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)
Yes, they can. It just takes a bit of ingenuity. Although today's electronic metering may make it more difficult.
Long ago, we were without power for over a week on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The gas stations removed the belt from the electrically-driven pump and substituted a longer belt that ran to a gas-driven lawn edger.
To pump gas, the operator simply leaned back on the edger to tighten the belt.
Texas Tech: HWY 84 south to Pinkies for more beer.
Head on out. This isn’t just over hyped - it is a monster storm headed right at you. Unless you are EMS or emergency personnel the rescuers don’t need another able bodied stubborn person to rescue later.
Guess who will get blamed when many die from this since Americans are dumb.....the Republicans.
Say hello to President Obama.
In my experience, they over-forecast storms.
I’ll repeat my earlier comment: none of us is able to judge another’s prospects for safety by reading about it on line. There are too many variables unknown to us.
b
I don't know your area but I wouldn't want to deal with it or have a 'last min' evac situation and wreck my car on road debris or an accident -or worse in the middle of the night. It's just common sense. Like someone else said, they'll be talking about this storm 100 years from now. If nothing else get us some good pics will ya?!
One of the things I enjoyed most—seeing Shep Smith blown off his feet and rolling down the street in Beuamont during Rita.
I don’t know if you can do this link. It’s a webcam from the FOXNews site. There’s two cams. Scroll across to the second one showing the shoreline. Look at how the picture is shaking. From the waves hitting it, no doubt.
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/live.html?chanId=3
President Bush needs to get on national TV now and say you really need to evacuate.
This is serious.....we will lose if this ends up being seen as another Katrina.
More importantly, by doing this he could help save lives.
sw
“The surge is ahead of the storm, so it doesn’t matter how intense the storm is when it hits land. What matters is how strong the storm is hours before it hits land.”
RIGHT... there’s probably some kind of time-decaying integral taking into account pressure and area that should be applied ... That is probably published somewhere in the literature.
Are you even paying attention? They UNDERFORECAST the surge from Katrina. By 5-8 feet. People who thought they were high enough from the forecast was telling them died. And this storm has more kinetic energy associated with it than Katrina at her peak. Not only that, forecasters are calling this a freak storm. Which means they don't fully understand it. They might be overforecasting out of caution as a result. But the point it, they got Katrina wrong. Five feet of elevation is not a workable safety margin for this storm. IMO anyone in the map in post #51 who lives in a shaded area should get out. You are dicing with death if you don't.
I’ll repeat my earlier comment: none of us is able to judge another’s prospects for safety by reading about it on line.
Boy, that attituded really worked well in NOLA with Katrina, where over half the people who died had a car in their driveway.
sw
The surge, the waves are going to be immense and overpowering, just like Cuba.
Galveston coast this am
The nightclub over the water, huge Balinese Room is falling apart, timbers underneath are collapsing in the powerful waves. I can see why.
God help anyone who's staying in Galveston.
One of the local news reporters is in the Surfside area. She said they have closed the roads, she also said that three people (idiots) are staying put. The sheriff told them to make sure to put identifying information on their bodies so he would know who they were.
Still hunkered down and waiting in NW Houston. The storm appears to be moving NW now; is the turn starting?
Regardless of the winds, the surge will be life-altering for this portion of the cost, likely life-ending.
People need to leave now.....the road will not be there much longer.
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