While all of the cities in the county are welcoming residents back, many are keeping curfews that were enacted just before Hurricane Rita made landfall.

Galveston County cities with sundown to sunup curfews in effect include Texas City, Galveston, League City and Friendswood. The county of Galveston also has a curfew in effect for the unincorporated areas. All of the police departments in the county report additional patrols are working the streets enforcing the curfew and watching over property.

City and county officials said the curfews are designed to assist law enforcement in protecting communities and property during emergencies.

The Galveston County Daily News will deliver and sell its first printed editions of the newspaper since mandatory evacuation of the county took place last week in advance of Hurricane Rita. The first edition of the Daily News will be delivered Monday. That edition will include the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday editions of the newspaper as well.

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The marquee at the City Café in Texas City was likely welcomed news for weary travelers just back from escaping Hurricane Rita. “We open at 6 a.m. Sept. 26. Limited menu.”

Slowly but surely the businesses of Galveston County are starting to open. Some were able to begin operations Saturday night others opened their doors Sunday. Those that were open, especially gas stations and restaurants, were packed with customers. Long lines too were found at the checkout lines of local grocery stores such as the Kroger in Texas City or the H.E.B. stores in Galveston — where customers were given free ice — Texas City and Dickinson.

Local banks were also trying to get operations up and running if anything at the local automatic teller machines. Officials with Texas First Bank fanned out across the county Sunday working to find if any of the bank’s ATM machines could be made operational again.

The Daily News has heard plenty from county residents of hours stuck in traffic trying to evacuate, time in the packed shelters and reaction to the damage they have seen once returning home.

What stories do you have to tell? Send us your story of surviving Rita. Did your home suffer any damage? Were the lights working when you returned? What was it like trying to get out? Do you have any photos from your experiences? Are there questions you would like The Daily News to ask of city, county, state and local officials?

Tell us what you think and be sure to include a way for us to contact you to follow up.

Mainland communities will begin regular trash pickups this week while city officials make plans for heavy trash pickup dates. League City plans to pick up trash on Monday, said Mayor Jerry Shultz. Texas City will also begin trash services on Monday, said Mayor Matt Doyle.

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The “Open” sign went on for the Bolivar Peninsula Sunday afternoon. Residents of the east Galveston County community were allowed to return home about noon.
But most returning found no power and a big mess. The cleanup will take a bit of time to do, but the electric company that delivers power to the area says the lights won’t go on anytime soon.
Elliot Jennings, the emergency management coordinator for the county, said Entergy informed his office “it will be a long, long time before electricity will be restored," and that it may be up to a month before the lights go back on.
Meanwhile residents who can show proof of residency to either High Island or Bolivar are being allowed to return through two checkpoints manned by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office.
One checkpoint is located at the Galveston County line at Chamber County the other at the ferry landing on the island side.
Tim Cunningham of the Texas Department of Transportation said two ferries are taking residents to the peninsula until dusk Sunday. The ferries will resume a dawn to dusk schedule Monday he said.
The state agency is waiting for word from local officials before opening the ferry up to a full schedule said Cunningham.

The H-E-B at 61st Street and Stewart Road is open. The store also is giving away free bags of ice. Walgreens drug store at 2715 61st is open, except for the pharmcacy, until 10 p.m. Sunday. Arlan's on 25th and Ave. P in Galveson is open until 7 p.m. The Kroger store at 57th Street and Seawall Boulevard is not open, but is selling water, other beverages, ice, chips and other items from the sidewalk.

Classes at Texas A&M University at Galveston will resume Thursday, university CEO Bowen Loftin said Sunday.
Loftin asked that students who live on campus not to return to campus until noon Tuesday. Faculty and staff have been asked to return to work by noon Monday he said.
Loftin said initial assessments indicate Texas A&M-Galveston’s three campuses on Pelican Island sustained only minor damage.
Essential services have been restored said Loftin.

University of Houston-Clear Lake staff members are expected to return to campus by noon Wednesday, and classes will resume Thursday said spokeswoman Karen Barbier.

College of the Mainland officials said classes at its Texas City and League City campuses will resume a regular schedule Wednesday. The college board of trustees meeting scheduled for Monday has been moved to Friday COM spokesman Jim Higgins said.

