Posted on 09/07/2008 8:37:37 AM PDT by NautiNurse
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 & Eastern Gulf of Mexico
Western Gulf of Mexico
West Caribbean
South FL Radar Loop
FL Keys Radar Loop
Cuba Radar Warning: site gets overloaded
FL Long Range Radar Image
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Additional Resources:
Navy Tropical Cyclone
Storm Pulse Very cool site--scroll down for Ike
KeyNews.com Key West News
Miami Herald
NOLA.com
KPLC-tv Lake Charles News
WEAR-tv Pensacola FL
TBO.com Tampa Bay Online
KHOU Houston
WKRG-tv Mobile-Pensacola
| 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 |
Winds 80 mph, 967mb.
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Golly .. that slow speed.
Thanks for all your hard work, NN.
How are you feeling?
I’m doing well, thanks. Next follow up in 2 months. So far so good. Getting some work done during quiet hours this evening.
Great news .... happy for ya.
Thanks for the pings, and all that you do, NN... ;~)
Unless something *really* weird happens, I’m gonna be mostly a spectator here in Mobile, for this one - my namesake...
Keeping an eye on it, still, though, since I’ll be driving to New Mexico the weekend after next, and I’m going to have to decide whether to take I-10, or go the northern (slightly longer) route on I-20... Or even detour all the way up to I-40 to avoid storm damage and/or the crush of returning evacuees....
Watching....
Thanks for posting the song, blam. I got the name a bit wrong but you figured it out. Here just N. of Orlando, the clouds from the outer bands of the cane are moving at a fast clip in the night sky. Hard to believe the expansiveness and power of such a storm, ha? It is getting slightly breezy as well.
By Key West CITIZEN & Bait Wrapper STAFF
Monroe County government officials late Tuesday announced that evacuees may begin returning to the Florida Keys at noon Wednesday, following confirmation that the Overseas Highway is free of debris, Monroe County government officials announced late Tuesday. Visitors may begin returning on Thursday.
The vast majority of hotels, attractions and restaurants should be operating by then, but reservations are suggested, tourism officials said.
“This town knows how to clean up after a storm, or a large party,” said Key West City Manager Jim Scholl. “We’ll be ready for visitors.”
Key West International Airport is expected to reopen by Wednesday afternoon and the first cruise ship is slated to return Thursday, officials said.
More information will be available on Monroe County’s Web site at www.monroecounty-fl.gov [1] or the Sheriff’s Office’s Web site at www.keysso.net [2].
Key Westers on Tuesday thumbed their collective nose at Hurricane Ike as many residents who ignored evacuation orders also disregarded official warnings to stay indoors.
Despite the fact that hospitals were closed and emergency response -- including the Coast Guard's -- was limited, crowds swamped the White Street Pier and Higgs Beach to watch the breakers crash as floodwaters rose in the usual areas of South Roosevelt Boulevard, Atlantic Boulevard, and the southern ends of Duval and Whitehead streets.
Oliver and Suzanne Landis stood a safe distance from the waves near Louie's Backyard restaurant on Waddell and Vernon streets.
"We feel very blessed," Suzanne Landis said of recently moving into a remodeled home on Catherine Street. "It's our first storm in the house and I'm real glad we didn't leave."
Others were not as lucky.
A Publix tractor-trailer driver had to be extricated from his semi after a wind gust overturned it on the Channel 2 bridge at Mile Marker 72 around 6:30 a.m. The driver reportedly had only minor injuries, but the accident shut down both lanes of the bridge, effectively severing the Middle and Lower Keys from points further north until wreckers lifted the truck out of the road shortly after 10 a.m.
Another driver crashed a vehicle into a power pole on State Road 4 at Mile Marker 27.7 on Little Torch Key. The driver was not injured.
In Islamorada, a tornado reportedly touched down in a neighborhood at Mile Markier 74 just before 4 a.m., damaging homes, cars, boats and trees on several streets: Iroquois, Palm, Sunset, and Bayview drives. No injuries were reported.
Deputies confirmed that power lines were down and that on Palm Drive, some vehicles were moved and a boat was flipped over, and there was some structural damage to buildings there.
One man called 911 to report his sliding glass doors "blown out" and part of his stairs possibly missing. Deputies and officers from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who responded to the area reported flooding and initially had a hard time getting to the damaged area because of the standing water and because of lines down, which made it too dangerous to enter.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings throughout the early morning. One was issued for the Upper Keys from about 12:53 to 1:15 a.m., another from 2:13 to 2:45 a.m., and a third from 3:45 to 4:15 a.m. Mainland Monroe County was also a target, with a warning issued for the southwestern portion from 12:45 until 1 a.m. and for the southeastern portion from 3:39 to 4 a.m. and from 5:16 to 5:30 a.m.
In Key Largo, Ike spawned a micro-cell -- a small tornado -- that ripped through Jim Waterman's Shell World store at Mile Marker 106 Tuesday. Smashed wooden display stands and shells were scattered along the front of his building, but Waterman was unfazed.
"We'll be OK," he said as he and his family picked through the debris. "This is nothing like Donna."
Hurricane Donna, a Category 4 storm that hit Marathon in 1960, packed 128 mph sustained winds with 150 mph gusts and 12 to 15 feet of storm surge. Donna, the fifth-strongest recorded hurricane to hit the United States, killed 50 people and caused $387 million in damage here, and killed 114 and cost $13 million elsewhere.
