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)

[CindyDawg]

Perry needs to step up to the plate and tell them to shut up, and nip this Katrina budding right now. I went thru Alicia and was without power for 2 weeks. I got my occasional ice at the store and paid for it. No one brought anything “free” around. Pop Eyes was the only thing available and it wasn’t free either. To ths day I don’t like fried chicken. The “leaders” here are weak. People won’t cry for ice if they don’t make a big deal out of them needing it.

[DollyCali]

FEMA needs to make the decisions not the mayor.. he is just burned up for someone else taking charge

[lainie]

orangeleader.com has this warning.... :shudder:

Ike Alert: Be wary of snakes, fireants
Chester Moore, Jr., The Orange Leader

Citizens remaining in Southeast Texas should be very cautious of snakes, fireants and other potentially dangerous wildlife in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

Cottonmouth water moccasins and copperheads are the two most prevalent poisonous snake species in the region and they along with numerous nonvenomous species are likely to enter homes and other dwellings in flood conditions.

Fireants are another problem and their presence around dwellings will be more pronounced than snakes in the region. Southeast Texas fire ant numbers have increased dramatically in recent years and many homes and properties are likely to have ant infestations now.

LSU AgCenter entomologist Dr. Dale Pollet said ants and their colonies can present a potentially serious medical threat to people and animals during and after times of flooding.

"Floodwaters will not drown fire ants. Instead, their colonies will actually emerge from the soil, form a loose ball, float and flow with the water until they reach a dry area or object that they can crawl up on," Pollet said.

Ants will often "raft", gathering in tight bunches and during these conditions they are under high stress can deliver bites with twice the poison as during normal conditions.

LSU officials said recommendations for treating for fire ants after a storm differ from the usual ones that call for the use of baits that are carried back to the colony and eventually kill it.

"At the time of flooding or right after flooding, general preventive treatments for controlling the fire ants are out of the question," Pollet wrote in a statement on dealing with fireants after Hurricane Rita.

"Ant colonies or ants encountered now need to be dealt with quickly."

Pollet noted the experts say aerosol spray products containing pyrethrins or pyrethrum derivatives (tetramethrin or allethrin) or Bengalʼs Deltramethrin dust labeled for use on "ants" or "crawling insects" can yield a quick knockdown of the insects and will break down quickly.

"Spray or dust as many of the ants as possible," Pollet advised.

"Just spray or dust surfaces, cracks of infested objects and debris. Then return after the treatment has had time to work."

[NautiNurse]

Thanks for checking in. Very glad to know you are safe.

[mylife]

Just spoke to a friend in houston. power is out but all is well. They are watching football on a portable set. he says its a normal day.

They cant get to the beach house in galveston as they are only letting people out bur not letting folks in.

He says it maybe a week before they can get a look at the island property.

[CindyDawg]

Snakes will rest on door knobs too.

[penelopesire]

I saw 500 National Guards vehicles heading to Houston and Galveston yesterday on the news. They are there..they are rescuing people and handing out water and food already!!

This is just your typical democrat politician trying to milk any discomfort at all for political reasons...just like they did during Katrina!

Hey folks in Houston/Galveston who may be lurking..if you can’t find water or ice yet because you were too stupid to stock up before the storm......try looking at the San Luis hotel in Mayor Thomas’s room or perhaps Bill White can share his stash with you...(eye roll)

FEMA IS ALREADY THERE...SO ARE THE NATIONAL GUARD!!

[SE Mom]

Agreed. I did a similar stint after Charley- 10 days no water/power. Our treat was a trip to Steak N Shake every coupld of days- haven’t been back, either :)

Jeb was our governor then- he handled it all like a pro.

[lainie]

People won’t cry for ice if they don’t make a big deal out of them needing it.

Reading all of the comments about the press conf has me amazed. What you said reminds me exactly of dealing with toddlers. How many parents out there don't know that if you don't make a big deal out of the boo-boo the child won't start crying, know what I mean? Why are the residents acting like this??

[SE Mom]

Here’s the link for local coverage where we’ve listened:

http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes

At the moment- there’s a big rig driver calling in to BEG people to stay the hedoubleLL off the road...he’s explaining how HARD it is to get the supplies in to where they need to be- says there’s gawkers and rubber-neckers everywhere making it tough for them. He’s on 10 from Katy- He’s very frustrated- and the reporters are treating him...skeptically.

Unreal.

[NautiNurse]

KHOU interviewed a Galveston woman earlier. She didn't evacuate because, "this is our home."

Next sentence, "We don't know where to go to get food and water. Nobody is telling us anything here."

[browardchad]

I just saw that news conference, and someone should put a sock in White's mouth. He started it. My kids and small grandkids are in Tomball, without power like everyone else, so my DIL and two small grandsons will probably be going to her mother's in Dallas as soon as they can get out, while my son stays. No big deal! They're grateful they had minimal damage. They don't need freakin ice, or MRE's or cleaning supplies. Cleaning supplies? Fema now has to give people brooms?

AAAAGH! We were without power, like so many others often are, in So. FL for three weeks in 2005. We had major damage, but we survived; we had our own supplies; we're not rich, but we didn't need FEMA.

I couldn't help thinking that was a community organizer bi*ch in the audience.

I can't watch anymore -- it makes me want to throw something.

[penelopesire]

There were reports this morning that the causeway bridge going to Galveston might not be safe as well. It takes time to check out bridge supports and infrastructure.

This is just the MSM trying to help the dems by feigning outrage for ‘the victims of the storm’ and asking the questions in a way that they know will ‘make news’ and providing an out for the democrat mayors of Houston and Galveston to avoid any responsibility for anything.

I would not be surprised if it was coordinated! Perry and the feds had better get out ahead of this ridiculous whining before it gets out of hand.

Chertoff coming out to discuss this ‘supply’ controversy in a minute! I hope he comes out swinging!!

Can’t watch anymore..my blood pressure is giving me a headache!

[penelopesire]

Good Lord!! This country is doomed if folks do not start being more self reliant!! My head is about to explode....LOL

[Peter Horry]

I was in Charleston, SC during Hugo and I imagine that many of these folks complaining can do the same thing I did. I drove 80 miles to buy anything I didn’t have, then spent 1.5 days in a shopping center passing out relief supplies to those who couldn’t or wouldn’t get the goods they needed. Still remember one woman complaining because she couldn’t get fresh meat.

[SE Mom]

Next sentence, "We don't know where to go to get food and water. Nobody is telling us anything here."

well bless her heart...;) Those same nobodies said- be prepared with supplies for 3 days..

[mylife]

Thats why God made canned tuna! ;)

[penelopesire]

Mayor Thomas about to give a news conference...finally...LOL

This ought to be good.

[Palladin]

These are probably the fire ant colonies that were seen leaving New Orleans three years ago!

[penelopesire]

Gov. there...LOL she is gonna let him talk because she is just a D&&^ A**....BWHAHAHAHAHA...