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)
I live near Cincinnati and have always followed your hurricane threads. I never thought I’d be reporting a hurricane condition update.
The remnants of Ike are passing 75 miles northwest of us. Not a drop of rain but a tremendous amount of wind. Gusts of 70 plus with some damage. 500,000 without power.
Culberson just finished a news spot - he is HOT - ready to have heads roll because “FEMA somewhere along the line” “dropped the ball” and “first responders ran out of food” and “didn’t have porta-potties”... He got on the horn to Chertoff and gave him some of that ammo, apparently.
Kept repeating about 6-8 times an address/ location that people could take food & water to in order to feed the emergency workers. “FEMA is getting it toward there now”, but “it will take some time.” Something about buses not being used - I suspect he’s a bit premature there if they don’t really have a plase to go, but that wasn’t his most critical beef. “I’ll be missing the 3:30 news conference because I’ve got to get back out there and help the workers.”
Someone is GOING to get fired... He’s going to have heads, for sure. “I’m on the appropriations committee...”
I’m glad I’M not in his sights!!
Yes but I’d need a boat to get there due to all the flooding between here and there on the freeways. I-10 on the west side of downtown is a lake - someone posted those pictures earlier. I saw the request and looked up the location and realized it’s on the far west side of Houston probably about 35-45 miles from me. Harris County is over 5,000,000 strong and I’m betting by now they have more food than they can eat :-). That side of town is very very heavily populated.
Watching Fox. Look at all these yahoos blocking the roads.
rubberneckers that have no business headed to Galveston
Dang...Tully Stadium is fairly close to where I live. I wish were home so I could bring them some refreshment.
Those first responders need food and water while the media scum is eating free handouts?? That's infuriating!
LMAO
Yowser...thanks for your local report. Hang on to your hat!
Wasnt that the best!?
He is awesome. One of the House Energy Heroes.
~~~~
Culberson:
http://twitter.com/johnculberson
Quikking videos listed .. first two:
West Side of Houston afterward:
Video of military movement @
Tully Stadium - PRE-storm:
***
John Cornyn’s Twitter site for
future reference:
Thank you for checking in and glad you are safe. I loved reading that above (although sorry about the limb hitting your neighbor's roof)...that's our Texas spirit and it's heartwarming to see it is thriving.
Garden Oaks is north of of 610 at around the Shepherd exit. Just east of the NW Mall on 290. Very very old trees there. My husband used to own a home there and had a tree through the house during Alicia.
ALOHA PO!
Doing well, No damage here SW antenna even stayed up.
All my Tx Friends are ok
I wonder if FEMA got mixed up and sent food to the hotel instead?
You had better stay home then, LOL!
I agree. It could work. Though, what *is* the military role, I’d have to research. The TX national guard being different than fed of course. I mean, having the military take over a disaster operation is a whole new ball of wax. It all gets messy since the false uproar after Katrina. Then again, the fed took over Fannie & Freddie and not one liberal hollered about “big lending!” like they do “big oil!” It is all so messed up.
hehe.. I have no doubt you will educate your grandson over time of the importance of a good pair of boots. But for now, “the zoo” is an okay answer I suppose. :)
I dont doubt it
I posted upthread about how a reporter said they had food and water and were giving some away to survivors. I don’t think the reporters are taking the handouts.
Cuthberson said someone had brought deer tamales over to Tully Stadium for the guys, and it was much appreciated.
We are the supplier and have a vital roll in supporting the effort but when it comes to getting it through the swamp and to the field it is better to defer to people who can GIT IT DONE.
“A bayou is marsh wetland, usually slow moving or still water.”
... which upon seeing, someone will build a city on. We can’t help it...
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