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)
About 4.5 million Texans without power.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-ike-power-outages,0,1098566.story
Yeah. My power has gone off and on about 5 times already. I heard them say something about 1960; but the tv went down about then.
Official time of Landfall was 2:10 AM CDT. Oops
He is!
Heh, friend tell that to the Outer Banks people.
Tell him I'm right. Just sayin'
(I grew up with OB vacations)
It’s not been a good day for a lot of people. Elsewhere in that same train system, another Metrolink train had a crash and a fatality - some car driver ran a crossing, received his just desserts in the form of a train and died.
Prayers up for everyone in the storm’s path. It seems that many didn’t evacuate. It’s hard to know what we’ll be seeing when the sun comes up.
A commuter train going toward the San Fernando valley collided with a freight train and it was devastating. I don’t know how the two of them found themselves on the same track heading in opposing directions, but my local news kept saying things like “it was a blind curve” and “they could not see each other coming.” As if.
Now Fox is saying landfall was at 2:10 just like TWC. (something tells me they are counting the front of the eye as being landfall and not the center of the eye.)
Things are starting to pick up again on Galveston Island per Steve Harrigan.
Dont most outer banks places shut down during the “off” season?
Steve Harrigan is a good reporter
I hope everyone is OK. The cone is small when it’s you.
I think MetroLink commuter trains are in "pusher" config.? Anyone know for sure?
Accidents happen.
Bad deal all around
I am on the Neches River about 12 miles f but from IH10 bridge. we lost power about 1 AM and I am on Battery power. few pretty strong gusts. Only lost a few Limbs so far. The salt water barrier gates are fully closed and our road is starting to flood. I moved two vehicles to high ground and kept the 1-ton
here. We weathered Rita fine. Remember all those affected by storm in Prayer. Who would go to NO with a storm in the Gulf?
In Galveston I would evac.
barbra ann
I am very cranky about losing power..and have never experienced an outage longer than 8 hours...Hope you don’t lose it long. So many have already.
Some do, but the culture in North Carolina has changed so much, traditions are going away with it.
But hurricane season there is just like for everywhere.
BK says the commuter train ran a red light.
How does that happen??
Sigh. (some friend)
I still know folks in the eastern VA/eastern NC business. Thinking about their temperaments and thought processes, I can see it.
I never witnessed a hurricane on the west coast,.... well “EVA” in Hawaii. I got sea sick and puked L0L
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