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)

[PLMerite]

To any and all:

Any word on things in Sulphur Springs (east of Dallas)?

A friend moved there not two weeks ago and her phone isn’t working. I know the storm went right over there yesterday.

[Allegra]

If that is any where near close to true, it will take a LONG time to get power back on for an extraordinary number of people and businesses -— and I won’t be surprised to hear figures in excess of 4 weeks, though I’m expecting them to say 2-4 weeks.

It took a little over three weeks to get everybody's power restored after Alicia, so, frustrating as it is, that sounds about right.

[Peter Horry]

Forgive me, my most humble apologies, I thought I read that there was a logistics.

[texasredtop]

Ooops, I’m very tired and trying to keep up here is rough on an old woman. Think I’m going to prepare myself for a little nap.

Thanks to everyone for being here and providing a sounding board. Thanks to NautiNurse for her hard work with these threads. Thanks to God for sparing so many in this storm that could have easily taken so many more.

[Allegra]

Wasnt that the best!?

I think it was a turning point of sorts. It was awesome.

It was when the GOP got its groove back. :)

[RikaStrom]

Thanks. I agree with one of my admins, we are ready for this to be done and our lives back to normal, oh well, I’m sure it will happen eventually.

Be safe everyone, I need to go do research on what to do now.

[STARWISE]

Good news ... thanks for posting.
Sounds like all is fixable at your
home. God bless ya, you hang in there.

[mylife]

Well local folks know local logistics best.
Thats all I’m saying. Fed Help is a welcome relief but sometimes they cock stuff up with bureaucracy.

[Allegra]

Rika! Sounds like you've got power and you're OK (except for Psycho Dog.) Good to see you check in.

I'm off to sleep now.

'Night, all.

[NautiNurse]

Hang in there. If you need anything, please let me know.

[mylife]

Find a local guy to fix the roof. The fence can wait.

Well, what I am saying is that insurance co’s will charge a hefty deductable. You maybe better served without them for less money and faster.

Best Wishes. I could be down there to help re roof this coming weekend. Shingles are cheap.

Let me know

[Peter Horry]

WOW, my logistics just lost it problem.

[mylife]

The GOP gots a groove? L0L!

[mylife]

The GOP gots a groove? L0L!

[Barnacle]

Thank you.

[AFPhys]

I found out where your rain went, I think... and wasn't really looking:

They claim 16.3” of liquid sunshine at Nederland, TX - about 20 miles east of you, I'm guessing.

That is not a typo: SIXTEEN plus inches yesterday!

Central Gardens - AirLiquide, Nederland, TX I don't know what locations closer to you are reporting ... I didn't really look, and wouldn't know the area well enough to find it if I were looking.

[stlnative]

too cute CD! give him a big hug!

[lainie]

KHOU is showing a live shot of the west end of Galveston Island. Home after home after home washed out to sea.

[pax_et_bonum]

excellent news / Can you add me to your ping list on news from the area?

You're added!

You're welcome to join us at our Houston Area Texans website, too!

[stlnative]

It’s part of Mexico now ;->