What's Left: A Ravaged Island Covered With Rubbish

He stayed put throughout the storm, his neighborhood somewhat protected by a short seawall. At one point during the night, he saw a stray boat moving down his street as though it had a pilot. His truck was carried off a knoll of land, then carried back almost to where it came from. He blames the media for hyping the dangers of what he calls "a regular hurricane thing."

His neighbor, Tim Galvan, a former law enforcement officer, came in after the storm and found a piece of an airplane, what appeared to be a nose cone, against the fence in his side yard. "It had to have come from the sky," he said. He also found a necklace. "Real pearls," he said as he showed them off.

In Jamaica Beach, one of the few people left is Elizabeth Madson, 45, a property manager and part-time bartender. She had car trouble and decided to take her chances, a decision she regretted as the storm blew in. She was alone, no power, no phone, and the house began to shake. Without a seawall, there was nothing to stop the waves from rolling right across the island, smashing against the pillars of the house as she watched from the second floor.

She prayed all night.

"God said I was going to be okay," she said. "And I trusted that. I'm pretty sure He said, 'Don't do this again.' "

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Some sights in Galveston are shocking. Much of the sensory input is simply repulsive. Just off Broadway Boulevard you see an oversize stuffed teddy bear floating in a puddle, face up, and a stuffed dog wedged into the fence of a housing project. Then you realized the stuffed dog is real, someone's pet, a fluffy collie that must have been just trying to escape to higher ground.

With the grid down, and no running water, Galveston is a humid, dirty, reeking mess.

Officials on Sunday decided to evacuate by bus many of the hundreds of Galveston residents who have been staying in increasingly dire conditions inside Ball High School. Most are poor and African American. Many are sick or in wheelchairs.

The toilets had filled to the rim by Saturday afternoon. The floors were treacherously slippery and many people had fallen, including women with babies. Most people spent their hours during the day on the steps outside, getting away from the interior odor, darkness and humidity.

"Katrina should have taught everybody some lessons," said a furious Sheila Bell, 47.

"This is an absolute disgrace. That's not how you treat people," said Edward Whatling, a Galveston resident who had considered staying in the shelter until seeing the conditions.