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 must be getting sleepy / time was 0645Z on previously posted image, indicating this image is a duplicate...
Have you read Isaac's Storm about that hurricane? I've thought about that book a lot over the last couple of days.
Ihope you dont loose your power. You are north of Houston as I recall
I hope you fare well, and everything is okay.
6 feet of water in NEW Galveston courthouse
Thank you for the report..Glad you still have power.
Maybe FOX has an outdated radar? The radar on FOX showed the eye center over Galveston a few minutes ago.
Hi Sally your ping went to someone else.
My daughter is just n of Houston..I am way up in Central Texas..Waco area and they are still warning us of power outages.
Mine would not last as long as those in the real storm path..
yep I've been following the surge story. It's scary on the coast.
Be safe, FRiend.
As another poster remarked; the storm isn’t as powerful as Katrina, but is massive in it’s size... where the cumulative effect may come close to equaling the damage of Katrina... we’ll see.
well, just seek refuge in Crawford! at you know whose house!
Billie & Luv are pretty well west to get much effect
I was always off guard as a kid as to the weather, I kinda miss that. Those folks in Galveston in 1900 sure could have used this knowledge however.
No, but that is on my reading list.
I did do some reading about the engineering and thought that went into the reconstruction of Galveston and the building of the Seawall. The Seawall is, surprisingly, not considered a structure of importance outside of Texas, but it is really a monumental achievement. I’m not sure there’s another seawall in the US that could take what people estimate the Seawall is capable of withstanding.
It may be overtopped, but I don’t think it will ever be breached.
Reporters driving down I45 live.....all dark, all rain, all wind.
hmmm...I doubt it.
Who did it go to? I was pinging my sister, Alexis the Bengal Kitty.
Bet he headed for high grounds.Prayers.
LOL..I am set and prepared.
Yes..It looks like the path is going way east of me..so I’ll just get rain and a strong breeze.
It’s just that this storm is so large!
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