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)
Thank you for checking in and for the detailed report! You have power back! Woohoo! Good to know you survived and even slept through the worst of the storm! God is good!
Another good report - power back on already! Wow! Thank you and God bless!
Wow, good news. Houston seems to have been quite well prepared for this storm. Thank God it wasn't the calamity that people feared. Ike didn't produce the 20-25 foot storm surge that some predicted. Nevertheless, there will be massive damage and some death.
I've been through tornadoes and waterspouts, but this is my first hurricane. Quite and experience!
I can’t get the link to open. Does it open for yall?
Thank you...
From the article you linked to earlier in the thread - not sure which one - copied this:
Post-Ike analysis today presented one happy fact: The hurricane could have been a lot worse.
Ike came ashore slightly east of where it officially was expected, meaning that its northeast quadrant — and the largest surge — impacted Bolivar Peninsula and points up the Texas coast.
Thus, what was expected to be a 15-20 storm surge on Galveston’s seawall checked in at little more than 12 feet.”
Praise God for that movement slightly east - and I do not remember names well - but we had a Freeper Hurricane watcher on here last night talking about this “move to the East” and how much better it would mean as a result for everything....
That is exactly what happened evidently - also the storm stayed Category 2 and did not move up to Category 3 - so I am just saying - prayers work! God answered many prayers for mercy.
Gotta go for now - will check in later. Thank God for His mercy and prayers continue for all those who are suffering from the storm effects and for all who lost lives especially. God be with their families.
hurricane more important than some train wreck......
North Beach, right beside the Lex.
you saying it wasn’t bad?
Actually a local weatherman said he NEVER saw mph of more than 100. It was a large system but low wind speed and the prediction by NHC’s storm surge of 18-20’ was off. You are right 12-15’ storm surge. Also, Dr. Neil Frank always said this system would go in east of the NHC’s track.
When the little boy cried wolf, it was understood that he was but a little boy; when we see such behavior on the part of a traditionally respected profession are we to then think that the profession has been overrun by little boys or that there is a sense about our present culture that has chosen to disallow individual assessment of risk?
First of all, the buildings in harm’s way were built with the full knowledge that they were in harm’s way, subsequently it should not come as a surprise that the risk preceded the outcome.
But that is a topic for sociologists and their like not for weather forecasters; witness the near-panic over Global Warming that has yet been shown to cause wholesale harm to the world population or even its lifestyle.
I expect more from those with whom we invest the task of objective evaluation, but that’s just my opinion.
By the way, if it wasn’t for the evacuations, many would have died.
You asked me if I thought Ike would make force the front pushing in from the north to go retrograde. I’ve been looking at that.
Grabbing the “latest_eastwv” pictures for the last six hours, I’ll say that Ike now has total control of the country’s weather south of a line from Northern Arizona thru mid-Nebraska into Quebec. During the last couple hours it has just pushed in and claimed Wisconsin. The northern front is getting unhappy and appears to be setting a squall line in SD. All this will bow to let Ike take precedence as it sweeps NorthEast on its merry way. At 2200Z, it is extremely symmetric, though more compact than it had been.
I also note that in the “vacuum” it is leaving behind, I detect some definite cyclonic motion in the air mass just south of Cuba. No idea what could power it at this time since the center is dry, but I think that vast movement is undeniable.
Back to Ike: I hope I remember 5 days from now to pay attention to what happens to this pressure system to see if it stays intact across the Atlantic... and if so what occurs when it gets over toward Europe.
“bombarded, sorry.”
“My sister just told me that she drove through parts of Sugar Land on hwy 6 and there were lights on.”
Yay!!!! That’s refreshing to hear...surely my part of the world can’t be far behind...
“bombarded, sorry.”
Both are important but if you are in the middle of a hurricane, it would probably be hard to concentrate on a train wreck in Calif. Likewise, I doubt right now that families of the victims are thinking too much about what is happening in Texas.
Watch it buddy, or you’ll be next. >;)
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