Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[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

Forecast Models

Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar
Corpus Christi Long Range Radar
Brownsville Long Range Radar
Lake Charles Long Range Radar

Ike
Single Image		Image Loop
Lat/Lon	No Lat/Lon	Short	Long
Visible	Visible	Visible	Visible
Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave
