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)
At news conference just now, Galv.Mayor said she was happy and getting all the help from FEMA and other authorities that she could have asked for... also that it was not really in her hands at all.
FEMA really sounds like they know what they’re doing and are truly competent and in command there.
He’s was answering a question from me about why the heavy rainfall prediction yet there was barely any in reality.
WTF? at least everyone is OK
Yeah..I liked what he said yesterday...esp about the AMMO:’)
No crepe myrtles in the photo.
I have about 2 tons of the dark pink crepe myrtle blooms in my backyard - yet I don’t have any crepe myrtles. Please feel free to come get them if they are yours. I’ll loan you some scotch tape :-)
(Our friends are also registered FReepers, but mostly lurkers)
wise acre! L0L
Wow, that is amazing and terrible.
NOOP. just beach houses built on sand
Yes, that would have been my guess too.....their being in a total news void (apparently radio is pretty worthless, newswise), they have no idea how widespread the electricity problems extend....or if returning evacuees will gobble up the available gas.
Thanks again!
LA MARQUE, Texas – They set up camp at the boarded-up Shell station on Interstate 45 on Saturday afternoon, dozens of them, an unlikely community of outsiders desperate to return home to storm-ravaged Galveston, Omega Bay, Tiki Island, Jamaica Beach.
Stranded, instead, in a parking lot on the perimeter set up by the police – while helicopters and ambulances screamed past them toward the devastation left behind by Hurricane Ike.
Wondering if their homes were still standing, or family still alive. Unable to pay for another night's hotel, or another tank of gas to return to wherever it was they sheltered while the storm roared through the night.
"Next time I'm staying, if they won't let you back in," said Patrick Christensen, 32, of Bayou Vista, a small community next to the causeway near Galveston. "Unless it's a Category 5, I'm there."
Thousands of others, like Mr. Christensen, had evacuated from the Texas coast after warnings from officials. On Saturday, thinking they'd be able to return home, they drove down I-45, only to be turned away 15 miles from Galveston Island.
And so they stopped at the Shell station and settled in for the night, figuring that if you have nowhere to go, it's probably best to stay where you are.
"They told me an hour, then they told me two hours, and now they're saying maybe Tuesday," said James Dillmon, 49, a Galveston welder.
He had left Friday with his bass guitar, his Harley Davidson, his generator, his welder, his dog, Bandit, and "these pants I'm wearing. And that's it."
"At least everybody's alive," he said cheerfully. "They'll make arrangements to get you out, but they won't make arrangements to get you back."
[snipped some of the story out & posted parts I hadn't seen yet]
I don't know how I feel about this aspect to the story. On one hand, it either is or isn't safe to return, and these people apparently just blindly assumed it would be fine and started heading for home with no backup plan. I haven o doubt that every radio is blaring WAIT, DON'T COME BACK YET PLEASE. On the other hand, they shouldn't keep people from their own property one minute longer than necessary. Services or not. I'd rather camp out in my own wrecked front yard than live in my car at some shell station 15 miles away.
Wow- I read about this one upthread but just now watched the video called “Crystal Beach is gone”...one fellow said Gilchrist is decimated- flattened.
pretty stark stuff.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282612
Culberson really let everyone have it with both barrels yesterday when he made that ammo comment, didn’t he? He really told anyone looking in that they better not mess with Texans! I loved it. I wish I could see such spine from some one around here!
I wonder were on the island that is?
My friends place is like 14 above sea level and I think the seawall is like 17 feet tall?
I see one house lost in the pic. looks like the surge lifted it off the pilings
Nope, total devastation. I just wanted to put a few lost crepe myrtle blossoms in proper perspective. More prayers for the souls lost...
Bessie Heights
Sigh.....”here we go again”
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