Hurricane Ike Live Thread III

NOAA/NHC ^ | 12 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[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

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 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)

[Cecily]

Animals did that before the big tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand too.

[Abigail Adams]

Reporter on channel 11 saying the insects are heading for higher ground, and if you stand in one place very long they start crawling up your leg.

[Allegra]

I think I may go catch a nap, cause this may be a long night.

I'll be with you guys in spirit.

From what I just heard, Ike should be making landfall on Galveston about mid-morning my time tomorrow. A lot of us will be watching closely and praying.

[Abigail Adams]

Thanks. I hope they’ll be okay on that ship.

[SomeCallMeTim]

I have a house in Galveston

You mean... You HAD a house in Galveston.

[NautiNurse]

Chertoff reports rescue efforts for the stranded freighter have not been successful due to rough weather. They are still working to try and rescue the crew.

[VirginiaMom]

***

[VirginiaMom]

***

[topher]

I just remember the TV stories (too bad they didn't have the internet back then).

The link to THE REAL STORY is a good read, and helps me learn what really happen.

I was a freshman in high school back then...

Thanks PacesPaines for the link...

[NautiNurse]

Same for Katrina. There were stories of snakes and turtles headed to higher ground in advance of the storm.

[Abigail Adams]

All of the Galveston island going to be underwater for at least 12 hours according to reporter on channel 11. Yikes!

[Rebelbase]

CNN reporter on Live Feed, off air is cussing up a storm waiting for his time slot to open up. “When are we gonna do this? This is Fking horsesh_t!”

[ishmac]

Xena, please put me on your list, too. I'm in the Montrose/Richmond Ave area, near University of St Thomas.

[spectre]

While I very much appreciate what you are doing for Texas...please don't leave Arkansas till we see if we need you here as well!!

sw

[SomeCallMeTim]

uh... if your post was supposed to make people feel safer... I think it missed the mark.

The OFFICIAL forecasts are frightening as HELL!

[jdub]

61st street runs perpendicular to I-45. It's also very close to the Strand which has great shops and restaurants.

61st street is about 30 blocks from the street numbers that make up the Strand, which I believe starts somewhere around 28th or so. 61st is not a part of the area that was raised after the 1900 storm. From 61st street going to the seawall you have to go up a rise to get to the seawall. In my younger days many an early morning I held my breath waiting to get to the seawall level to see whether there was surf or not.

[conservativeinferno]

NOAA predicts a 20-25 foot surge with waves on top of that.

Did anyone just see the group of people having a party right by the coast? They were all wearing bikinis and party shirts.

MORONS!

[BlueAngel]

Good luck, OC_Steve. Xenalyte started a Houston hurricane ping list. If you’d like to be on it let her know. Maybe you are already on it.

[dfwgator]

Soon to be dead morons if they don’t get the hell out of there.

[lainie]

Of course the two are related. No one is forcing you to leave but having the attitude that “they” are paid to deal with residents who refuse to evacuate but need lifesaving assistance is pretty imperious. Are you saying that if they themselves evacuated for their own safety, making them unavailable should you need them, you’d then sue the city later?