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)

[stlnative]

I think you would be wise to tighten up and wait.
I do know for a fact that rescue is working on getting the living out of the worse hit areas and recovery will be next.

Media and the CG have been ordered not to show pictures or video of the dead.

[stlnative]

these photos have marks on them ID what you are seing in the pictures

Hwy 87, TJ’s Store, Emerald Number One
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h190/chadsullivan81/Deer%20Hunting/asd.jpg

Here is the other photo with reference points around the Big Store, Texas Bank, Cathloic Church.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h190/chadsullivan81/Deer%20Hunting/434543.jpg

Here is Gulf Shores Drive, and also the Post Office in Crystal Beach
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h190/chadsullivan81/Deer%20Hunting/111.jpg

[Uncle Ike]

Kind-of off-topic, but I’d like to get some first-hand information, if possible...

I’m going to be needing to drive from Mobile, AL to southern New Mexico next Saturday - a trip that can’t be put off....

I’m guessing that it would be out of the question to travel I-10 through Houston, so I’m looking for information about conditions along the I-20 corridor — is it likely that whatever storm damage along that highway will be cleared out in a week??

Or should I just plan on going the northern route on I-40??

Thanks in advance for your input.....

[DollyCali]

I of course in NE Ohio cannot help personally but two sources in past that have been helpful to me are PHONE CALLS or visits to state highway patrols & AAA.

the State Highway Patrols are normally quite helpful & I have never checked the online info but bet it would be there.

Do you have computer, high speed? if not & you need some help along those lines, I would be glad to try to research for you.

[penelopesire]

OMG...Those pics of Bolivar look awful up thread! Going to read the articles. Thanks for the ping.

Seems to me, that if those people could walk out 4 miles in the middle of a hurricane, they could have walked out on Friday morning when the waters were starting to get high!

Unbelievable!

[penelopesire]

Thanks so much for the link. It looks like an awesome site!!

[SomeCallMeTim]

No question... even though it was not as bad for Galveston as it COULD have been... it was bad..

I just heard on CNN that the storm surge in Seabrook was >17’ I certainly hope jpsb was not hanging around in San Leon.

There was another Freeper (I forgot who) that was going to ride it out in Orange. Looks like Orange got hit as hard as anywhere... still flooded in most of the town.

If there is good news.... Word I have from close friends is: Most of the chemical plants and refineries suffered “minor” damage... and, expect to be back and running in a few days. Their biggest problem right now is: getting workers back. Many of them have no place to live anymore.

Most of these plants are designed to withstand 120 mph winds.

[DollyCali]

Good post jeffers. You and several others have provided logical & good information for us all to feel informed.

The various links you have all provided are wonderful & enlightening.

Good morning to everyone,

we await the remnants of the storm in NE Ohio in next few days..

I am not a doomsday person as most who know me can attest.

I think there is going to be revelation of significant loss of life found in next days..many will be never found. I pray I am wrong, but the information we can all observe gives us pretty strong indications this is the case & that this is officially known/believed & has been worked on by the local powers that be.

We need to prepare for this mentally and understand the profound impact this will have for those who live & survived in the area as well as the rest of the nation that has any type of connection to the area.

With the heat & bad weather the bodies that are recovered must be dealt with properly & quickly to prevent potential disease.

thinking of the mega work needed with not just power restoration but all the other things that will restore a semblance of normalcy for the residence is mind boggling. Clean up, officials & military presence, school, work, insurance/no insurance, emotional & mental health in days ahead, medical access, transportation, all the issues revolving no power.

Prayers continue for the residents present or evacuated & all the rescue/military/govt workers helping plus the legion of volunteer help in official agencies & church groups that will be there to help.

[NautiNurse]

Where’s the body count; you surely aren’t suggesting that they actually have a sizable one and are merely waiting to identify them.

Reading and comprehension is a basic tool for a discussion forum. You should try it some time.

[Jedidah]

I don’t understand your hostility.

Mrs. Thomas was not responsible for the hurricane. Those communities, and much of the peninsula itself, may well have been swept to sea by a terrible act of nature. There’s nothing anyone could have done to stop it.

Blaming “Mrs. Thomas” for that is like blaming George Bush for Katrina. Ridiculous.

Let’s put our energies, even the hostile ones, into helping clean up what’s left and comfort those affected.

[patton]

TFR = temporary flight restriction

[SE Mom]

Good morning NN and everyone- here’s the link for local aerial photos- sorry if it’s a dup and was posted upthread:

http://www.khou.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12113&nextimage=6

This morning FOX is barely mentioning Ike- back to business as usual.

[eastforker]

Everyone alive and well,very limited internet,aircard barely works,caught the eye,no major damage.will check in again when connection is up to speed.Hope everyone made it OK. Glenn

[NautiNurse]

Adding insult to injury, weather this morning for the greater Houston area:

[NautiNurse]

Wonderful news! Thanks so much for checking in.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Ike is now touching Wisconsin; we’ll be getting ‘leftover rain’ all day long.

If this weather pattern keeps up, we’ll have that 100” of snow and MORE again this year.

We’ve had floods, then drought, then back to flooding again. It’s insane.

[penelopesire]

A video clip of Bolivar Peninsula pics at this link:

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080912_tj_houston_ike_hurricane.659ae065.html

[NautiNurse]

This morning FOX is barely mentioning Ike- back to business as usual.

Have Geraldo and Harrigan decided to evacuate? Did someone steal the rest of Geraldo's debris props?

Yes, those pics are posted with links upthread. Thanks.

[penelopesire]

I will be glad to tell you why Mrs. Thomas deserves our ire! She did not order any evacuations of the Island until 5:00pm Thursday...even though she had been warned to do so the day before. When she did finally order one, it was only for the western end of Island.

Now, in her defense, if you need a politician to tell you when to go, you are probably a hopeless fool anyway.

I have watched enough of her pressers to say with certainty that she is a fool and/or a callous and calculating politician of the worse kind.

The morning the storm was approaching, she was asked about the NWS issuing the ‘death if you stay’ warning and she poopooed it and said she did not believe in scaring ‘her citizens’...(eye roll).

When asked yesterday about the fate of the people on the west end, her response was only that they were 47% of ‘her’ tax base!!

Not sure why we should be giving her anything BUT our hostility at this point.

[DollyCali]

good info link.. thanks.

I need to get ready to leave for most of day.. church & myriad of other things. Most likely will have a large thread to return to

I hope all will try to “be nice” with fellow FReepers here. Many have a lot of pain & tension in their lives. Being pompous is really not good.

Sharing help & info & encouragement is better than oneupmanship.

Not trying to be preachy but understand the value of support over attack at times like this (well ALL THE TIME)

thanks again to Nauti Nurse & other info / weather experts who share their information & knowlege with those of us who care.