cell phones don't work -- except for outgoing calls. Officials are not letting people return or even pass through at this point. So it is anybody's guess.

My only memory of my grandmother's house is that it is built really high off the ground; I suppose it's because of flooding, since Port Arthur is on the Gulf coast. The area was once called the Gold Coast, amazingly.

I am sending a whole lot of stuff down to Port Arthur today for hurricane relief, and I am eagerly awaiting news of Uncle J. I know his son is safe in Dallas. I can't believe this weather is so destructive. When will the Bush administration admit that some of this hurricane problem is due to global warming, and wise up on its environmental policies?