Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[NautiNurse]

The eyewall of Hurricane Ike crossed Galveston Island in the early hours of Saturday morning. Reports indicate as many as 20,000 residents of Galveston Island chose not to evacuate as storm surge engulfed the island. The Freeport Chief of Police reported as many as 2000 residents did not evacuate as flood waters swamped coastal communities. There are widespread reports of power outages and coastal flooding throughout the Texas/Louisiana region. The U.S. Coast Guard received hundreds of calls Friday afternoon to rescue people stranded by flood waters along the barrier islands and Galveston Bay communities.

Multiple fires broke out in the Greater Houston area fueled by strong winds. Fire fighting efforts were hampered by flood waters. Brennan's Restaurant, a landmark in Houston, burned to the ground. A 584-foot freighter crippled in the Gulf of Mexico and its crew of 22 survived the storm after The U.S. Coast Guard was forced to abort rescue efforts Friday afternoon due to foul weather

Gulf Coast wholesale gasoline prices jumped to nearly $5 a gallon over fears that water and wind damage could keep the facilities closed for days or longer. Oil companies had shut down 97.5 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico by Friday morning and were battening down refineries and petrochemical plants in an area that accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.

Exxon Mobil reported evacuating workers from its Gulf Coast offshore platforms and onshore facilities in the anticipated path of Ike, shutting down daily production of about 36,000 barrels of oil and 270 million cubic feet of gas..

Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours

Discussion Updated every 6 hours

Buoy data: Western Gulf of Mexico

Forecast Models

Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar
Corpus Christi Long Range Radar
Brownsville Long Range Radar
Lake Charles Long Range Radar

Ike
Single Image		Image Loop
Lat/Lon	No Lat/Lon	Short	Long
Visible	Visible	Visible	Visible
Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave
Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor
Infrared Channel 4 Enhancements
None	None	None	None
AVN	AVN	AVN	AVN
Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak
JSL	JSL	JSL	JSL
RGB	RGB	RGB	RGB
Funktop	Funktop	Funktop	Funktop
Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow

Additional Resources:

Navy Tropical Cyclone
Storm Pulse Very cool site

KHOU Houston
ABC 13 News Houston
FOX News Houston

KPLC Lake Charles
KFDM 6 Beaumont/Port Arthur
KKBMT 12 Beaumont
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 III
Hurricane Ike Live Thread II
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)

[Coldwater Creek]

The difference is Republican governors. La. did great a couple of weeks ago.

All the Gulf states now have Republicans. Let's keep it that way.

[STARWISE]

How dare they ... !!! But I’m sure they’ll
try .... Nagin-ites. The Fed warnings were
clear and repetitive.

~~~

Riding out storm brings harsh words
Bush, Chertoff chafe over ignored evacuation orders

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6000159.html

[Allegra]

I read a post further up that he was ok but had some barn damage, Don’t know who posted it.

You read that about humblegunner? Wonderful news! Thank you so much!

[texasredtop]

Oh my! I’m within walking distance of them. If you know where Andy Pettitte lives, I’m 3 blocks east of his house. There were a lot of large limbs down from the huge oaks near San Augustine and Luella. Didn’t appear than any of them fell on the houses. The only tree we saw that fell on a roof was at the apartments across from City Hall on San Augustine.

Yesterday we saw a white egret sitting on a downed oak limb looking very ticked off. My husband said with all the bird’s nests down, many of them will die and next year the population will be greatly reduced. We have lots of doves around here and one huge fat hawk that eats their eggs when he finds their nests. It’s all God’s way of cleansing. I learned long ago to quit asking why.

I saw one of my three hummingbirds yesterday late so I’m hoping the other two are just too scared to come out yet. Best regards to your DP family and to you :-)

[DvdMom]

shortandsweet posted this updated ..

I heard from Daughter-in-law this morning, water receded so she is able to get into town now. She still doesn’t know how her home fared. The water is too high to get to it. She does not know if she has lost everything yet. Her car was flooded and it stinks she said. So thank you to all that was trying to help me.

1,945 posted on Sunday, September 14, 2008 9:15:40 AM by shortandsweet

[DrewsMum]

yee haw! that means our power won’t be far behind!

We live in Brookglen subdivision across from walmart...we are in Jackson Ms right now. will probably head back in the mornin.

you heard any power reports about La Porte?

[texasredtop]

Getting power back is a huge relief. I hope everyone gets theirs back on soon. Good news is that the cold front coming will drop the temps a little helping with the heat situation.

[Allegra]

You know Easty is ok.

Yes, I was delighted to read that a while ago.

Did you get any bad weather before this thing went north?

[shield]

Dr. Frank is such a gentleman...I'd be surprised if he ever stepped into that subject. I was so upset on his retirement...then thrilled knowing he'd still be brought in during hurricane season.

I believe he gets pretty disgusted with the NHC especially since the NHC director retired after Katrina. I was a bit surprised when he stated he really thought the NHC was off with the storm surge data he was being given.

[buffyt]

I still WANT to go check on my house! I wish I had stayed home. I think the sewer isn’t totally off, but limited until full power restored. A few people stayed in Lake Jackson and there were no problems at all. I have enough food and water for at least three weeks. When I bought it last Monday at WalMart the clerk wondered why. Water, canned food, batteries, etc. I said “Hurrican supplies”. She asked “Is there a hurricane coming”
Later in the week we heard that the stores were packed with shoppers buying H supplies. I wanted to avoid the crowd.

We plan to install a generator WELL HAVE ONE INSTALLED that runs on the same natural gas lines as the house and anytime the elec goes off, it will come on automatically.

[texasredtop]

The surge pretty much took it out before the storm came on shore though. They were predicting lots of rainfall from this one and being less than 30 miles north of Galveston, we got about 1/2 inch maybe. We were concerned prior to the storm about flooding and yet we had very very little rain.

[Aggie Mama]

Hey Allegra,

We have our power here, but landline phones, cell phones and cable internet service are extremely intermittent right now. I’m sure he’s fine. We’ve been spending a lot of time out doors helping neighbors fix their trees, clean up damage. It’s really difficult to get ahold of anyone right now.

[CindyDawg]

See #1941

[soozer47]

Hey Nauti:
I am in the Harris county part of Friendswood and got power back last night at 10pm or so. All of our power cables are underground. The transformer is at the end of the street and I assume they cut us off preemptively on Friday night at 7pm(sharp) before it got bad and that transformer never blew. I had made ice for 2 solid days and had about 50lbs block ice in my 2 freezers (plus lots and lots of beef, pork, chicken, etc.) For future reference-the blocks last far longer than the cubes. Only problem with the blocks is they are too big to put in my gin and tonic. We are ok here. Twister took out my 20 year old pine tree (sparing my car) and deposited my neighbor’s trampoline (200lbs +) on my patio. Just got word my daughter in Pasadena has power.
What pictures did you have of Bolivar?
Thanks

[STARWISE]

Great news!

Hope you rest easier today,
Allegra, and pray that all
your loved ones are safe.

So tough to worry long distance.

[Spktyr]

Get one that runs on its own propane supply. Gas is off in many areas, apparently.

[mathluv]

Oops! poser = power

[onemiddleamerican]

Galveston Island: Important updates from emergency leaders.

[mylife]

NO. it was all AFTER it went north L0L it was here all afternoon, into the night. the clouds ate still circling but it gorgeous out now.

My shortwave antenna remained in place.

Hows Dirkadirkastan? all quiet?

Let me know when you get a contact from Humble

[1066AD]

Only problem with the blocks is they are too big to put in my gin and tonic

You need a bigger glass !