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
|
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)
How do I get my FEMA card? I’d like to go on a shopping spree! /so
How do I get my FEMA card? I’d like to go on a shopping spree! /so
Well, it kinda matters, but I believe
there will be a solution brought forth
by some entity. There has to be.
We are about 2 hours south of Chicago and all their rain chickens are coming home to roost down this way. The Illinois dumps in to the Mississippi so you will probably get this as well.
We are a little town and everyone is pretty scared about the damage to homes and business. We had a deadly tornado 4 years ago and it keeps you on edge.
Say a prayer for us! We just need the river to drop about a half foot and a lot of people will be spared grief.
a_r
Oh my gosh ... I’m so sorry. It is frightening.
Streets in the city are clear, but I know there’s
a bit of hell happening in the ‘burbs.
Prayers definitely sent ... trust you have an
escape plan at the ready, just in case.
So, your home is that close to the river ?
Rough day, beyond weather.
No idea of what happened elsewere, but here in the midwest, we saw a wind event. Biggest healthy tree I saw down was 12 inch diameter, one 15 inch dead one. Yard damage, maybe a few aluminum soffits. Further south there are larger pockets of similar destruction, up to block wide areas, per local news.
We saw zero insolation today, best guess says we never punched the cap, even to midlevel updrafts.
That does NOT make all that energy go away, or make it smart to ignore the cold front tomorrow. The potential is there, the spring is stretched, whether it lets go over the Atlantic or the Atlantic coast, makes no difference, that potential energy will be released.
Glad it wasn’t here.
Wish I could analyze more, but bandwidth is limited for now
Glad your problems aren’t major ...
My business is about a half mile from the river. My home is on a bluff and will not be affected. We had the rain while IKE was down south and then actually dealt with IKE a bit last night and this morning. Too much rain for the ground to handle. Thanks for your concern! I was paying so much attention to Texas, I sort of let this slip right by until the end.
Right off, Thanks to God, to you, and your good neighbors for seeing ya’ll through! So glad to hear from you, relieved sigh.
About the media....and the sheeple....
Well, I think you know we are all right there with you in your frustration. You are doing GREAT, and you, and your neighbors will continue to chart your course, and get back to where you want/need to be. I know we are all over the nation, and the world for that matter, but please, let us know how we can help.
God Bless, and do let me know what you all really need, that I might be able to help with!
Tatt
P.S. Am going to see McCain tomorrow - I would be happy to give him a message from you all :)
Glad you’re all OK ... quite a tale.
Thank God for wonderful neighbors, eh?
Where are you located ..?
--God Blees--
A_R
--God Bless--
A_R
Good ....!
Yes, I did ... ;)
It all depends on how much current (the "I" that V=RI equation) the device draws, and what the resistance (the "R") of the cord is. The cords are generally rated not by their resistance but by the maximum current they can carry. The "V" in that equation is then the voltage drop from the wall plug to the device. Too much drop and the device can be damaged. There are other effects too, but are generally not too important.
BTW, electrical/electronic engineers are taught that equation a bit differently, but it's the same equation.
E=IR, where I and R are the same, and E is the same as "V", but stands for "electromotive force" (the term goes way back). The use of "I" for current I'm not sure about, but a quick search says it is "current intensity" It's a measure of how many electrons per second are passing through the wire. (1 ampere, shortened to "amps", is 6,241,509,479,607,717,888 electrons per second) The unit was defined before they knew the sign of the charge on the moving charge carriers. They of course got it wrong, so to keep things straight, engineers say the current flows from positive to negative, but actually the electrons go the other way. (In your power cord they change directions 60 times a second (in the US, YMMV in other locations).
So there is no one answer to your question, but the longer the cord, the bigger the wires need to be. This is because, like water through a pipe, their is less resistance the bigger the wire. So to get the same voltage drop for a longer cord, (The wires have so many Ohms (the unit of resistance) per unit of length), you have to have a lower resistance per unit of length, and thus a fatter wire).
Ohm, Ampere and Volta were some of the earlier pioneers in electricity, so their names are applied to the units of measure of those three quantities.
El Gato, MSEE, 1977.
Oil falls below $100 as all eyes on Ike and Wall Street banks
It sure is ... praying for
a safe today tomorrow.
No power, lots of tree debris, most fences down.
Been trying for 30 + hr to connect via cell phone.
We parked our truck in the garage and watched this whole thing. The wind and noises were amazing. Pics later
No power, lots of tree debris, most fences down.
Been trying for 30 + hr to connect via cell phone.
We parked our truck in the garage and watched this whole thing. The wind and noises were amazing. Pics later
6 miles south of the ship channel
10 miles west of Sylvan Beach LaPorte Tx
It could have been much, much worse as bad as it was already. God was protecting vast numbers of people.
Glad you’re ok ... thank God.
I know it had to be so unnerving
and unforgettable. Take care .. ;)
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