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)
Darn... Fox lost their connection with the lady in the big old victorian house. They are trying to reconnect with her.
This is the latest image at NOAA... 0345Z.
Is the part about myself and Friends in the path lost on you?
Its dead calm here, It wont be tomorrow.
Tornadoes could spin off. I doubt it looking at the stats.
My Friend could lose his beach house on Galveston, He aint sleeping there tonight.
Houston is getting whacked, but it isnt Katrina and Texans aint gonna run to New Orleans for a hand out.
KPRC reporting saying building flying apart due to winds at 518 and I45 in Lake City.
It looks like the center of the eye in now over Galveston.
The hotel post I did earlier is from a hurricane chaser in Texas City who with an experienced eye chose this as a place of refuge and purposefully chose a second floor room to avoid flooding from below and high winds from above. Will that hotel experience additional damage? Absolutely; once structural integrity is compromised, it will be exploited by further winds. Water damage extends from the third floor to the first floor in that area of the hotel, but luckily is on the opposite side from the hurricane chaser I've been following there.
Newest ground radar images picking up the backhalf of the storm indicate severe strong convection; those in the eye right now are reporting warm still air, a very intense quiet. It appears the storm intensified as it hit land.
eye is over Galveston Island
Meanwhile, there's this from the Houston Chronicle..
Smiley N. Pool Chronicle
Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for help
As Hurricane Ike pushed a swelling surge onto Galveston Island this morning, many of the estimated 23,000 Galveston residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order phoned for rescues to no avail because emergency workers were called off the streets, officials said.
Help wasn't expected until after dangerous storm conditions subsided.
"We don't know what we're going to find tomorrow," said the city's mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas. "We hope we'll find that the people who didn't leave here are alive and well."
City Manager Steve LeBlanc went so far as to ask the media not to photograph "certain things" in the aftermath, referring to the possibility of dead bodies.
I have always been fascinated by storms & here go out & love to watch electrical storms. Living in Fla decades ago during big storms would go out & wash my hair & dance around in the rains.. did have a nice private back yard!
I would NOT endanger my pets or children either.. BUT I would not leave if I could not take my pets.
No, wouldn’t
pardon the double post / moderator notified to remove ;0)
We are not real near the Woodlands. We are off of 1960 and Cypress. Hwy 290.
“AND COULD REACH THE TEXAS COAST AS A CATEGORY THREE..”
News flash! the weak eye is on the coast.
Give me real info
The center of the eye is 10 minutes off the coast.
Ike’s I.K.E.
huh :)
Downtown Houston is getting somewhat pounded.
If it’s 518 and I45, then it’s League City, where I am.
It wouldn’t surprise me, since we’re getting pounded right now.
Hey, Dolly..I’m using my electricity all night in case I lose it tomorrow.
.As far away as I am from the coast..they are predicting outages..and of course I have family n. of Houston..so I watch every channel while I can.
Center Eye is 5 miles from landfall.
Mother Nature fascinates me and I’ve chased her alot! :^)
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