Galveston Bay

Seafood-rich Galveston Bay opened to shrimpers Friday for the first time in eight days, but officials warned against fishing in waters stained with residue from a 700,000-gallon oil spill. The oil spilled when a tanker collided with two barges on July 28.

Hurricane Ike swallowed Dawn Demers' four-bedroom home so completely that she couldn't even see her rooftop as she stood marooned on a bridge, staring at brown floodwaters and trying not to weep. Just down the highway, Ike somehow spared Gary Jenkins' ramshackle trailer, chewing up a few tree limbs but leaving Jenkins unharmed as he sat listening to radio bulletins in his pajama bottoms Saturday morning. The worst hurricane to hit the Texas coast in recent memory was capricious, destroying some homes and lives while leaving others blessedly untouched.

Galveston Bay reopened to fishing Saturday, a week after a tanker-barge collision in the environmentally sensitive waterway that authorities now concede spilled far more oil than previously thought. The state health department declared the entire bay open for taking of fin fish but, concerned about the continuing effects of the spill, maintained a ban on shellfish harvesting across much of the bay.

The hurricane struck by surprise, decimating this island city, killing thousands and sweeping entire neighborhoods clean. Linda MacDonald's late grandfather lived through the Great Storm a century ago this week and told her unforgettable stories. Just 6 when the winds and water crashed through, he rode out the tempest in his father's bakery.

A barge carrying more than 714,000 gallons of oil broke open Monday just outside the Houston Ship Channel, spilling a ribbon of crude oil at least 2 miles long into Galveston Bay. High seas and winds of up to 45 mph apparently caused the barge to buckle and rupture. Televised images from the scene showed the vessel sunken in the middle and apparently on the verge of breaking in two. Oil began streaming from the Buffalo Marine Service Inc. barge north of Pelican Island about 1 p.m.

Coast Guard officials said Friday a barge that collided with a tanker in the Houston Ship Channel may have spilled 700,000 gallons, or nearly all of its cargo, into Galveston Bay. The Coast Guard had said earlier that 500,000 gallons of oil spewed into the bay after the accident. But officials considered adjusting that estimate after salvage crews found nothing in a once-submerged cargo tank they expected to contain about 200,000 gallons of oil.

Oil from a 120,000-gallon spill soiled an island in environmentally sensitive Galveston Bay Monday, despite efforts to contain and clean up crude leaking from two barges that collided with a tanker. Coast Guard officials who flew over the spill estimated its size Monday at 120,000 gallons, more than double their earlier estimate of 50,000 gallons. "There are three areas of oil that have moved (from the collision site)," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Dennis Schaefer.

From the hurricane-battered docks of Dickinson Bayou to the open waters past the petrochemical plants and the marsh grass, C.L. Standley is a veteran of Galveston Bay. At the helm of his 43-foot whitewashed shrimp trawler, the Captain Clyde, he plies the confluence of rich natural resources and smokestack industry that is Galveston Bay.

Workers using skimmers and absorbent pads mopped up sections of a 40,000-gallon oil spill but said it still threatened a wildlife habitat along Galveston Bay. A 10-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway remained closed as well. A 10-inch pipeline ruptured before midnight Thursday when Amoco Pipeline Co. workers were transferring light crude oil to a barge at the company's High Island terminal in Galveston's east bay, a company spokesman said.

The Coast Guard began to cut back crews Thursday as the cleanup of 700,000 gallons of oil that spilled when a tanker struck two barges last month in Galveston Bay neared an end. The Coast Guard said salvage crews were sopping up remaining pockets of sludge near Houston Point in the bay's northernmost part, but officials believe the $3-million cleanup should be completed today.

State health officials are warning consumers not to eat oysters harvested from Galveston Bay, Texas, which have sickened about 245 people nationwide, including at least six in California. Three people in San Francisco, two in Santa Clara County and one in San Joaquin County became ill after eating bacteria-tainted oysters, officials said. Health authorities blame the problem on a bacterium that is killed by thorough cooking.

State officials say another 58 people have been identified as victims of bacteria-tainted oysters from Galveston Bay. Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Health, said the cases confirmed Thursday bring the total since June 1 to 248, including 206 in Texas, 36 in Florida and six in California. The number surpasses an outbreak last year involving 208 people in the Pacific Northwest who were sickened by bacteria-tainted oysters. One died.

A barge carrying more than 714,000 gallons of oil broke open Monday just outside the Houston Ship Channel, spilling a ribbon of crude oil at least 2 miles long into Galveston Bay. High seas and winds of up to 45 mph apparently caused the barge to buckle and rupture. Televised images from the scene showed the vessel sunken in the middle and apparently on the verge of breaking in two. Oil began streaming from the Buffalo Marine Service Inc. barge north of Pelican Island about 1 p.m.

Workers using skimmers and absorbent pads mopped up sections of a 40,000-gallon oil spill but said it still threatened a wildlife habitat along Galveston Bay. A 10-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway remained closed as well. A 10-inch pipeline ruptured before midnight Thursday when Amoco Pipeline Co. workers were transferring light crude oil to a barge at the company's High Island terminal in Galveston's east bay, a company spokesman said.

Seafood-rich Galveston Bay opened to shrimpers Friday for the first time in eight days, but officials warned against fishing in waters stained with residue from a 700,000-gallon oil spill. The oil spilled when a tanker collided with two barges on July 28.

The Coast Guard began to cut back crews Thursday as the cleanup of 700,000 gallons of oil that spilled when a tanker struck two barges last month in Galveston Bay neared an end. The Coast Guard said salvage crews were sopping up remaining pockets of sludge near Houston Point in the bay's northernmost part, but officials believe the $3-million cleanup should be completed today.