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Much of the University of Texas medical school on this island suffered flood damage during Hurricane Ike, except for one gleaming new building, a national biological defense laboratory that will soon house some of the most deadly diseases in the world. How a laboratory where scientists plan to study viruses like Ebola and Marburg ended up on a barrier island where hurricanes regularly wreak havoc puzzles some environmentalists and community leaders. “It’s crazy, in my mind,” said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer in Houston. “I just find an amazing willingness among the people on the Texas coast to accept risks...

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Hurricane Omar strengthened on Wednesday as it bore down on Puerto Rico and the small islands of the northeastern Caribbean, and could be a "major" storm by the time it reaches them, U.S. forecasters said. The 15th tropical cyclone of a busy Atlantic hurricane season formed north of the Dutch island of Curacao on Tuesday, briefly preventing Venezuela from loading tankers with crude oil and knocking out power at the OPEC nation's 200,000 barrel-per-day Puerto La Cruz refinery. The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Omar would grow into a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson...

A month later, piles of Sheetrock, appliances, furniture and family mementos dot most streets in this island town. Electronic road signs in southeast Texas flash, "Watch for cows next 20 miles," a reminder that few fences remain to hem in livestock. Blue tarps cover 11,000 roofs for 100 miles from Houston to the Louisiana line. (snip) The storm is the most expensive in Texas history, with an estimated pricetag of $11.4 billion — so far.

The storm is forecast to be a TROPICAL DEPRESSION when it reaches the El Paso, Texas area on Sunday Morning/Afternoon. It is expected to dissipate into a low pressure center in that area... Just some wind for the El Paso area. Fox News reports the storm is a Category 3 Hurricane as it is set to strike the Baja Peninsula, and Mexican mainland. Also of interest is (Fox News story): Fox News: Hurricane Norbert Strengthens to Category 3 Storm LA PAZ, Mexico — As Norbert bore down on Mexico's southern Baja California peninsula, it gathered strength overnight and was classified...

More Ike pics.http://www.tpicks.com/pictures%20people%20have%20sent%20me.html

Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike inflicted misery on millions of Cubans. But when the Castro dictatorship looks at the devastation, it sees opportunity. Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, who took over as head of state in February, for years have been calling for an end to the U.S. embargo, which they say is starving Cuba. But Cuba can already buy from U.S. producers all the food and medicine it can pay cash for. What the totalitarian tag-team really wants is an end to the ban on private-sector credit to the Cuban government. Their demand has gone nowhere in Washington,...

Thirty of Texas' 32 House members — and eight of the Houston area's nine lawmakers — supported the emergency aid package. The sole local dissenter was Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, whose district includes some of the areas hit hardest by Ike, including Galveston.

More than 100 vessels are waiting to enter the Houston Ship Channel to deliver goods but can't, in part because Hurricane Ike destroyed or moved maritime navigational aids. Also, public terminals operated by the Port of Houston Authority remain closed because of cleanup efforts and no electricity. "A range of serious complications due to the lack of electricity prohibits the Port of Houston Authority from opening for business operations Wednesday," the port said in a prepared statement late Tuesday. The storm destroyed or blew away many navigational aids, and the Coast Guard has to sort things out before the Ship...

Power companies continued restoring electricity to customers in and around Houston Saturday, yet by the end of the day more than a million homes and businesses remained in the dark. Progress was slow as the companies began the tedious task of renewing power to one block or one house at a time after completing key infrastructure repairs in recent days. Even so, three of the four major power companies serving the area reported gains, while the other did not release updated figures Saturday. The word comes a full week after Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast and cut a...

Making another step forward in recovering from Hurricane Ike, Metro officials announced late Sunday that the light rail will run on a regular schedule Monday and that HOV lanes on I-45 North will be reopen in the morning. ... Meanwhile, power outages across much of the city prompted Houston police to extend the citywide curfew until further notice. Curfew hours are from midnight until 6 a.m. "The purpose of the curfew is to protect the lives and property of all residents as law enforcement and other officials respond to emergencies and engage in recovery activities related to this disaster," the...

I have dreaded a monster hurricane coming to our area for years. I even said that last year. My fears came true last week at this time when Hurricane Ike came crashing in. Granted it was just a Category 2 hurricane at landfall with large areas of Category 1 winds. You can hear the loud howling winds and rain. Also, you can hear the debris hitting the ground and transformers exploding and creating bright flashes that look like lightning. Going through a hurricane is torture, like having a bunch of large needles inserted into you one at a time. I...