Boil water notices have been issued for residents of Clear Lake Shores, Kemah, Jamaica Beach, San Leon, the west end of Galveston Island including Jamaica Beach, and the entire Bolivar Peninsula including High Island the Galveston County Health District said Sunday. The notices are a result of the disruption of water service from Hurricane Rita.
Once repairs are complete and water is flowing through the line, the health district's Kurt Koopman said the water should still be considered not safe to drink until laboratory tests confirm its purity. The boil water notices will remain in effect until officials have declared the water safe for use said Koopman.
The health district also offered these suggestions for handling water in those communities with Boil Water notices:

1) If cloudy or muddy, strain it through a clean cloth
2) Bring water to a rolling boil for at least two minutes

An additional method for disinfecting water is as follows:
1) Use 8 drops of plain non-scented chlorine bleach (5.25% Sodium Hypochlorite) per one gallon of water
2) Mix well for one minute
3) Let stand for 30 minutes
Note that a slight taste or smell of chlorine is normal

Moody Gardens suffered very minor damage as a result of Hurricane Rita, but was like most of the city, without power Saturday. While General Manager John Zendt said he will call Moody’s special hurricane Red Team back to work Sunday. All other Moody Gardens employees are supposed to check in with his or her supervisor to find out when work will resume. “We are not yet prepared to announce when we will reopen,” said Zendt. “We are waiting for further instruction from city officials as to when it will be appropriate to open our doors.”

While most of the cities in Galveston County lifted their dawn to dusk curfews Saturday, Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said that move would not happen until at least Sunday. He said once commercial businesses had reopened, restaurants were serving food, grocery stores selling food and enough stations were selling gasoline he would lift the curfew.

Galveston County’s two Veterans Affairs medical clinics will remain closed Monday and Tuesday the VA announced Saturday afternoon. The VA is also closing down its Beaumont and Lufkin clinics for the first two days of the week as a result of Hurricane Rita. The Veteran Health Care Hotline, 1-800-507-4571, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Family and friends of veterans requiring information about patients from those VA facilities affected by Hurricane Rita may also use this phone number.

The city of Texas City opened its Biosphere 1 center Sunday for residents who were clearing out debris from their yards. The biosphere opened at 8 a.m. and was to remain open until 4 p.m. said Mayor Matt Doyle. The center is open to Texas City residents only and those who wish to use it must present a ID that shows they are a resident of the city or a city water bill.

High Island residents are being allowed access to the Bolivar Peninsula via Highway 124 South. Only High Island residents will be allowed into the community, Galveston County Sheriff's Deputies were maintaining a check point. No one will be allowed past the intersection of Highway 124 and Highway 87. High Island is located at the eastern edge of the peninsula near the Galveston-Chambers County line.
The remainder of the peninsula remains closed due to street flooding and electric power lines on the roadway resulting from Hurricane Rita. The Bolivar Ferry remains shut down and will not return to service until the peninsula's roads are clear and law enforcement officials can safely allow access.

Dear readers,

The Daily News expects to publish a paper datelined Sunday and Monday (Sept. 25-26) about noon on Sunday. That paper, along with papers printed since last Thursday, will be delivered in a bundle to home-delivery subscribers on Monday ... We think.

We say "think" at this point because there remains so much of which we can't be sure:

• Will the city of Galveston allow us and our carriers back on the island?

• Will we have electrical power at either of our press locations — Galveston or Texas City?

Read more ...

PORT BOLIVAR — Residents probably would not be allowed to return to the Bolivar Peninsula for "several days," Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said during a noon news conference. Yarbrough said there was about three feet of water over state Highway 87 between Gilchrist and High Island. He said sheriff's and constable's deputies were patroling the area to keep property safe.

GALVESTON — Island residents trying to return home Saturday were finding Interstate 45 S. blocked by law enforcement officers just north of the Tiki Island exit. Reports from the scene said traffic was backed up all the way to Bayou Vista.

Officials said no one would be allowed to return to the island until it was deemed safe to do so. No word on when that might be, but a news conference was planned for about noon. Law enforcement officials said National Guard troops were being dispatched to the island.

