Posted on 09/12/2008 11:29:13 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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 Greater Houston area fueled by strong winds. Fire fighting efforts were hampered by flood waters. Brennan's Restaurant, a landmark in Houston, burned to the ground. A 584-foot freighter crippled in the Gulf of Mexico and its crew of 22 survived the storm after The U.S. Coast Guard was forced to abort rescue efforts Friday afternoon due to foul weather
Gulf Coast wholesale gasoline prices jumped to nearly $5 a gallon over fears that water and wind damage could keep the facilities closed for days or longer. Oil companies had shut down 97.5 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico by Friday morning and were battening down refineries and petrochemical plants in an area that accounts for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity.
Exxon Mobil reported evacuating workers from its Gulf Coast offshore platforms and onshore facilities in the anticipated path of Ike, shutting down daily production of about 36,000 barrels of oil and 270 million cubic feet of gas..
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 |
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Previous Threads:
Hurricane Ike Live Thread III
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)
Good point Pete
I just switched over a minute or so before he said this, so I don't know if he talked about whether rescue/recovery crews had made it to the west end of Galveston yet.
jpsb hasn’t posted since about 7:30AM... where he went to after that must not be internet capable - and I trust it is somewhere on Earth.
It went from 3.49 to 3.79 here. Oops! lights are flickering here.
I was wondering about the Galvez too. We were there last year and it’s still a grand old hotel. I hope it’s OK.
Have not heard from jpsb since he indicated he would make an evac decision yesterday at 8AM. I thought about him when reports surfaced that a group of people in San Leon were stranded due to flooding and requesting evacuation assistance.
Where are ya at?
(that was 7:30AM yesterday)
Sea Isle, Bay Harbor, and two areas right around Galveston Island State Park are the big built-up areas on Galveston’s west end. Three of those four look like residential/marina communities, with lots of access channels.
Prime candidates for breaching and total loss.
David Paulson (FEMA) stated air search and rescue is in progress. He said, and reiterated that a lot of people did not evacuate as they should have.
Please refrain from posting animated graphics. It bogs down my computer enough that it really hurts my streaming continuity. Simple JPGs & GIFs, even if big, keep my ‘puter much happier.
Sorry.
More from my friend in Lake Charles:
“Yes, so many tornado warnings! Thank so much for the love and prayers, I know they helped us. :))
Now we are getting real bad rain bands, as bad as the main north part of the hurricane. More and more flooding, the water is rising. The wind is still very powerful.
I have a good friend who just purchased a lovely townhouse on high ground. The water is half way up her driveway now. Her sons have to get a boat to get her out. The water is waist high in the street. Her house is built on a higher rise but they believe the high tide will flood her home.
All the beautiful homes on the lake front are flooding, the homes on the lakeside are already flooded. No one, not even the old timers has ever seen this extensive flooding in Lake Charles. High tide is at 4:00 pm CST. They are expecting the worst everywhere on any of the waterways, the coastal areas and the inland towns.
I am checking on Moss Bluff. We did see some pictures on the news. The man who was interviewed said he has never seen the water get this high, five more feet it will flood his beautiful home.”
My niece in Houston and her husband are ok. They evacuated to Austin and just arrived home. Fence down, some shingles missing, and all the palms my brother planted 3 weeks ago are down. No power, but otherwise ok. They live on the south side of the city. Some neighbors fared worse.
I will give you simple text updates on the storms progress.
As the storm moves inland and merges with the system that we are getting, people may want to keep track at:Looks like we are all lucking out.
Hope the dirty side stays weak
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