Since Hurricane Ike struck — pitching much of the city into darkness — Houston police have made about 280 arrests every day. Most were for nonviolent offenses, including 388 for public intoxication and 335 for drug possession, police said. The totals actually show a decrease from pre-Ike levels, when Houston police were arresting about 370 people daily, according to department officials. "A lot of the credit goes to the visibility of the officers. We're trying to deter as much crime as we possibly can," said HPD spokesman John Cannon. Arrests for looting have dwindled. Of the 168 arrests made since...

Hurricane Gustav gave the state of Louisiana a test for which it had three years to prepare. There were thousands of poor, sick, disabled and elderly people who could not get out on their own. They needed to be rescued with dispatch, and sheltered in safety and dignity. One simple test. The state flunked. Three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, Louisiana executed a fundamentally unfair evacuation plan and did it badly. It relied on dividing the population into separate streams: People with their own cars were directed to shelters run by parishes, churches and the Red Cross....

The short - but eventful - life of IkeIn its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike - though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900. (28 photos total)   Some amazing...

With no idea of numbers, authorities say final accounting may take years 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...

Hundreds of people whose beachfront homes were wrecked by Hurricane Ike may be barred from rebuilding under a little-noticed Texas law. And even those whose houses were spared could end up seeing them condemned by the state. Now here's the saltwater in the wound: It could be a year before the state tells these homeowners what they mayormay not do. Worse, if these homeowners do lose their beachfront property, they may get nothing in compensation from the state. The reason: A 1959 law known as the Texas Open Beaches Act. Under the law, the strip of beach between the average...

CenterPoint Energy executives issued a timeline for power restoration, indicating it will be after Monday before most lights shine in a huge swath of the Houston area from Spring to Pearland to Baytown. CenterPoint reported Wednesday it had restored power to 42 percent of its 2.2 million customers. Entergy, which serves areas in the northern and eastern portions of the region struck by Ike, had restored 18 percent of its 395,000 customers. And Texas-New Mexico Power Co., which serves coast communities including Angleton and Texas City, reported 58 percent of its 113,000 customers had power.

"It's a very positive sign for sensible management if the State of Texas does take a new look at how we rebuild extremely vulnerable shorelines," says Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. "But I'm also skeptical, because the people who are being shut out of rebuilding tend to be wealthy and politically influential. People say, 'Those people must be nuts to build on the West End of Galveston,' but it's actually the taxpayers who are nuts for subsidizing that development."

Locations index for photo pairs of Bolivar Peninsula, TX. Green line represents the storm track of Hurricane Ike. Location 1: Oblique aerial photography of Bolivar Peninsula, TX, on September 9, 2008 (top) and September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of Hurricane Ike (bottom). Yellow arrows mark features that appear in each image. In addition to the loss of houses, the evidence of inundation here includes eroded dune face and sand deposited well inland of the shoreline. Location 2: Oblique aerial photography of Bolivar Peninsula, TX, on September 9, 2008 (top) and September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of...

MMS Reports 28 Platforms Destroyed by Ike MMS Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Minerals Management Service (MMS) reports that as of September 15, 2008, 28 of the 3,800 offshore oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico have been destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Several other platforms have been reported as significantly damaged; information on those facilities is being compiled and will be released in the near term. Initial estimates are that the destroyed production platforms produced a total of 11,000 barrels of oil per day and 82 million cubic feet of gas per day. (See table below.) The damage...

President Bush toured the area near Galveston that was damaged by Hurricane Ike Presidential candidate Senator John McCain and Vice President candidate Governor Sarah Palin campaigned a Campaign Rally in Vienna, Ohio Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - The few hundred holdouts on Texas' ravaged Bolivar Peninsula will be required to leave in the next few days, and officials said Tuesday they are ready to use emergency powers to empty the barrier island scraped clean by Hurricane Ike.(Tex A.G. looking at legal options)

The Huntsville Times reported on September 12 that, in response to the looming threat from Hurricane Ike, Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared a formal state of emergency. The governor's declaration of emergency activated the state's price-gouging law, which makes "unconscionable pricing" illegal during times of emergency. The Times quoted Riley as saying that he thinks "a threat to public health is a strong possibility due to the shortage of fuels." Hurricanes don't cause shortages, however. Price controls do. A "shortage" occurs when the amount of a good demanded exceeds the amount of a good supplied at the prevailing price. In...

Reaching out to help Ike evacuees is a neighborly impulse, but when New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin touted a non-existent discount on hotel rooms, he didn't help anyone. In fact, he ended up upsetting some evacuees who felt that their plight was being treated as a joke. Hotels can't get together to set a special rate -- that would violate federal anti-trust laws. Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Association, said he made that very point to the mayor before a news conference last Thursday.

