Posted on 09/12/2008 5:12:09 AM PDT by NautiNurse
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 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
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 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)
“Also a good spot! :-) Probably, also GONE! “
Yeah I know. I heard that the Dairy Queen not far from there is already gone. Sad day indeed.
Same thing happened during the 1900 hurricane. Galveston proper flooded to about 18 inches early in the morning, then the surge didn’t come ashore till 4 pm. Back then they had tall curbs, so the streets ponded, but not the sidewalks. Then around 4 pm, the levels went up at least 4 feet in 30 seconds, and beyond that, no-one was keeping precise records.
The biggest part of the destruction was due to wave action, which took out so many buildings on the Gulf side shore that the debris built a levee and protected buldings more than 10-15 blocks inland from wave action, they flooded in a relatively calm sea. The seawall will affect that dynamic, this time around, since it wasn’t built in 1900, but I’m not going to try to predict just how. Instead, I’m going to wait and see what happens.
YMMV.
-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—
Thank you for the great recounting. I agree that the effects of the seawall are not known now. I hope it is very very helpful. I’m quite worried for sure anyway.
YMMV.
I don’t think the officials would announce to the whole world when an evacuation will take place. It may have already happened for all we know.
Posting to modify tagline.
Excuse me? I said from the get-go that I was in Deer Park - 10 miles from the northwest corner of Galveston Bay - more than a couple of times. I told someone I was in the orange surge area and they mistook me for being in Orange, Tx. So if anyone in Galveston dies it’s my fault for someone misreading my posts? Anyone staying on Galveston Island after yesterday was taking a very high risk. But as I am already there, I will lead them into the light........ ;-)
ouch ... worst case scenario
ouch ... worst case scenario
That pic was in the Ike Photo Slideshow at KHOU.com. It is attributed to Chris Nocera.
Thank you, I always spell it wrong! My three brothers live in the Kemah, Seabrook and Nassau Bay areas so I have been there a million times. Grew up in Texas City.
I am going to miss Ernies II. I launched my kayak by there and always bought my bait there. A friend said he saw it on the news earlier and it was surrounded by water. Normally it just has the canal behind it but the spit of land it was on was gone. He said he saw their bait flag out and thought we could get a deal on shrimp.
All Arkansas crews are staying in Arkansas this time.
Gustav taught us a valuable lesson.
oops ... steady ol’ boy ... flying fickle trigger finger on mouse
Yeah, this one is going to affect a lot of Texas. Good luck to you all.
I heard they had a power failure. I would imagine any captain would have been wanting to get out.
I heard they had a power failure. I would imagine any captain would have been wanting to get out.
SHE NEVER ONCE represented herself as on Galveston Island!
placemarker
I hear they have a great tuna melt also. My cousins ate there when we were in Lake Jackson for a wedding in August.
and mess with underwater pipelines
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