Power outages were spotty throughout the day, and overnight. There was a power outage from about 3:45 a.m. to 6 a.m., but it was unclear how widespread it was. All 27,000 Keys Energy Services customers also lost power at 10:45 p.m., for about 20 minutes. The cause was unknown. A power surge in Stock Island caused a substation in Marathon to power down around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday, causing all 27,000 customers from Key West to Big Pine Key to lose power for about 30 minutes, said Keys Energy spokesman Julio Barroso. About 1,000 New Town customers lost power for about an hour and a half around 9 a.m., when the utility intentionally shut down power to repair a sagging line on Duck Avenue.
There were reports of downed trees on Guava Avenue on Grassy Key and at Avenue B and Fourth Street on Big Coppitt Key. All of the reports Keys Energy Services received about downed power lines turned out to be downed telephone and cable lines instead.
The Overseas Highway was shut down once before the Publix semi overturned. Shortly after the 4:13 a.m. high tide, rising waters breached a sand berm at Sea Oats Beach in Lower Matecumbe, carrying seaweed and other debris halfway into the road. Officials shut down a 1-mile stretch of northbound U.S. 1 for several hours while they cleaned up the mess.
"We had lobster traps and wood in the road. Things that are harder to drive over than seaweed," Islamorada Public Works Director Myles Milander said, bracing against the wind as workers finished the cleanup around 10 a.m.
The Florida Department of Transportation last year spent $6 million on a project that included dune construction to protect the normally vulnerable Sea Oats Beach section of highway, only to see the dune-line fail to hold up to the indirect hit from Ike.
Seaweed and other debris also washed over onto South Roosevelt Boulevard along Smathers Beach in Key West.
"We've had significant damage as far as beach erosion," said Key West City Manager Jim Scholl.
"It's very bad along Smathers and Higgs beaches and we have some damage to the seawall along South Roosevelt Boulevard, where the old boat ramp used to be."
In a residential neighborhood behind the Shell World, a trailer had part of its facade ripped off. A commercial building upwind had a hole in its roof. A gumbo limbo tree next to it had splintered, with large branches ripped off and strewn across Largo Road and through a vacant lot.
Curious neighbors gathered to view the damage. The Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department was on hand to help.
A conga line of sailboats held their positions in the narrow creek just north of Jewfish Creek, a sanctuary for boats whose mangrove trees protect all but the protruding masts from the gusting wind. The few boats that remained anchored on the Blackwater Sound side of Jewfish Creek were tucked tightly against mangroves, some with owners aboard, riding it out.
With waves of blowing rain from the southeast, traffic was light on the Overseas Highway. Few stores were open, but by noon some were beginning to peel away the shutters and open their doors for business.
Water was high on the ocean side, especially at Rock Harbor, but some sailors had secured boats in creeks, while others pulled them onto trailers to ride out the storm.
There were no boats in the otherwise crowded marinas that front the ocean. High tide was expected around 4 p.m.
Two sailors stood by the water watching the boats bobbing at the anchorage between Rock Harbor and Rodriguez Key.
"Thank God this thing went south of Cuba," one sailor said. "If it had hit Marathon as a 3 or 4, we wouldn't have had much of a chance."
The general consensus was that the Florida Keys dodged another bullet.
"Light a candle, say a prayer, cross your fingers and remain aware," Jack Hackett said, reciting his hurricane mantra at the Schooner Wharf Bar in Key West.
"I initially thought this was going to be our Katrina," Hackett said over drinks. "When it didn't make that turn over Cuba, I let go a super-sigh of relief. But I shuttered-up nonetheless."
Ike’s closest approach on Tuesday was about 145 miles to the south, southwest of Key West, officials said. Hurricane force winds remained well off the Keys, but the island chain was brushed with sustained tropical storm-force winds.
Weather conditions were expected to improve gradually as Ike continued to track west, with partly sunny skies and scattered rain expected in the Florida Keys today, said meteorologist Alan Albanese.
.
Roger that. Prayers for all in this storms reaches.
Tim (channel 5) used to be my neighbor across the street. He lives and breathes weather, and is a really good guy.
Looks like the mid-coast is in for a breezy and damp weekend.
Thank-you for all your hard work!!!
..this was the real deal, the actual hurricane as it progressed from point to point, jumping every few seconds across the screen.
Either that, or I dreamed it!
Light a candle, say a prayer, cross your fingers and remain aware...
Way up in Tampa Bay, the skies are incredibly dark for this hour. Very ominous.
Winds 85 mph, moving NW at 8 mph.
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Man, what a night here on Sugarloaf Key. Power started blinking out around 8pm, you know, those wonderful Keys Energy power surges that do your electronics and appliances so much good. Around 8:30 it was off for good and just came back up 20 minutes ago. Then the wind started howling @ 9pm, making that eerie sound I hate to hear and you know it’s not just TS force winds. Wife has an air card for her lap top so I put up the Key West NWS site and Weather Underground’s Key West doppler radar. Sand Key Lighthouse....88 knot sustained winds, individual cells in the squall band were up at 70 knots over Sugarloaf and Cudjoe with some up in the 85 knot area.
Yard is a mess this morning, a few pretty decent size buttonwood trees have limbs that were six inches in diameter snapped off, big seagrape tree down. A friend on Big Pine Key had a tornado come through his neighborhood at 3:30 am.
But the boats are still on the hook out in the canal, a fresh pot of coffee is on and we’re going to clean up a bit around here....if the wind ever dies down. Still blowing a good 40 here and I cannot believe that Ike has not even made it up to our latitude yet, it’s slowed considerably since coming off Cuba. Looks like another wet, windy day ahead.
looks like you are getting the very outter bands, Ike must be pretty big to get tampa and cuba at the same time. Now we will see how good the NHC comptuers are.
Heads up Texas FReepers!!
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