LAKE CHARLES, La., Sept. 15, 2008 – While more than 7,000 Louisiana National Guardsmen were activated to assist in hurricane recovery operations in Louisiana, an officer with the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had the great satisfaction of taking part in the rescue of one of his own family members. As the storm surge from Hurricane Ike, the second major hurricane to batter the Gulf Coast in less than two weeks, made its way along the coast, Army Maj. Bryant R. Billiot, chief intelligence officer and a native of Dulac, La., received a call from his worried sister. “She told...

Soldier in the Rain by: Emily Miller, September 15, 2008 Michael Chertoff admits that three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the Defense and Homeland Security (DHS) he heads still falls short from protecting the American national structures from natural disasters. In a speech last Friday at the Brookings Institution, Chertoff said that while the DHS has made strides in protecting the U.S. against possible terrorist attacks, much is left to be desired in keeping common good national assets, such as bridges, highways and levees safe from hurricanes, tropical storms and other potential Katrina-esque catastrophes. “Regrettably, I don’t think...

On Sunday, September 14, winds of 40 mpt. with gusts of up to 60 mph related to Hurricane Ike blasted the Dayton/Cincinnati area. Power was knocked out for 100,000 people, stretching all the way to Columbus. Virtually all of Dayton was without power from approximately 3:00 pm. until (at my house) 2:15 in the morning. The good news is that original estimates were that it might take "a couple of days" to restore power. Entire trees were uprooted, roads closed with fallen trees and branches, and debris was strewn across roads. One shopping center at Cross Pointe lost its roof.

Click on the link for the slideshow

A small change in Hurricane Ike's course just before it crashed into the Texas coast Saturday may have spared the state and the nation from significantly worse economic damage. The center of the storm appeared to miss the vital concentration of oil and petrochemical refineries in the Houston area, and the surge of water rolling into the nation's second-largest port was also weaker than predicted.

Crews fan out across Texas to assess Ike's wrathBy ALLEN G. BREED and PAULINE ARRILLAGA, Associated Press Writers. 2008-09-14 03:28:55 Rescue crews in high-wheel trucks, helicopters and boats ventured out to pluck people from their homes Saturday in an all-out search for thousands of Texans who stubbornly stayed behind overnight as Hurricane Ike blew out skyscraper windows, cut power to millions and swamped thousands of homes along the coast. State and local officials began searching for survivors by late morning, just hours after Ike roared ashore at Galveston with 110 mph winds, heavy rains and towering waves. Overnight, dispatchers received...

Post pics and comments from the scene here.

The White House campaign faced its second storm-forced disruption Saturday as Barack Obama offered to raise funds from his army of donors for victims of the monstrous Hurricane Ike. With Ike coming ashore on Galveston Island in Texas and threatening Houston, a major oil processing center, the Democrat appeared likely to tone down a fearsome offensive against what he calls Republican John McCain's "lies." Obama canceled a planned appearance on the cult comedy program "Saturday Night Live" as he anxiously followed the enormous storm's destructive path through the Gulf of Mexico, aides said. (snip) The Democrat had been scheduled to...

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...

Please take a moment to pray if you haven’t already for those in the path of Hurricane Ike. All day my thoughts have been on the stories I grew up hearing my grandmother tell of the “Galveston Storm of 1915” (that was before hurricanes were named) - of the last moments she had with my grandfather when he came home for lunch and walked to the sea wall with her and told her at what point she needed to head for other shelter, of his pausing at the front gate as he left for one last look and wave, Grandma...

Hurricane could shift Obama’s SNL plans By JEFFREY RESSNER | 9/12/08 4:47 PM EST Barack Obama is scheduled to appear on “Saturday Night Live” tomorrow night, but he may pull out if Hurricane Ike devastates Houston, Texas, "SNL" creator-producer Lorne Michaels told Politico on Friday. “If it’s serious, it will change everything for us,” he said. “The tone of the show will shift, and it would be inappropriate for the senator to do if it looks in any way like it’s going to be a tragedy.” In addition, plans are in the works for "SNL" veteran Tina Fey to guest...

Click on the link for a slide show on the storm surge - Galveston is already a mess and the worst is yet to come.

Galveston Island, Texas Webcams (Various). At link.

Raleigh, N.C. — Gov. Mike Easley on Friday implemented the state's price-gouging law as gas prices jumped amid fears that Hurricane Ike would cripple U.S. refining capacity. Refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, which handle about one-fourth of the U.S. daily demand, were shutting down operations Thursday and Friday in advance of Ike, which was expected to hit the coast late Friday or early Saturday. Under North Carolina law, the governor must make a disaster or emergency declaration or proclaim an abnormal market disruption for critical goods and services for the state Attorney General's Office to investigate and prosecute allegations...