Tiki island was also closed, mainly because it is south of the police road block

League City officials report no major damage, but power was out west of I-45 around 2 a.m.

The Galveston County Office of Emergency Management on FM 646 in Dickinson lost power a little after 1 a.m. The office is now operating on back up generators. There were reports of sporadic power outages throughout the county, but no major damage or flooding had been reported outside of Galveston by 2 a.m.

Officials at the San Luis hotel in Galveston said the hotel was without power and there were reports that hotel windows had blown out. Members of the media and emergency personnel were gathered on the second floor near the emergency management center during the storm.

GALVESTON — The downtown area is taking a beating from Hurricane Rita. Mayor Pro Tem Joe Jaworski informed The Daily News that a wall of the famed Yaga's restaurant collapsed onto Saengerfest Park in the 2300 block of Strand. No one was hurt. The wall collapse came just as the strongest of winds from the storm came ashore from the bayside of Galveston Island.

Galveston's downtown power grid has been shut down because of the fire at 19th and Postoffice.

Production manager Billy Cochrane just reported that the newspaper building at 8522 Teichman Road lost part of its roof and the building just lost power. Web services likely will be interrupted while the web team tranfers publishing to Austin.

Hurricane Rita took another job to the east as it approached the upper Texas Gulf Coast late Friday night. The storm is expected to make landfall near Sabine Pass between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday, National Weather Service officials said.

As a result of the slight move to the east, forecasters said Galveston and Galveston County can expect less of an impact from the massive storm. Officials said the county would no longer experience hurricane force winds but rather sustained tropical storm forced winds up to 74 miles an hour with occasional gusts exceeding hurricane force.

Weather forecasters said too that the area will receive less than than expected from Rita as well. They predict up to four inches of rain over a 24 hour period from the Category 3 storm.

Galveston County sheriff's deputies report a few down tree limbs and a power pole that was not connected to any power lines in Bacliff/San Leon. There are reports of isolated power outages in Texas City.

GALVESTON — Island firefighters are on the scene of a fire at the corner of 19th and Postoffice. The blaze broke out about 9:40 p.m. just as strong winds from Hurricane Rita began whipping the island.

Galveston firefighters report that the high winds and the lack of available equipment have made it difficult to battle that blaze at 19th and Postoffice. Firefighters reported that water aimed at fighting the fire was blowing right back at the first responders.

To compound problems, Mayor Pro Tem Joe Jaworski said a fire department pumper trucks malfunctioned during the blaze. Many of the Galveston County fire departments secured their trucks at Santa Fe High School prior to the storm coming ashore. A fire crew from La Marque that was staged at Santa Fe High was enroute to the island to assist the island firefighters.

Initial reports from emergency officials indicate that eyewitnesses reported seeing sparks, possibly from a transformer, that ignited a nearby structure. The building was formally used as the lodge hall of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, but was recently converted to use as an art gallery.

Two adjoining structures on Church Street also burned during the storm, including a four-unit residential building. One female resident was severely burned and was in surgery at UTMB at last report. Although the hospital had shut down, the hospital's ER remained open to respond to medical emergencies.

Jaworski said the nearby Customs House and home of the Galveston Historical Foundation, did not catch fire. Jaworski said one fire fighter sustained a minor eye injury while attempting to battle the blaze.

A Daily News staffer wrote in today to say she got the following automated message when phoning home to check voice mail:

"This is an emergency message. Your address is in a storm surge area and people living there should evacuate. Follow the highway routes described by radio. Don't wait for shelter information. Prepare for traffic and a long drive. Waiting too late can risk your life. Reach out to help those without transportation. If you receive this call and have no means of transportation, call 311 or (713) 837-0311."

Who knew this was part of the emergency management system? It's a nice touch and provides critical information to those who might be located in a vulnerable area.

The Greater Houston Transportation and Emergency Management Center has dozens of freeway cameras positioned throughout Galveston County and around Houston. They provide an excellent way of checking weather and traffic conditions on the ground. Check them out at:

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cameras/

Each link pops up in a floating window and will automatically refresh as new images are available. As the weather has gotten progressively worse, a few cameras have gone offline and soon drop off the list.