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)
Do you have food and water you can bring to the first responders at Tully Stadium? Just FYI.
Thanks for the prayers L0L
Ahhhh, now I know where all the Ike rainfall went because it sure wasn’t in the direct path.
He was also one of the leaders a couple of months ago when the Republicans kept the House open, trying to force the Dems to come back from their vacations to address the drilling issue.
http://www.centerpointenergy.com/newsroom/newsreleases/9b6b3e379716c110VgnVCM1000005a1a0d0aRCRD/
Houston – Sept. 14, 2008 – As of noon, CenterPoint Energy has restored power to 262,000 customers and numerous key facilities. Of the 2.26 million CenterPoint Energy customers, 1.84 million customers, or 81 percent, are still without power. Customers in the southern and eastern parts of our system were hit the hardest by the storm.
Some really gorgeous historic buildings
on Galveston Island .. hope they’re not
all lost.
http://www.galvestonislandtx.com/tourism/homes.htm#top
Sam Club on 6 baking bread, WalMart open tomorrow.
Still pondering which reports are accurate about the west end. Here’s an aerial tour video of the west end on Friday afternoon before the storm- it looks deserted. The vid title is “A view of Galveston from the air”
(this is me- xrossing fingers)
http://www.click2houston.com/video/17469642/index.html
Regular folks are picking up the load
sorry that post made absolutely no sense. fumble fingers on the cell.
This is what happened to us. We lost pressure and water for an hour then it came back.
They also have yummy crawfish :-)
Thanks for the report
Do you (or anyone) know what the current number is now of homes without electricity? I heard 1.3 million this morning.
My neighborhood, Garden Oaks, looks like a war zone.
And ironically, my neighborhood is looking less and less like one lately. ;-)
Well- this one is a dang shame- and now I’ll be humming ZZ Top all afternoon:
http://www.balineseroom.net/returnofBalinese.htm
“Deep in the South of Texas
not so long ago,
there on a crowded island
in the Gulf of Mexico
it didn’t take too much money,
man, but it sure was nice.
You could dance all night if you felt all right,
drinking whiskey and throwing dice.
And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
And everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese.”
“Balinese” – ZZ Top – Fandango - 1975
They were just showing pictures of Surfside Beach, and on the beach side, the ocean is still up under the houses on pilings — was it that way before the storm?
Thanks for your local update. Good to know you are safe, and local stores are open.
I DO love crawfish and I got to have some fresh mudbugs when I was home this past spring. :)
It could still work here if the military had the extra manpower that wouldn’t interfer with rescue. They could set up one of the big tents like the soldiers use. I doubt if a lot of these homeoners are wealthy and I figure it’s probably costing them a least 200 a day for gas, food, and shelter.
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