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)
If calling from outside the City Limits, call 713.837.0311.
This system came back on line this morning. This will help assist your family.
That first picture has just GOT to be a Photoshop hoax. On the tiny chance that it’s not, the builder should get some sort of solid third party verification and feature it in a surefire competition-eliminating ad campaign.
Tales of survival
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6002965.html
And sadly, tales of possibly very bad news to come
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6002679.html
There is a builder on my street who bilds like that - I watched him put up a couple of houses, and learned one heck of a lot.
He does things like overlap the plywood between floors, instead of building stacked boxes.
Remarkable stuff. My house is shoddy, compared to the stuff he builds.
We were discussing the reasons why people do not leave in the face of dire consequences. Again, you overlooked the context.
Make sure if you do need their services that when they show up at yours homes that you ask them for their ID. There is going to be a lot scammers out there. During Katrina my husband said there was many arrests and reports of people pretending that they worked for FEMA or USACE. (always ask for ID’s)
Normally how it works... A FEMA or USACE employee will show up at your residence either because you called them or they are in your neighborhood that day calculating the damage.
They will ask you to sign a release so that they can come on your property. They will look at the damage and they take an estimate on how much tarp you will need for your roof. They will leave and another crew will come in a put the tarp on your roof on a different day. (just remember it is offered for FREE and no one should be asking you for money for the tarp or to put on your roof.)
Getting a roof contractor in to repair your roof may be difficult due to demand and from being back logged. Some roofers in your area will be hired by FEMA/USACE to just put on Blue Roof Tarps under a FEMA/USACE contract and they will be tied up early on until that blue tarp task is completed first.
The tarp is actually a very very thick durable plastic sheeting that can last for about 2 years.
Here is picture of a whole neighborhood in Boloxi MS with Operation Blue Roof Tarps.
http://www.illinoisphoto.com/pictures/d/154420-2/operation+blue+roof+mississippi.jpg
Biloxi, Ms., October 4, 2005 —US Army Corps of Engineer Operation Blue Roof helps to prevent further damage to structures as a result of Hurricane Katrina. US Army Corps of Engineers provided and installed millions of square yards of blue plastic to cover damaged structures under the Operation Blue Roof Program. John Fleck / FEMA
Thanks! We did very very well. We’re almost back to where we were before the storm. The roofer is flooded in at his home in the Heights so we’re waiting on him to come put back 2-3 dozen shingles we lost.
While checking out at the Food Town a little earlier, I thanked the young checkout girl for coming in to accomodate others. She told us how she was so tired and depressed from the storm. I told her that was very sad because she was still able to have feelings and draw a breath, some weren’t so lucky. She moaned about being without power and I told her that when I grew up in southwestern Louisiana, I went to school all my life with no a/c. At home we had one window unit that covered all the bedrooms for sleeping and that was it. She then complained how she couldn’t get out on her cell phone. I just shook my head and told her that life was going to be very disappointing for her if her cell phone was that important to her. I should have just given her FEMA’s phone number and told her they’d straighten out her life for her :-)
DU`ers are claiming the Weather Channel has said 20,000 people are unaccounted for on Galveston Island.
I wouldn’t believe anything that came from DU unless it had a link to a verifiable, trustworthy source. Emphasis on trustworthy.
I’ve seen that many times in coast towns hit by a hurricane and/or tornado. The house may fall completely down with the first breeze but sometimes houses are surrounded just right where everything around them takes the brunt of the punishment and they remain standing. Sometimes they’re just built for hurricanes.
FNC reporting 1.5 million without electricity in the Midwest due to Ike.
Amazing guy. Guess it just wasn’t his time.
Some Houston area highway info
http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/construction/construction_report.aspx
Ya know, I think that stinker Ike held the water and let it loose after he left Texas. It’s amazing that he’s still going that strong. I mean at our house we may have seen 95-100 mph winds for the worst part but he’s still packing almost half of that. Unreal. You just never know about hurricanes. They can be so unpredictable.
That was a direct quote, NN.
Again, you overlooked the context.
The context was a cause (the Ivan evacuation was a nightmare) and an effect ("people didn't evacuate for Katrina"). I would be happy to discuss the proposition, but my immediate point was that the effect we're asked to accept as true...isn't. It would be like saying "last year's Saints season was a nightmare" (an arguably true statement), "so people don't go to Saints games anymore" (demonstrably false). That's not how logic works.
Legally, can they do that?
Ok- I’m just listening to the conforontation between Wayne and the governor and the follow-up- he’s furious (the reporter) he said it’s bad out there- and the authorities don’t want the public to see the bodies.
He said what’s so infuriating is the press is being treated like after the sotrm in Indonesia last spring.
If this is true- and they’ve been covering up- there will be a price to pay.
Did you hear that interview? He’s spoken with a few people OFF the record who have told him what’s out there.
Hurricane or whatever, the FLARE is still burning.
That was my BAD. Sorry.
There should be plenty of gasoline. The Houston Market may not be using much gasoline, as most SERVICE STATIONS do not have electric power, so they cannot dispense gasoline...
That's the future of our country, right there. It isn't going to be a happy ending.
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