Posted on 09/10/2008 2:18:37 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Texas began issuing mandatory and voluntary evacuations as Hurricane Ike continued to strengthen and slowly moved toward an uncertain landfall destination in the western Gulf of Mexico. Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration in advance of the storm. Louisiana Governor Jindal released several hundred buses to Texas for evacuation assistance.
Reports from Cuba indicate widespread damage from Hurricane Ike, which raked the length of the island nation. The U.S. State Department again offered Cuba humanitarian assistance after a previous offer was declined by the Cuban government.
The stock market Wednesday rose as investors bought oil stocks and and oill futures fell.
Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours
Discussion Updated every 6 hours
Buoy data: Western Gulf of Mexico
Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar
Corpus Christi Long Range Radar
Brownsville Long Range Radar Lake Charles Long Range Radar
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Additional Resources:
Navy Tropical Cyclone
Storm Pulse Very cool site
ABC 13 News Houston
FOX News Houston
KRIS-TV Corpus Christi
KZTV Corpus Christi
Brazoria County Emergency Management
Galveston County Emergency Management
Chambers Country Emergency Management
Liberty County Emergency Management
| Category | Wind Speed | Barometric Pressure | Storm Surge | Damage Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical Depression |
< 39 mph < 34 kts |
Minimal | ||
| Tropical Storm |
39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts |
Minimal | ||
| Hurricane 1 (Weak) |
74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts |
28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more |
4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m |
Minimal damage to vegetation |
| Hurricane 2 (Moderate) |
96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts |
28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb |
6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m |
Moderate damage to houses |
| Hurricane 3 (Strong) |
111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts |
27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb |
9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m |
Extensive damage to small buildings |
| Hurricane 4 (Very strong) |
131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts |
27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb |
13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m |
Extreme structural damage |
| Hurricane 5 (Devastating) |
Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts |
Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb |
Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m |
Catastrophic building failures possible |
Previous Threads:
Hurricane Ike Live Thread I
TS Hanna, Hurricane Ike & TS Josephine [Other than that, the tropics are calm]
Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine, TD Gustav (Other than that, the tropics are calm)
It has been 25 years since Alicia hit and they never did repair or rebuild the hiway between High Island and Port Aurthur. Alicia did an enormous amount of beach dammage and Ike may double that amount.
Just got back from topping off the Jeep and getting a few goodies from the store.
Lots of traffice out there for a weekday, gas stations and grocery store are full of people. Only thing running low at the store was bread.
Got four loaves in the freezer. When allison came through the stores in Atoscosita lost power and the meat department was damn near giving it away if you could pay by cash or check. If we lose power like that again I will be there to take advantage saturday evening or sunday.
What about dry air? Some speculation at another site that dry air is in the center....actually helping right now instead of hurting intensification.
What should Texas residents do?
We must assume Ike will intensify to a Category 3 hurricane by landfall, which would likely do $20-$30 billion in damage. The chances of hundreds of people being killed in this storm is high if people do not heed evacuation orders to leave low-lying areas threatened by high storm surges. Ike's storm surge is going to be affect a huge area and be tremendously destructive.
Thunder rumbling here with some downpours in central Florida from the outer bands of the storm right now.
17 Feet? Not anymore. The City pumped so much sand to replace the beach the water now is against the seawall. Years ago you had 100 yards of beach now you have None (starting at 61st street). I would say the seawall is 10 feet high in places.
Maximum water levels forecast: Shoreline of Matagorda and
Galveston Bays... 15 to 20 feet
Gulf-facing coastal areas from Matagorda to High Island
including Galveston Island... 12 to 16 feet
Life threatening inundation likely!
All neighborhoods... and possibly entire coastal communities...
will be inundated during high tide. Persons not heeding
evacuation orders in single family one or two story homes will
face certain death.
Many residences of average construction directly on the coast
will be destroyed. Widespread and devastating personal
property damage is likely elsewhere. Vehicles left behind will
likely be swept away. Numerous roads will be swamped... some
may be washed away by the water.
Entire flood prone coastal communities will be cutoff. Water
residents in multi-story facilities risk being cutoff. Conditions will
be worsened by battering waves. Such waves will exacerbate
property damage... with massive destruction of homes...
including those of block construction. Damage from beach
erosion could take years to repair.
On/Off Hurricane List Mash Here--> 
Doesn’t that give you the chills? I remember the same type of ominous warning for Katrina being read on FOX and they were dead on.
Note that the NHC spoke of a “slight jog to the Northwest” ?? Hmnnnn...
Just looking at the “Bigger picture”... the NW quadrant is showing signs of shear... what that means to me is.. Ike is starting to feel the interaction with the oncoming Upper Level trough.
I’m still not convinced that Louisiana is out of the woods on this one. Remember... at this point during Rita, Houston was in the “bulls-eye”. Then, it veered north.
I still think that’s possible here...
We had highway 98 closed on Okaloosa island between Destin and Fort Walton Beach this morning because of high waves washing over the island, and we’re no where near the storm!............
We were told this morning that by this afternoon gas would be around $6 a gallon (if they didn't run out first) because of the refineries shutting down along the coast because of the hurricane. We just confirmed it with one of the oil companies.
When I went to fill up the long lines had already started.
Utter nonsense. The Attorney General has already warned against price gouging.
My neighborhood gas station had a twenty cent per gallon jump in price yesterday. I noticed today that it was back down to where it was the previous day.
Texas Severe Weather
That’s a jolly thought...NOT! Those of us in Rita’s path are sitting here with nowhere to go.
My SIL in NW Houston is staying in place. I’m very worried about her. She’s in her mid to late 60s. She says she’s ready for it.
The energy appears to be translated into a much larger windfield rather than just around the eye. Jeff Masters had a plot of a newfangled estimate of the total kinetic energy of hurricanes - and Ike was at the top of the plot, with even more kinetic energy than Katrina. I think, however, in looking at the last few sat photos, that Ike is starting to consolidate to a larger eye, and we might see stronger winds develop around the center over the next 12-24 hours. It's still gonna produce a lot of surge, no matter what, because of the sheer size of the windfield.
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Please note several LA counties also carry the life threatening surge/flood warnings.
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