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)
Lauren Parker, a 19-year-old college student, said she sat in traffic for 16 hours trying to leave town ahead of Rita, and she wasn't about to risk a repeat. "I'd rather drown than wait in traffic," said Ms. Parker."I've heard about so many hurricane warnings before, and nothing ever happened," said Adrian Hardy, who rode out the storm in his downtown Galveston apartment.
Thank you!!! I have read this twice. I am SURE that three is a charm.! SO often I realize how really niave (and lucky) I am in using equipement that I have no clue about.
Unreal. Does anyone know how many tried to ride out the storm in that area? It doesn’t look like they stood a chance.
The stress of not being able to reach your wife, particularly with her illness is terrible. If they lost electricity, they may have turned off cell phones to conserve batteries. There have been widespread telephone overloads due to the storm. If you still can not reach them, you may want to try local emergency management for a status report on phone services.
Does anyone else think it is strange that the Houston mayor and democrat leaders keep trying to make a big deal of these FEMA PODS in Houston, when according to the KHOU website, grocery stores are beginning to open all over Houston?
LOL...why do they need FEMA PODS all over Houston when they can go buy their own ice, water and supplies now? I can see the need for them in Galveston and the Bolivar Penisula..but for the Houston mayor to be screaming about a two hour delay in Houston is disingenious and reeks of political motivations.
(eye roll)
Many thanks, for some reason I couldn’t connect to it earlier.
The peeps want their freebies. Where’s my $2000? I will pick it up in my $48,000 Lexus :-)
Give da peeps da freebies NOW.
Cell phone service is intermittent right now. Most calls are dropped or go directly to voicemail, and we seem to get voicemail dumps about every 4-5 hrs.
It’s chilly here. Down to you yet?
My nephew and his wife made it back to their condo in Friendswood yesterday (Sun) but couldn't enter due to a downed tree, but otherwise said things looked ok for them. My sister and bro in law made it home to League City (Harbour Park subdivision) and found a messy yard and a few shingles on the ground, but no damage plus they have power!
My nephew's inlaws in Angleton made it back yesterday as well and don't have water and a little damage, but overall, ok.
Private businesses have really stepped up to meeting people’s needs IMO. They get better with each disaster.
Heb, Walmart, Home Depot etc. They have their own disaster plans. It’s not free though. People recovering independently scares democrats. If people don’t need and depend on government they can’t be controlled.
bump to catch up later.....
Not chilly but cool. It’s rained all night and still coming down. Much more and our roads are going to start flooding.
Not chilly but cool. It’s rained all night and still coming down. Much more and our roads are going to start flooding.
I was in NOLA that weekend and evacuated Saturday afternoon. I went up Airline and crossed the river and road the river road up to 190 and went east on 190. It was a piece of cake compared to Rita. For Katrina, I got to I-10 on the west side of BR in about 3.5 hours - over 2.5 hours just getting to the bridge to cross the river off of Airline, it was smooth sailing after crossing the river. It took me 13 hours to go 50 miles evacuating for Rita. There were no restrooms, no gas and no food on the way out for Rita either, everyone shut down completely. For Katrina, we pulled through and got some drinks to go over on Airline.
The evacuation mess does not weigh into my decision to stay or go. The trick is to wait until everyone else is gone then you have the road to yourself. There was about a 24 hour or more period for that before Rita. No dangers, just being patient and waiting until the crowds were gone. But most people I know said they won’t evacuate again just because of the nightmare of staying on the road that long without any facilities.
FEMA has tightened up. Some that thought they would get help after Dolly were disappointed.
Comment posted on the FEMA website:
By LaToya Cossey
September 14, 2008 10:21 PM
Hi! I believe things could be handled a bit better, as far as FEMA and Red Cross Assistance. Im not blaming anyone, but I think Katrinas disaster shouldve been a lesson for everyone. There are families without power, homes, cars, cash, food, gas, etc. Knowing Ike was expected to do damage, a fixed budget and plan for temporary assistance for millions of families shouldve been planned in advance. How would you feel if you had to relocate to another state, run out of gas money, have no access to your bank ATM, no phone access, run out of food, gas, and water, but lose it as well? Im not upset because it could be worse, but why wasnt there a plan to evaucees who left the Texas area that would have to pay for gas, food, and shelter?
+++++++++
She wants her money in advance. Even though FEMA has no crystal ball to know where the storm will actually hit, she wants her money up front. I’m betting she has a cell phone and she must have a computer and power to be posting. But she has no gas money. I’m crying a river.
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