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)
Glad to hear you made it OK.
How’d the looter patrols go?
I followed your posts last night. I’m happy to hear you are ok; alive and uninjured. Just remember, when you survey the damage more carefully that fences can be mended. Get some well deserved rest, and relish in the AC.
I'm thrilled that I'm not at home without electricity right now!
Thanks. I really do appreciate that.
The power is on. I don’t think anyone can appreciate my joy unless they lose power in sweltering heat with no sleep the night before and an assurance from the power company on emergency radio that it should be wtihin two weeks!
I’m done.
The other stuff I can pay to fix.
I might as well sleep to noon, because the satellite dish is in my neighbor’s yard.
No football for me. lol
It is way past time for a national discussion. It’s too bad that most politicians are too chicken to have it!
Frankly,I don’t want any of my tax dollars helping anyone to build a home anywhere. We give plenty of money to charities that actually do help people rebuild their lives. Infrastructure, etc. is one thing...but people in this country don’t have a ‘right to own a home’...or a ‘right to take my money’ in order to own one!
Take the mortgage mess...it is largely the fault of liberal politicians trying to buy votes by giving away money to people who had no business buying homes in the first place!
I really fear for this country if we continue on this nanny state road to serfdom.
I thought FReeper humblegunner was the one doing looter patrols and Dog Gone was the one rushing to complete preparations?
I still see shoreline, but don’t
have any comparative view from
before.
You made the most sobering post about Hurricane Ike yet on this thread.
My only reaction is a very quiet understatement:
People died.
.
Outstanding to hear. Many of us are so conditioned and take for granted the miracle of just having electricity.
I hope it’s not the case, but I fear several probobly didn’t fare as well as those rescued did. I pray many many more have similar stories, although harrowing, of survival.
Jim Cantore is reporting that there are over 1000 people & 50 aircraft doing SAR right now...he sounds as if they are going to find bad things on the end of the island they haven’t gotten to yet.
Heh, Mrs. Thomas, what percentage of your tax base was from the Bolivar peninsula????
Sleep well tonight, Mrs. Thomas.
Praying it’s so.. God be with them.
Very tough scenes.
~~~~
Island closed; crews look for dead and injured
http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a62458ad843b63ff
Excerpt:
About 100 people have been rescued, authorities said. At least four have been flown to local hospitals in critical condition.
Seventeen structures have collapsed, including two apartment buildings. One of the apartment buildings is at Holiday Drive and Church Street. The other is near First Street and Ferry Road, City Manager Steve LeBlanc said.
Rescue crews will search the debris for bodies and injured people, he said.
Ten of the 17 buildings are homes that collapsed because of fire. City crews have been able to search as far west as 11 Mile Road but everything beyond that is still under water.
The causeway is in “bad shape,” LeBlanc said. “It is covered in debris and the road has buckled in places.”
~~~
Wasn’t there a couple who were going to stay there,
reporting on it as it happened? I wonder if this is their
report.
I wasn't part of it, but four looters did get caught this morning, and they're in the slammer.
They may have emergency lights there, but I doubt it's great conditions.
Pay no attention to anything I say that pretends to be an intelligent remark. I am so tired and so happy that the power came back, that I probably shouldn't be posting at all. So this is my last one.
The latest email from my friend in Lake Charles:
“Orange County Texas - The people are now being rescued off of their roofs and attics. They took a terrible blow in Orange (about 30 minutes from us) I have not seen these rescues on the news. They tell us on our local news rescue help did finally arrive.
They finally let us off curfew today but only until 8:00pm this evening when we are back under curfew (very serious fine after 8:00pm if you go out). Now if we do not go where we say we are going (something important) then they will come an arrest us ... daytime.
This is how it is done. I am stopped (check point) I say I am going to my home, to work or to church (the policeman files this info in the computer at that checkpoint). Now if I go to another part of town instead for any other reason (that is not important) then when I am stopped again (another check point) they will run my name through the computer to check me out to see if I am in the right place. They run our names in a computer, if we are not where we are suppose to be they will fine us $6000 or we can serve jail time. We are only to go out for a very good reason but we have to do what we need to do and return home. High tide was this evening. I heard water was coming over alot of the levees. I have a strange feeling.”
I noted a feature up in SD in my post#1383 - Your guess/ evaluation: Is that a squall line forming? Is it significant?
It was not there at all at noon today.
I kept thinking lightning short-started it? Like sometimes I had to start my ‘65 Stang with a screwdiver across the solenoid.
I noted a feature up in SD in my post#1383 - Your guess/ evaluation: Is that a squall line forming? Is it significant?
It was not there at all at noon today.
It seemed to be a reaction to the air being shoved by Ike in the multiple frames I looked at.
I too was thinking of how we take “little things” like electricity for granted...until we are forced to be without it. I’ve only had the misfortune to be without it twice for any duration of time. It was after Fran and a winter storm in 2000, and I’ll tell you both times I was estatic when it came back on. The hum of the refrigerator, the AC kicking on, and the sound of a toilet running is like a symphony of music when you go without for a period of time.
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