Corpus Christi man drowns, considered Ike victim
A 19-year-old Corpus Christi man was presumed drowned after storm surge from Hurricane Ike swept him from a jetty, Corpus Christi Police Chief Bryan Smith said.
Michael Moxley was second-known Ike-related fatality in the hours before the category 2 hurricane made landfall.
A 10-year-old Montgomery County boy died early Friday after a tree limb fell on him. His father was cutting down the tree anticipating Ike's wrath.
In Corpus, police said Moxley and friends were out on a jetty, which is a rocky sea wall, along the Packery Channel, when the wave knocked Moxley under.
His friends said they last saw in the water but not moving.
"We haven't found him," Smith said. "We can't call him dead yet.....but it's not looking good."
Friends who tried to save him ended up being rescued themselves. One's back was broken when the violent swells knocked him against the rocks. He was airlifted to an area hospital. Others were "banged up" with minor injuries, Smith said.
A Coast Guard search for Moxley so far has proved fruitless, Smith said.
In the Montgomery County accident, Joel Smith was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Tomball Regional Medical Center, officials said. The accident happened shortly before 9 a.m. Friday, Montgomery County officials said.
``Now he (Caleb) has to deal with the guilt,'' said Richard Jennings, pastor of River of Praise, a nondenominational church in Tomball, who spoke on behalf of the family and related how the boy was killed. Jennings called the incident ``a freak accident.''
Nathan Smith, a single father, took his sons everywhere with him, Jennings said, including frequently to church, where they had attended for about two years.
Joel Smith, a fifth-grader with red hair, was a member of the congregation's children's ministry, Jennings said, and attended every Wednesday and Sunday.
``He was a real good kid,'' said Bob Sanchez, a church member who finished sawing the tree into stumps after the incident at the family's home in the 1800 block of Coe Road, west of Texas 249. The house is at the end of a gravel road in a heavily wooded area.
Nathan Smith is ``devastated,'' Jennings said, adding:
``It's just a real tragic incident.''
---San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle
http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/
