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)
Yes, it did. I’m glad they were tough enough to push through it and live.
Did you see the info I posted in #1694?
Just thought I would let everyone know. I’m in northeast Oklahoma, and we are getting some windgusts and fairly heavy rain right now, even though Ike’s path appears to have veered to the east of us. At first they predicted up to 10 inches of rain in south and eastern Oklahoma, now it seems to be down to 4 - 6. I would guess the wind gusts are probably 30 mph.
Up at the top of this page, you’ll
see Pings Mail
click on Mail
I’ve FRmailed you some info.
Hope it helps .. best of luck
in your search. Saying prayers
for your daughter and you.
Thanks for your local update. Ike is moving at a good clip now (24 mph). That should minimize rain/flood potential.
It’s picking up out there pretty good right now. Almost continual gusts, with rain. Windows rattling, but I don’t sense it’s going to get much stronger. Will probably continue on as is for a while, though.
A quick search revealed this CNN synopsis:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WEATHER/09/07/galveston.orphanage/index.html
“By nightfall, 150 mile an hour winds howled and the sisters took desperate measures.
“They had cut the clothesline down and each sister had about six or eight children tied to her side like mountain climbers. In this way, they had hoped to hold on to the children and lead them to safety,” she said.
Their efforts were to no avail. Eventually, the girls dormitory collapsed, dumping 93 children and 10 sisters into the raging waters. Only three boys, who clung to a tree, survived. When the bodies of the others were discovered, many were still tied together. “
There were only 14 people (per reports) in the chain, few of who were children, most of which were adults who were larger and stronger than their 1900 counterparts and therefore had a better chance of survival. Still risky, still an awful lot of ways it could have gone wrong... but I think one of the 1900 Storm demons just got exorcised.
If you takled to her this afternoon, especially late afternoon, chance are good that the water was starting to recede.
Thank you. I would have responded earlier, but I was at work.
How far did they have to walk?
Ah - Dr. Neil Frank is usually right on.
I'm watching a FEMA search team in Galveston going door to door to every structure on Galveston Island. These teams are from Colorado and California and it's a night time operation. It's an amazing operation looking for the living or the dead. The assets with them is something else. Tomorrow they'll be other teams completing this search and rescue on Galveston Island. Then they'll be moving else where. This is such a huge area effective.
Source: KHOU photos 7-11
Amen! I spoke with a friend whose daughter and her family live in the Galveston area. They did not evacuate. She said they are all fine and their neighbors are all fine.
God is good - Praise His Holy Name!
Yes, he does. He looks so good for a 77 year old man. He retired but is brought in with the hurricanes...Thank God...
The Bolivar photos: awful.
The water is most likely not going to rise and it sounds like if the water was just to the top of her porch this afternoon that the exact area she is in was not flooded too badly. I am sure your daughter in law and grandchild are safe.
They did pull 600 to 700 people out of Orange County today by time night had fallen per reports I am reading online.
Prayers for you and your family.
Well, I suppose we can entertain Democrats on a storm short-time basis.
Woe upon those who post thereafter.
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