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)

[shield]

They were interviewed. The man who was part of this group which included a young child and a very elderly person; talked of going under water and holding the child above his head and how lucky he was to have survived. When you see what people went through to survive it makes one realize...that could have been me.

[pax_et_bonum]

That is an amazing story.

[DollyCali]

Anyone with Google Earth might find it fascinating to surf over what was the shore/coast a few days ago. What is is now remains to be seen.

When I lived in area I took 45 from Houston & would go to points West. Not east except for a couple trips east & never stayed or knew the areas

Amazing amount of homes there & interesting formations of land

My problem wiht Google earth is breaking away. Love it!

[WSGilcrest]

HERE'S where her house is. Crossing my fingers she's located on high (if there is any!) ground. Thanks for the info.

[Spktyr]

If you can’t text, or don’t know how, I (or others on this thread) can help by texting her for you. Just private message or FRMail us the info.

[pax_et_bonum]

But what in the heck was he doing, still on that peninsula with a small child?

[shield]

Yes, that’s him. He has been so stubborn in the past about leaving. The water rose so much faster than most people realized. They got caught in a bad situtation. I sure hope he got out OK.

[WSGilcrest]

temporary flight restrictions

[LA Woman3]

Feds focus searches in Galveston, Orange counties

[Abigail Adams]

Is that the group that roped themselves together? Did they get washed off the roof, I assume? How did they survive? When were they rescued?

[metmom]

No warnings but watches...Look for the warnings in the late afternoon/evening when daytime heating increases the risk of severe weather.

Storm Prediction Center

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/

[youturn]

Says 950 have been rescued there. I bet they are in that 950.

[shield]

These people were caught off guard. They just didn't expect the water to rise so fast. Most of them had planned to leave in the morning but they couldn't get out. They called rescue and the Coast Guard went after them. They could only transfer 6 at a time then the winds were too strong and the Coast Guard were grounded.

So the people tied themselves together and walked in chest deep water to High Island. They didn't think they'd make it.

[AFPhys]

I didn’t take anybody implying “the govt hiding something”...

Maybe its just that you’re trying to be a community organizer too?

[NautiNurse]

Very thorough update of SAR activities and storm aftermath. Thanks again.

[metmom]

placemarker

[Abigail Adams]

Wow, so they probably got out before the worst of the storm? That’s an amazing story.

[pax_et_bonum]

I’m very surprised that they made it.

It makes me wonder if they’re new to the Crystal Beach area, which has grown in population A LOT during the past few years.

[thesearethetimes...]

Indeed. I was on last night’s thread til the wee hours of the morning, and was thinking much the same thoughts. Folks really need to take these storms seriously. We live on a barrier island, and you can bet if one comes this way, we are packing up the critters, and heading out.
I have been trying to play catch up after a day away from the computer, but the details so far seem few and far between, and that worries me. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of ya’ll in Ike’s path.

Tatt

[CindyDawg]

Here cell may be down now unless she has a way to charge it.