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)
Anyone know anything about Sugarland, I have cousins their.
Sometimes DSL is lost and people have to go to dial up during a storm.
There are multiple reports further up the thread.
Holy Moses! I can get video on Shortwave L0L
But your point is taken. I missed the note on badwidth
You are being “denied the pleasure” because NN is kind enough to think of the rest of us out there who are either in the path of the storm and no power and/or low computer bandwith or for us evacuees who are simply freeping from our cell phones as our ONLY source of hurricane info. The graphics and such makes it very difficult and stressful for the rest of us...who are trying to get much needed info.
Thank You!
Any info on the Ward Road area near Kilgore? My girlfriend who evacuated to the Galleria area would like to know?
Hey there, Allegra! I just found this post.
We're fine here in Baton Rouge, although we had strong wind yesterday and through the night.
It's amazing to see how large this storm is!
You, who are ALWAYS in the line of fire, take care, too!
Haven’t heard specific news about Sugarland.
Not to spoil the fun, the Galveston Seawall IS a magnificent achievement, but it’s done its job maybe too well.
It’s hoarding sand on the beach side.
Built to be 17 feet above sea level, a guy on another site tells me parts of it are now only waist high above the sand during his daily beach runs.
Time to dredge the beach?
Aint DrewsMum a pip! L0L
Yeash they were saying the tall buildings in the area created a wind tunnel effect. :/
Cool info to know — thanks!
Cross your fingers for Bolivar Peninsula. Might be a chain of islands now. They took the brunt of it.
onemiddleamerican
wrote:
Per a Galveston City spokesman, speaking at press conference: “We have only been able to make it to
11 Mile Rd. As you’ll remember, the island is 32 miles long...”
************
That is NOT good news. 11 Mile Road is just NE of the most likely spots for breaching, and at the same time, just NE of the population centers of West Galveston island.
Any word on what’s stopping SAR teams?
Breach, sand, or debris, it can’t be a positive sign.
“Has anybody heard from jpsb?”
The area he is in looks like it got hit pretty good. He is probably just out of power though and that is why he is not freeping...speaking by faith...he will be here as soon as he can ;0)
That's tremendous. Thanks for providing the link.
It is good to hear so many reports of safety - we’ll have to keep those in mind while we listen to reports that aren’t so happy.
Clearly the damage to this area is historical for Houston/ Galveston area. Deaths probably aren’t historic levels, but I believe I just heard something about more than 100.
Refineries probably OK, as was discussed on threads several days ago would be expected as long as winds inland weren’t substantially greater than 100mph. However, we’ve got one FReeper in a position to know who is concerned that may not be the case.
Ike is weakening, though dominating US weather, as it will for a couple days more.
One thing I loved to hear from one of the Houston reporters, “You folks watching us nationally, don’t worry. You’re going to be surprised how quickly Texas gets back up and on its feet again” ... I cheered, “Hooray. GO TEXAS”
I haven't heard anything, but maybe this would help: http://www.baytown.org/
Hopefully, they are better prepared and more savvy about these storms than the goofballs at Goose Creek (Baytown) School District who had class until noon on Thursday, interfering with families' evacuation plans.
I'm getting my info off of Directv ch 361, which is Channel 11 Houston, KHOU. I was listening for a short time this morning on KLVI 560 live streaming and there was one caller from High Island, but I haven't heard anything else about Bolivar. KHOU has not said a thing. Hopefully, those blackhawk helicopters that are now flying up and down the beaches will hopefully provide some discussion on Galveston's West End, and the Bolivar penisula before sundown. As far as the Balinese in my post, I guess it has been on Seawall Blvd for 79 years, but not ON Seawall Blvd.
Yeah.. they said the retractable roof suffered damage. I wasn’t aware that it was a postponement of Sunday. I was wondering if it was supposed to be the Monday night game.
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