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)
“Apparently their suppliers were not being allowed access - Mayor just gave an order allowing press caterers access to island.”
Good grief...they should have had supplies to last one full week just like everybody else that refused to evacuate!!
That’s no excuse in my book..sorry!!
I am heading back tomorrow to houston and ever time i are a NG truck or FEMA I am gonna take pics and video. My family in mississippi said the place was crawling with FEMA and NG and the news wouldn’t report that.
(they had been getting calls for help from there as the storm hit, then the calls stopped)
Yeah...the majority of our Houston FReepers, while accounted for, can't get on the internet.
I miss them.
Still waiting to hear about Xenalyte. It occurs to me that I think I have her number in my US cell phone. I can charge that up so I can get it and then try calling her from my local cell phone.
Is it odd there aren’t any estimates given for missing people?
I mean- I assume family members from across the country are calling in to say they have family in Crystal Beach or the west end and haven’t heard from them...etc.
We need to dump Perry too. I voted for the guy but sometimes think I should have voted for Kinky.
At the moment Gov goodhair is doing good and Kinky might well be smoking doobies with Willie Nelson at the moment, but perry will be back to raising taxes by monday.
Sigh.... It could be worse..Chris Bell could be in charge
Let us know what you hear
Holy cow . . . They just showed some amazing video of Bolivar Peninsula on ch. 2 from a chopper. One neighborhood they said maybe 15% of the houses survived, another neighborhood maybe 50% of the houses are left. Water everywhere, empty “stilts” where houses used to be. (Where are the people that were there? How many stayed during the storm?)
IMPORTANT INFO FOR DEWSMUM***********
Routine updates - call 1-866-642-4153
City of LP info -
Only LP citizens with ID will be allowed in.
City has no electricity, water, sewer.
Power lines are down throughout LP.
Curfew is 7:00 PM - 6:00 AM until no longer needed.
LPISD closed indefinately.
So it might be best for you to stay put for a few days if possible. Walmart is selling gas, there are hundreds of cars lined up down East, about 4-5 hour wait minimum. Nothing opened up and down Spencer that we can see. Some power lines still down in front of Walmart but the ones closer to Center are back up. I guess our little area was just real lucky getting power because we didn’t see any other areas with it. We went over to the Fairmont Pkwy Walmart and back it’s all dark everywhere we could see until we got to the north side of Pasadena Blvd.
Unbelievable. They should have brought food and ice chests with enough for them and a surviver.
Exactly, that’s what’s so eerie.
ugh. His campaign staffer is no doubt watching for anything he can seize upon and blame Bush for.
I wonder why there are no updates for Sunday yet.
Communication via land and cell are damaged, and the rest overloaded.
Most folks dont make the beach house the primary residence
Most folks dont make the beach house the primary residence
The KHOU reporter said they had food and were giving things away to survivors. I also saw reporters on Friday with food and water in their rooms.
I think I like the way that one community is doing it...let people in during the day to secure belongings or gather things up before they are totally ruined, make them leave at night to avoid further stress on resources.
I think I like the way that one community is doing it...let people in during the day to secure belongings or gather things up before they are totally ruined, make them leave at night to avoid further stress on resources.
Good for you! Let us know how it goes. I have family in Mississippi too and they said the same thing during Katrina.
Right now,the republican Gov. and the Bush run federal government response teams are doing heroic work non-stop........and the local dem leaders are busy looking for scapegoats for their own incompetence with the help of the leeming press and trying to make political hay of the situation.
Unbelievable!! Taking a break for a bit. They are giving me a headache...LOL
Was that video from today? There was some amazing video over that area yesterday too.
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