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)
That 100-mph pea gravel is why seeing the reporters out in the storms always makes me nervous.
tattle tale
Well, for your aggravation, and putting up with junk, please know that you have “paid it forward” to many of us b/c without this thread to get info, I would have been a nervous wreck. Thank you...
I am glad jeffers reported you, and I was thinking about doing it myself.
When people are nervous about loved ones and an approaching storm, it is highly inconsiderate to deliberately harass posters simply because you didn’t get your way.
Its gonna be fine. Hope there wasnt to much property damage on the island
A few days ago someone said the exact same thing happened during Hurricane Alicia. Hard to believe that situation wasn’t fixed in 25 years.
Out all day.
Very good news .... so glad y’all are ok
and with light property damage.
Prayers for the others facing severe
problems.
The worst part is that the bloody thing just won’t die. It’s probably STILL going to be a hurricane when it gets to Canada.
Sigh...
The good news, if there is any, is that the eyewall winds at landfall, on both the front and back of the eye, were parallel to the long axis of the island. Breach and scour effects are most likely when wind and waves move across the island and transport sand, fill and foundations into the West Bay.
Please don’t take offense at either my answer or that of others who flew to my defense before I even saw your note... I was off exploring other hurricane data in the interim.
My answer was serious, and I didn’t take your question as being a personal slam at me, and no offense was taken by me. I thought it was a fair question, and deserved a fair answer, and I hope you saw my answer as respecting the question as being fair. As well, I believe I was respectful in my initial request, and provided a reason, and it was answered just as respectfully. Some others may have been terse, but I’ve seen some reasons in the past that inspire their knee jerk reactions, and I understand that too.
We just have to make accommodation on threads like this in some ways so as many as possible can partake of them. Sometimes we have to remind each other in kindness of limits, as I did, so we can be as FRiendly as possible.
(now... I suspect I’m about 150 posts behind or so... I hope no major fight broke out in the interim... I almost don’t want to look...)
No. It was just downgraded to tropical storm. I am sitting in the middle of it.
Since the search and rescue teams are presently unable to reach the west end of the island, that information will not be known for many days.
Its here now and is really mild, it just dropped from a cat 1 to a tropical storm at about 1:00 I an amazed it isnt dropping that much water. I thought water would be the major problem with this storm. That and a sustained storm surge in Galveston.
Water was the problem in Galveston; hence, the inability of rescue personnel to get to many areas still now.
You said it. My wife and are are concerned for our FRiends in Houston, and we know we’re not likely to hear from them for quite some time.
I trust you have been well...I haven’t seen you for a very long time, Miss Marple.
Ike’s northernmost feeder band is already drawing moisture SW out of the trough down at the boundary layer. Ike’s going to win, with effects yet unknown.
Thanks.
Me either. I just saw something on FOX that I did not like. An elderly woman died when a tree fell on her house. It was..what was she thinking...why didn’t she evacuate..etc...etc. Good grief. At least the guy made a comment that she might have been told to stay.
I am listening to a HAM Radio net and there is a station up on Galveston but the airwaves are atrocious and I am prolly to close so the signal is gonna skip over me. I cant get a copy on the report. But they are transmitting!
Yeah. I don’t know how much Waco will get but my mom lives in an old house surrounded by big trees. She said she would stay at my sister’s house until this blows thru.
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