Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[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

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 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)

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Perhaps you could get Moderator privileges for these threads. Might make thinmgs easier. By the way, do you think any other states should be added to the topics list? (If at first you don’t succeed)

[NautiNurse]

Thanks, but no thanks! The Admin mods are awesome.

[McLynnan]

True, Grapevine has some good ones. The best one I know of is the High 5 spaghetti junction in north Dallas where 635 and 75 join together. I try not to get on it because I’m always sure I’m going to meet my maker. Everybody else seems to know what they’re doing but I’m operating on sheer adrenaline. Back to the topic, hope your place is okay when you go home.

[milagro]

Hallelujah!!!!

[mylife]

Im hate the dallas “Mixbastards” L0L

Back to the topic

[Charles Martel]

Yep - the Environmental Protection Act was the biggest assualt on Freedom ever concieved.

It has certainly opened the door for some horrific unintended consequences on a national scale.

[davidosborne]

index bump

[HKMk23]

On the other hand...

I thought it was a pretty fair bit of selflessness that a guy sitting hunkered down right smack in the path of Ike was big enough to think about the victims of that train wreck out here in CA.

And, for taking the trouble to post that big-hearted wondering, the one-subject-per-thread crowd gave him nothing but grief.

This despite the fact that the other topic occupied —what — a whole 7-8 posts out of more than a thousand??

So much for valuing human compassion, eh?

I hung with this thread ‘til 3:00am Pacific time, watching the news and prayin’ y’all ‘d be okay.

Then, in the middle of it all, ONE PERSON out there in that storm had the timerity to dare think of some folks in a train wreck 1500 miles away, and the BEST y’all could do is get on his case about it????

Texas is too good for ya; that’s my take on it. Attitudes like that are more suited to New Jersey.

I understand that people out in Ike’s path are stressed out, and I understand that DrewsMom is riding it out FReeping on her phone, but we’ve got 23 dead people out here who — if they were asked — would probably have rather faced Ike than that oncoming freight train.

So, all of you just stand down.

There are already plenty of problems to deal with OUTSIDE your front doors; no need to gin up more here.

[deport]

Place is okay or it was earlier today. I checked with both my next door neighbors and they report no damage other than a lowquat about 20 ft tall blew down. Now we are still under tornado warnings until later this evening so there is still that potential.

We had some damage in my neighborhood from downed trees, limbs, etc. But I hopefully go lucky this time. I had enough with Rita. If the rains stop and the rivers and bays can get rid of their water then all should be okay.

[Spktyr]

I’m a motorcyclist, and I have to use that intersection on a regular basis. I don’t mind it much, but when it’s windy or slick out, I *really* hate the bridge from 635W to 75N. So much that I will often route around instead.

[metmom]

Then, in the middle of it all, ONE PERSON out there in that storm had the timerity to dare think of some folks in a train wreck 1500 miles away, and the BEST y’all could do is get on his case about it????

Not ONE person, thank you.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Back in the mid 90’s I used to commute through that place every day. No fun!

[NautiNurse]

On the other hand, you are taking one post out of context in a host of nonsense spam. Taking it one step further, I would expect to catch grief if I came to an earthquake or other thread about a tragedy and insulted people who were in harm's way.

Prolly best not to jump into a discussion when you don't have the whole picture.

[DrewsMum]

yes in Baton Rouge i believe

[mylife]

Stop digging

[Amelia]

The problem began with posting misleading and untrue information about Ike, and making fun of those on the coast of Texas, not with worrying about victims of the train wreck...

[McLynnan]

That is good news. I am not a big FR poster but have read so many posts from the Houston area FReepers over the years that I feel we’re all neighbors. I was sick at heart for all of you last night. The images coming out of Houston and Galveston show there is much work to be done but as long as all of you and your loved ones are alive that is what’s really important.

[mylife]

What?!!

[mylife]

untrue information about Ike, and making fun of those on the coast of Texas,

Where are these posts? Dont slander me

[mylife]

Thats it! I am clear of this thread.

All I did was poked a bit of fun at the hysteria