McClatchy Washington Bureau

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GALVESTON, Texas — Charles Rock anxiously waited for news from emergency workers about two elderly friends who wouldn’t leave their Hollywood neighborhood home on the west side of Galveston.

They were going to stay at the Palisade Palms condominiums, where Rock works, but dogs were not allowed.

So the two friends stayed behind with their pets in Hollywood.

"Jack is 80 and disabled," Rock said of one of his friends. "He just wouldn’t leave. I’m worried."

Rock helps care for Jack and the other friend because they have mental health issues. He said another reason they didn’t want to leave was because they were afraid that they could not afford to go somewhere else.

The Palisade Palms, which opened in May, is on higher ground, but that made the fierce wind gusts exceeding 110 mph more terrifying.

"The wind was really brutal, the entire building was shaking," Rock said. "Then the eye hit and the wind shifted, and the other side started shaking."

But this story has a happy ending. Around 3:45 p.m., about a half-dozen game wardens, accompanied by medical personnel, brought Jack and his friends safely from the Hollywood neighborhood in a boat.

Among the game wardens was Mack Chambers, 30, of Houston, who assisted in search-and-rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans three years ago.

Rescue efforts intensify

At times it appeared that Galveston island had been returned to the sea. By air and boat, rescue operations like the one that rescued Rock’s two friends began in earnest this afternoon after Hurricane Ike pounded the Texas coast overnight and into the morning.

Read the full story at star-telegram.com.