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)
Hello all, checking back in. I rode it out in Friendswood and we did pretty well, all in all. We lost power Friday evening and after a couple of pretty miserable nights, I made my way to New Orleans to stay with my daughter. I may have a 3-4 week period away from work on Galveston Island.
“Geraldo hasn’t been on live for two days...”
He’s having trouble laying hands on a baby to shove at a camera. Texas does things a little differently than Louisiana.
“Geraldo hasn’t been on live for two days...”
It’s a thorny philosophical question as to whether Geraldo meets the criteria for ‘live’ —
Where does ‘cartoon’ end, and ‘live’ begin??
Thanks for checking in. Relieved to know you are safe. Take care, and please let us know if there is anything we can do.
Your local update for San Leon is appreciated. Still waiting to hear from jpsb. Thanks.
If someone could let us know when power is back on and the water is safe to drink in Friendswood, that would be great.
jpsb still hasn’t posted for 72 hours. Worrisome.
Great minds think alike.
What a switch, eh? Ike folks going to New Orleans.
Hey, Thanks!
Yes, who would have thought that New Orleans would be a place of refuge for many of us. Some of my co-workers from UTMB ended up here too.
It was difficult to get out through Houston because of all the high water areas. I left via the beltway east of 225 to 610 to I-10.
I didn’t phrase that well. Of course it matters. I just meant there is not much we can do about it besides getting things up and running ASAP. Maybe in the future we shouldn’t put all our oil rigs in one “basket” and they should be spread out along 3 coasts.
thanks for the links STARWISE. I had them saved at one time before I changed computers
In fact I am pretty sure i have an account at Free Dom.. DollyCali but not a clue on password
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: Reply with quote from the City of Friendswood website
Information for City of Friendswood
City Hall, Activity Building, Library and Municpal Court will not be open on Monday and may be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Check this site for updates.
News Releases
Normal trash pick-up will resume on Monday. Update from the Friendswood Office of Emergency Management
Posted: 09/14/2008 08:30 PM
Sporadic power is returning to certain areas of Friendswood. However, local utilities are still advising that it may be one to two weeks before all of Friendswood’s power is restored.
Emergency responders are currently conducting damage assessments throughout Friendswood. Due to damage from Hurricane Ike, Mayor Smith has extended the curfew for the City of Friendswood from dusk until dawn every day until the city and utility companies can provide safe and effective services. Proper identification will be required to travel within the city during the extended curfew.
There is no widespread flooding. The water supply is safe.
For any additional information, please contact the City of Friendswood Office of Emergency Management at 281-996-3335 or by e-mail at eoc@ci.friendswood.tx.us.
DirecTV took KHOU off its grid early yesterday evening. Seems awfully quick..
Well, that was quite the windy night last night. No rain though, even with the cold front coming through. :(
The deductible is about 1500, i have charges totaling 1050 from a repair over the last two weeks, I think I will submit all, just to get the ball rolling. I am going to do a temporary fix on the fence with some plastic chicken wire, just to keep the dog in the yard.
My biggest concern are the leaks from the shingles, i did see three spots of water damage on the inside of the ceiling. I’m still trying to find out if my neighborhood has power yet.
Thank goodness something in this is cheap! (shingles) :-)
RS
Yes, I am, thanks (I’m in Phoenix with our kids). She’s awaiting a liver transplant, staying with her mother & brother. They all have cell phones, but I’ve received no calls nor been able to get through since Saturday afternoon (at which time they were OK but without power or a land-line phone). I’m wondering if the cell towers are overloaded? Thanks much for your offer.
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/index.html
NOAA’s first two passes are now online - image quality really bites, alas, not sure why the colors are all so horribly messed up, but these two sets cover Galveston Island, Crystal Beach (and northward) as well as Texas City. More image sets will likely appear over the next couple days.
Odds are that someone will make them into a KML file for Google in the not so distant future, but for those who want to know what a neighborhood looks like, etc, these are your best images to find out.
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