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
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KPLC Lake Charles
KFDM 6 Beaumont/Port Arthur
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KRIS-TV Corpus Christi
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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)
We have power back on in Cypress (Eldridge and Grant Road)! Praise the Lord! Hope everyone else gets power soon.
You have to be told to leave. I would have STAYED in Lake Jackson. Looks like we would have been fine there. Now they won’t allow me back to MY HOUSE. If I could go now I could save the food in the frig and freezer. If they don’t let us back in for a day or two it will all rot. Not all of us cherish that idea. I hope my house is OK. Just spent $$$$$$ last year doing total remodel. DId board up the windows. We put all the patio furniture and plants behind the garage. The boat is or was behind the garage too. Hoping for the best, expecting .....the unknown....
It makes me SO angry that reporters who do not own property are allowed on the coast while we, who have owned a home there for thirty five years are NOT allowed back into Lake Jackson yet. I want to go stake out in front of Geraldo’s home and tell him he has to evacuate! LOL
Lake Jackson has a tiny airport and it will be the site of Recovery Staging Point for Galveston for the next two weeks. No other air traffic will be allowed there. We are HAPPY to do it for them and we know it could have been the other way around. If we had taken the direct hit, they would be helping us.
And I have not called 911 and expected FEMA to answer.
I haven’t seen it discussed, but I am convinced that delays in letting people return are a major factor in why many chose not to evacuate.
Wish you the best in your efforts to rebuild and/or get back to your home.
No-one could have made me stay. There were no roadblocks out of town that I am aware of..just suggested zip codes to evacuate first. I would have found a way out of that place two days before the storm was projected to hit.
you’re in deer park right?
I agree. If I was debating leaving or not I might look at them as me with just a camera. I might think If they are staying it can’t be that bad and if things get dicey I can always just go to where they are holed up at.
Credence unknown obviously.
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:41 am Post subject: Preliminary Report on West End
I am part of the homeland security infrastructure and have a home in Sea Isle. I have a good contact within Galveston County that has kept me updated on the storms progress from County's perspective.
Please consider that this is now third hand information. It is a source that is impeccable, but it is third hand nonetheless. But we all want to know as much on the West End as we can, so I pass this on semi-reluctantly. It does not sound very good, especially for my older home.
Here is the email I received recently. (EDITED)
Well we have been busy. I can not exaggerate the destruction we have. Mayor and City Manager flew over Island and the report back is the west end is nothing but destruction and cuts from the waterflow. Mostly piles or walls of debris. Bolivar is also destroyed with 90 to 95 % of the structures reported badly damaged, destroyed, or gone. Rollover pass bridge not passable and may be gone. Three bodies recovered on Island and reports of some number in the surf on east pennissula or beyond. Fog stopped the search."
Prior to Isabel, Home Depot sold out of gensets.
After the storm, they bought them back for half price, and resold them. I bought a 7.5 KW for a couple of hundred, new, still in the box.
Runs the whole house when the power goes out.
I think so too. Make sure they are aware of dangers and let them back in as soon as the storm has passed. No one else...just home owners.
Rebuild? As the reports go there were no homes destroyed in my town of Lake Jackson. We are the place that will spearhead the recovery relief efforts in Galveston. As far as we know we didn’t lose our house or anything else. I will be HAPPY to see it with my own eyes, but from the eyes of those who stayed in Lake Jackson, only branch damage, not home damage. I would never rebuild anyway. I have told my husband for thirty five years I would never rebuild after a hurricane I would move. But last we heard no homes were destroyed in Lake Jackson. We are inland and at 27 ft elevation. Considered a mountain in that area. LOL We have brick home, new hurricane proof double pane windows boarded up with 3/4 inch plywood over all doors and windows, and new roof. We should be fine. We only got eighty MPH winds and we have often had 110 MPH winds there with no damage at all. We had Cat 2 Dolly in July and had zero damage. It was LOUD.
Welcome back! Hope all is well.
If I were a Texan I’d be beaming with pride too. Reading through some of the local blogs and watching ordinary citizens organzing and figuring ways to get around obstacles and share food, water and cell phones. It’s very disorienting to go from modern life one day- to primitive the next.
It was the same here in Florida when we had the summer of hurricanes. We worked together and figured ways to deal with it- 10 days with no power- no water- no phones. None of us died and no one went hungry. We did talk a lot- still do- about how much we take for granted..
Independent Americans are extraordinary citizens. Dependent ones..are handicapped for life but apparently are so brain-washed they can’t see who has made them this way.
You might want to read some of the post from yesterday....posters were looking for the deaths to be from the west end of Galveston...not Bolivar and Crystal Beach....
I want my shutters first...then a Guardian. They automatically kick in and run on propane.
Just watched a report from CNN that Galveston city officials only had 3 BOATS for rescues!! Good thing the feds are there...that is pathetic!
Would love to see Galveston city’s budget and hand-outs from the federal government before the storm hit. You know darn well they had been given mucho bucks from homeland security for planning, etc....wonder where the money went?
Getting madder by the minute!
“... famous, century-old lighthouse on Bolivar... Survived two hurricanes... can’t verify it is there...”
When I hear reports like that, I know whether it is there or not. There are no elephants over there for it to hide behind.
There is nothing left on Crystal, or Bolivar - It is getting more and more worrisome as far as casualties.
There are a whole bunch op boats piled up out on the highway - I don’t think anyone would mind if they borrowed them.
It’s hard for people living pay check to pay to spend money on a generator during good weather. That’s good about the buy back program. Maybe they should rent some too for people who can’t afford to buy.
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