It’s a tragedy, but really, what are you going to do? City and county officials issued mandatory evacuation orders, the media told people of the dangers inherent in staying behind, the weather service warned people that this was a dangerous storm. But, still, they stayed. Some of them may have been swept out to sea. Those that were may never be found.

GALVESTON, Texas — The death toll from Hurricane Ike is remarkably low so far, considering that legions of people stayed behind as the storm obliterated row after row of homes along the Texas coast. But officials suspect there are more victims out there and say some might simply have been swept out to sea.

Exactly how many is anybody’s guess, because authorities had no sure way to track those who defied evacuation orders. And the number of people reported missing after the storm, whose death toll stands at 16 in Texas, is fluctuating.

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As the hurricane closed in, authorities estimated that 90,000 people ignored evacuation orders along the Gulf Coast. Post-storm rescuers in Galveston and the peninsula removed about 3,500 people, but another 6,000 refused to leave.

Authorities concede that at least some of those who haven’t turned up could have been washed out to sea, as at least one woman on the peninsula apparently was, and that other bodies might still be found.

Nobody is suggesting that tens of thousands died, but determining what happened to those unaccounted for is a painstaking task that could leave survivors wondering for months or years to come.

At what point are officials absolved of responsibility? At what point do people have to take responsibility for their own bad decisions?