Hurricane Ike Targets Texas, Texas State Parks Damage Assessment

As of Monday, September 15, 2008 23 Texas State Parks remained closed, down from 37.  5,315 evacuees had been sheltered at 59 Texas State Parks.  Galveston Island State Park sustained heavy beach erosion, the headquarters building was swept away during the storm along with the restrooms and shelters.  Sea Rim State Park near Port Arthur which has been closed since Hurricane Rita in 2005 was heavily damaged.  Structures and facilities are reported to probably be a total loss.  Seven other parks and the La Porte regional office suffered significant damage.  They are Lake Livingston, Huntsville, Martin Dies Jr, Daingerfield, Martin Creek Lake, San Jacinto Battleground sustaining significant damage from storm surge flooding and wind, Battleship Texas reporting the well house destroyed and the park store and restrooms flooded as well as Mission Tejas losing it’s 1,000 sq ft headquarters building to fire on Sunday morning possibly to to an electric generator catching on fire.  This was not a historical building.  Four parks reporting moderate damage include Brazos Bend, Village Creek, Sheldon Lake and Caddo Lake.  Others with light damage are Goose Island, Mustang Island, Washington on the Brazos, Tyler, Stephen F Austin, Fairfield lake and Atlanta State Parks as well as the Fanthorp Inn.