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)

[OBXWanderer]

Ray Wilkinson sat with his feet propped on the railing of his front porch Saturday, calmly dragging on a Marlboro Light as reporters asked whether he considered himself brave for being the only person to ride out Hurricane Ike on this spit of sand.

Well, I just tried to buy raywilkinson.com, but someone beat me to it.

[lainie]

I liked the quote from yesterday, something along the lines “we don’t have looters in Texas.” It might have been the Galveston city manager. Looters won’t go where armed people are. :-)

[SouthTexas]

I watched a little of that too, up until he started ranting about the 127 mph gust.

He did get tagged with something a time or two, don’t know if it was a starfish or not. LOL

[metmom]

The problem is, with the unpredictability of the storm, how are you to know whether or not YOU’LL end up being one of the people who REALLY needed to get out instead?

[lainie]

Thanks for the update. Gosh things must be really up in the air still. I had a feeling about Crystal Beach & Bolivar. Will still hope for the best until we hear otherwise officially.

[STARWISE]

Coast Guard Fly-Over Of Galveston Island Texas

~~~~

"Lots of people are wanting to see aerial fly-over video of Galveston Island, particularly the West end, West beach part of Galveston. Hurricane Ike wrought much destruction up and down coastal Texas.

There has been a no-fly for media helicopters over the coast side of Galveston island, due to search and rescue efforts.

This video is from the Coast Guard, and the contrast isn’t the greatest. There are clearer videos from the bay side.

This is a fly over of Galveston Island from a HU-25 Falcon Jet from the Aviation Training Center in Alabama. Scenes include flooded neighborhoods, hotels, highways, an airport and flightline as well as a burning building.

This video shows massive flooding and devastation on Galveston Island, Texas, and the beach side. Reports coming out of Houston are saying that much of the Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach and Orange are gone, or heavily damaged. All of our prayers are with those who have been in the path of Hurricane Ike."

Coast Guard Fly-Over Of Galveston Island Texas

~~~~

Prayers, indeed.

[metmom]

Whether a hurricane, earthquake, fire, blizzard, flood, tornado etc.,I agree. No free re-builds. Give low interest loans and expect repayment. No exemptions.

Ditto.

Besides, they're not really free. We pay for them through taxes.

[lainie]

I hesitate to even bring this up but the dailykos people are trying to stir up trouble, accusing the Galveston county sheriff of endangering the lives of 1,000 inmates by not evacuating them last night.

[Spktyr]

Well, we don’t. They’re an elusive and rare unprotected endangered species in Texas that only appear after a disaster and just as quickly disappear. Little else is known of their habits, but the occasional looter season is always a time of great anticipation among hunters. :D

[penelopesire]

I agree.

My libbie sister still bemoans all the people ‘still living in Fema trailers’ and thinks our government and ‘big insurance’ is to blame for everything..(eye roll) I love her, but tire of talking to her about such things very quickly...LOL.

[pnz1]

Please forgive my ignorance. Will these coastal areas that are flooded and under water be able to recover? Will the waters recede back into the gulf or will the gulf claim these areas?

[stlnative]

from video I saw today of Galveston - everything west of 11 mile road is under water... the farther west you go on the island the deeper the water. The most populated area of the island (the east end) suffered flooding during the storm but looks like it has receded now.

If you niece’s home is on the east end of the island (not the far east end) then her home should be ok.

Jeffers posted a picture of the island on this thread that shows what areas on the island are reachable and what areas are not.

[metmom]

I’ll bet those rescued who watched their neighbors get washed away didn’t think it was hype.

[OBXWanderer]

Some of the rescued have said “Crystal Beach is gone . Bolivar is gone.” Another town, too

Gilchrist????

[AFPhys]

I think it is time for a national discussion about this, too.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind something like “We’ll help you ONE time in a century to build in that spot. It will be kept track of, and every insurance company in the world will be aware of it and every realtor will be aware of it and every surveyor will be aware, etc. After that ONE time, ALL the cost of rebuilding is up to you, buddy. And if you hide that from someone you sell to, you are committing a 10yr felony - grand larceny equivalent.”

NOLA should not have been rebuilt by the US govt. Neither should so many of the homes destroyed by hurricanes and floods.

If you want to rebuild there, you get insurance or kiss your money goodbye if it has another problem and when you sell, that would certainly be reflected in the price you get. This goes for anywhere in the whole country, and would apply to any disaster at all - bar none - including fire, terrorism, snow storms, flooding, forest fires, planes crashing into them, polar bear attacks, mosquitoes carrying it away, ANY reason.

[valkyry1]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2081430/posts?page=1430#1430

[CindyDawg]

“free” stuff :’)

[NautiNurse]

That's an excellent question.

In a nutshell, nobody was forced to shelter in place in Houston, just as nobody was stopped from remaining on fragile barrier islands. I'm getting very concerned about the nanny state explosion replacing common sense.

I believe the week of tv drama watching airlifts following Katrina has blossomed into an expectation of spectacular rescues for everyone. It has become a basic right. As someone said on another thread when Ike was looming large..."Rescue workers are paid with my tax dollars and they are trained for these situations."

Incredible.

[metmom]

I recall reading that the west end of Galveston Island didn’t have a sea wall and that’s the end that got the worst of the storm for the island and they are not allowing anything but search and rescue helicopters.

That is not good, IMO.

[Cheesehead In Dubai]

The west end is mostly weekenders, retirees and vacation homes. People who pay for the public schools through taxation and never use them. We have neighbors on the west end in Pirates Beach that we have seen twice in ten years. Every year the property taxes go up. In ten years our assessed value has gone from $130,000 to $350,000. Every year we make the trek to protest our taxes. The last time we went to try to get our taxes reduced there was a group of people dressed up and reenacting the Boston Tea Party in the tax assessors office. After hurricane Rita we got $40 off our tax bill because we needed some minor roof repairs. If there is anything left of my house I will take pictures and take them with me to the assessors office next spring.