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
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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)
We need an accepted and well understood acronym or word (like asap or zot) to tell people: “hey, FRiend: I addressed this about ten times in posts I made earlier. You’re late to the party! Please go back and check information that has been exchanged in the past, and then come back and ask for clarification if your concern has not already been covered.”
I don’t think that, “hFIatattipImeYlttpPgbacithbeitpatcbaafciychnabc” will make it, though.
You certainly made it clear where you were, and that YOUR estimate was that you’d be OK, and that you had the information you needed to make your decision. Just because people didn’t see all your posts to that effect was no reason for them to get miserable to you.
I would think relief organizations would set up off the island. Those rescued are being removed. Sorry FReeper-reporters but IMO the best thing they could do would be to get the reporters off the island.
Ok, so I’m not SO sad that the satellite isn’t getting a signal yet and I don’t have to listen to it all. Some things are way to predictable :-)
Sounds to me that you don’t need to get a generator like your neighbors... just a heavy, looooong extension cord.
Amen to that. Let those trained to do so, sort it all out. Reporters are just in the way.
Good point- and I’m not sure how far Harrigan and the local reporter have ventured- but I was struck by the early seed-planting of Public Agencies Are Failing theme..
Thanks for the debunk!
KHOU is trying to refurbish the Gal. mayor’s reputation as we speak. Pretty clear what is coming down the pike. Some folks on the KHOU blogs are already screaming about FEMA and Bush. The mayor has had no pressers since yesterday afternoon and the folks blame Bush, Perry and Fema for lack of planning and info...go figure.
Here we go again....
Ok, is that you Mr. Texasredtop? LOL - That’s EXACTLY what he wanted to do yesterday. I know they wouldn’t have cared and we were worried about the freezer contents more than anything but I would have never done it without asking them first. We’re not sure where they went off to as they are retired and travel a bunch.
Wierd how some home are staning, surrounded by desolation.
And the cow...poor thing probably wants to be milked.
Hah! If you want to listen to local coverage on your pc- it’s streaming here:
http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes
She hasn’t had any press conf since YESTERDAY? Eeegads..
So what I’m beginning to see here is...here we go again.
shakin head...bad Bush...bad FEMA...good mayor.
A women was interviewed that lived on Crystal Beach and she was asked about the others of Crystal Beach...she said they were all dead. So if folks are looking for a large death count coming from the west end of Galveston...they need to be looking northeast that’s where the people were killed. The west enders got out...
I have seen nothing to indicate that there is going to be a lot of good news about casualties coming from the area around Galveston. The NG, SAR and other indicators just aren’t adding up to happy for me.
That said, I am happy about the progress of Ike exiting now. Very little major weather - as long as you don’t consider 35mph winds and 4” of rain major.
Yeah...we don’t have storms that often but we do loose electricity at least once a month. Replacing everything in my deep freeze would pay almost half of a smaller one.
Hey, I have an idea. Since Houston sent y’all a hurricane the least you could do is send us a few feet of that snow. Sooner rather than later. ;-)
From your link:
~snip~
Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans — 140,000 by some estimates who ignored orders to flee ahead of Hurricane Ike — from another night among the destruction. Some had been rescued, but unknown thousands remained stranded.
Roads blocked by waist-deep water and downed trees kept many rescuers at bay as they struggled through the largest search-and-rescue effort in state history, just a day after the Category 2 storm crashed into Texas with 110 mph winds.
Five-year-old Jack King escaped serious injury when storm surge sent a rush of water that washed out the first floor of his family’s Galveston home just two blocks from the bay.
“I falled in the attic,” Jack told paramedic Stanley Hempstead of his 10-foot tumble through the attic and onto the garage floor. Jack and his family had taken refuge in the room, loaded with blankets and other supplies. As the Texas Task Force 1 Search and Rescue crew arrived, Jack gazed at a TV aglow with “The Simpsons.” The only evidence of his fall was a Band-Aid plastered to his closely-cropped hair, covering a gash.
“We just didn’t think it was going to come up like this,” said the boy’s father, Lee King. “I’m from New Orleans, I know better. I just didn’t think it was going to happen.”
The Kings had hoped that a family member would pick them up, but a paramedic told him the road inland wouldn’t be open for days. Lee King thought they could survive another night, but then their generator died. He ultimately decided the family was ready to leave.
What’s really frustrating is that we can’t get to them,” Galveston police officer Tommie Mafrei said. “It’s jeopardizing our safety when we try to tell them eight hours before to leave. They are naive about it, thinking it’s not going to be that bad
Actually, Crystal Beach is a city, not part of Galveston Island. You have to take the Bolivar ferry off of Galv Island to access Crystal Beach, High Island, Gilchrist and a few other small communities along the coast. The road leads you to Port Arthur. Nothing but very small communities from the ferry to PA for about 40 miles or so. I don’t think the mayor of Galveston would be responsible for those areas - they are in Chambers County.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
