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)
I remember that- what a mess we had that week.
The chopper pilot talks about “TFR” forcing them above 2000 feet. That means “temporary flight restrictions”.
Did you hear the people who tied themselves together walked in chest deep water to High Island?
He says that he is unable to do Galveston as “the current TFR (Temporary Flight Restrictions) are forcing us over 2000 feet.”
In other words, given the crappy visibility that’s evident, he’s saying that since he has to stay above the rescue helos at Galveston they won’t get any usable footage.
Having been in the LA Riots, I must unfortunately tell you that it is not necessarily so elsewhere.
I think you’re right about FL STARWISE. Ivan and Dennis hit us pretty much dead on and the neighborhoods just rallied together to help. No looting, no moaning and groaning about FEMA, just people helping people.
I had only lived there two weeks before Ivan and to this day I thank him for introducing me to such lovely people. There really CAN be a silver lining to nature’s fury.
Not sure you would ‘come out the same in the end’. Your tax dollars could be invested and you might come out better in the end!
On another note, I never understand people who jump for joy when they ‘get their income tax check’ every year. They have basically given the government an interest free loan.
I’d rather get no money or owe money than get a check back for over-paying.
OK. Good deal. Thought I’d dig up the video before I caused an Urban Legend to be born. Sorry if my concern caused more concern.
WHOU ch. 11 just showed the first areal photos of Crystal Beach from a private pilot. Not sure what it used to look like, but it looked to me like places that used to be land are now “rivuletes” where the storm ate away at the land. Other pics showed all water except for some green brush and some buildings or remnants of buildings. Some houses still there, but it seems perhaps some are gone.
Sure did ... and 25% of the reason
I left FL after 30 yrs in ‘04 .. ;)
You can try www.safeandwell.org
It’s a Red Cross site - I don’t know how good it is but it is all over the newscasts.
Have you tried text messaging her? The cell nets have been damaged; what’s left is severely overloaded; texts are more likely to get through than voice calls.
So Ike interacting with this front pushing down from the north has high potential to yield fireworks during the next two days, it sounds like you're saying. That means we need to put tornado stuff up top here soon and keep it up. jeffers was suggesting such a scenerio, too.
I know that the hurricane itself is no longer, but with the damage still so unknown and this coming possibility of Ike not going quietly into the NorthEast, this thread could still have a good amount of life in it.
Therefore: Anybody who is anywhere near the remnants of Ike: hammer this frequently! ---
There are zero as of this post.
Any news from the Crystal Beach, Port Bolivar area?
Thanks!
We lived almost like primitives (save
for going into town for the blessed
rations from Salvation Army, Goodwill,
military food tents, etc.). No electricity
for about 3 mos. out in the country.
You can imagine how much neighbors helping
neighbors meant.
Ooops .. forget to say that was after Andrew.
Heard one report today that said air traffic over the island was restricted to allow the rescue choppers to work unimpeded.
Well, we miss you! Poor Punta Gorda got nailed in that one.
That was a dreadful summer- but we all got giddy after awhile..if it’s Thursday, it’s time to get ready for the next hurricane!
This was such a huge area affected...I'm not one bit surprised by the amount of rescue vehicles down here. We've got the assets lets use them...these are Americans...look what we do for other countries...I'm happy to see this kind of response...at least this Texas Governor actually gets it and isn't using this as a political game...like what happened in Louisiana, Katrina and Governor Blanko...
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