Large and dangerous Hurricane Ike approaching the Upper Texas coast. Mandatory evacuations began in earnest Thursday as an estimated one million coastal residents headed inland. There were widespread reports of gas stations running out of fuel. The National Weather Service posted dire storm surge predictions of 20-25 ft storm surge along the coast and bay heads. Hurricane warnings covered a 400 mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico. Wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday, or nearly $1 a gallon, out of fear of what Ike might do. Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours Discussion Updated every 6 hours Buoy...

HOUSTON -- Houston airports will shut down flights in anticipation of Hurricane Ike, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday. All airlines will cease commercial flights in and out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport beginning at 2 p.m. Friday. No airline service is expected to operate at IAH on Saturday. Airport spokeswoman Marlene McClinton said carriers at Hobby would stop flying at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. Friday, depending on the airline.

Expect gasoline prices to rise overnight as much as a dollar and-a-half a gallon. That's the warning from several business sources including one major Baton Rouge multi-station operation. However, a spokesman for Triple A Louisiana discounted the report. "We still have at least a 20 day supply, said spokesman Don Redman. "We certainly wish we had a healthier supply than that but we are certainly asking the service station industry to refrain from any panic pricing," Redman said. The approach of Hurricane Ike to the Houston area has produced a panic gasoline markets. The fears are driven by the fact...

In Lafourche Parish, president Charlotte Randolph issued a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Ike in all areas south of the Leon Theriot floodgates in Golden Meadow, as well as the Pointe-Aux-Chenes community. There, a state of emergency has been called. Also, in Jefferson Parish, a mandatory evacuation has been set up for Grand Isle. There is a voluntary evacuation that begins noon Thursday for Jean Lafitte, Crown Point, Barataria and areas outside of the levee protection system. A bus will be available at Jean Lafitte Town Hall, 2654 Jean Lafitte Boulevard, at noon Thursday for those who need help evacuating. At...

I Remember hurricane Alicia Aug 18th 1983! Kemah, TX, USA Because Hurricane Ike seems to be on a similar course to Alicia I will tell you this story. Alicia, the little cat 3 storm with 115mph winds killed 21 people and did 1.2 billion dollars in damage, with a 14 ft storm surge. 90% of Dwellings on Jamaica beach were destroyed the Seabrook and Kemah flats looked like ground zero. Houston high-rise glass buildings sustained heavy damage. I was in my 20’s and thought I was bullet proof so I road this one out on board our 56 ft boat...

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...

Hurricane Ike just rolled across Cuba, and soaked parts of Haiti - both regions still reeling from recent Hurricane Gustav. Ike appears to be weakening now, but is headed tward the Gulf Coast of the U.S., and may yet strengthen. The crew aboard the International Space Station was able to take a photo...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2008 – In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, the Coast Guard is making preparations for a possible wave of tropical storms and hurricanes, a senior Coast Guard officer said Sept. 5. “We don’t have a lot of bench strength, but we’re moving forces around in preparation for each one of these operations to position them so that we can respond,” Coast Guard Vice Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr., commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, told bloggers during a teleconference to address the current storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. To be...

A Call for Action from our viewers: Tropical Storm Fay flooded parts of Southwest Florida forcing hundreds of people out of their homes and into shelters. Since then, many viewers have called our newsroom or sent e-mails asking if undocumented immigrants will receive federal aid. WINK News has learned the answer is yes, sometimes. A FEMA Spokesman tells WINK News undocumented immigrants can receive federal aid if a child is a U.S. citizen. It's been agency policy for a number of years. FEMA Spokesperson William Lindsey says, "If there's someone who lives there like a child who has a social...

(English-language translation) HAVANA (AP) - Cuban dissidents sent U.S. President George Bush a letter asking him to temporarily suspend some of the sanctions against the island so aid may be sent following hurricane Gustav. "We ask you that, at least for two months, you lift the restrictions of the embargo that concern the relations between the exiled Cubans and those who live in the island," read a letter signed by Martha Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca on behalf of a small group called Agenda for the Transition. The dissidents asked for permission to send money and packages and for Cuban-Americans...

Hurricane Ike is the fifth tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season to threaten U.S. Gulf Coast states. Reports from Turks & Caicos Islands describe 80 per cent of homes damaged or destroyed. On Sunday, Hurricane Ike's position just north of Hispanola was hampering relief efforts for devastation incurred by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay. The death toll in Haiti from Gustav reached 200 people. Florida Governor Charlie Crist held a press conference Sunday morning shortly after a Hurricane Watch was issued for the Florida Keys. Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours Discussion Updated every 6 hours Buoy data:Florida...

AP Article, can't be posted