Hurricanes are familiar business for those living along the coast. But as Ike zeroed in on Southeast Texas, a feeling grew that this could be the big one. Suddenly more than a million people were called on to evacuate. And suddenly, Chronicle journalists had their hands full.

The awesome damage — some of it severely felt by Chronicle journalists who nevertheless remained on the job — was surpassed only by the determination to overcome it. Ike was hardly gone before the cleanup began, and the work has continued unabated since. This book bears witness not only to the destructive power of nature but to the will to persevere.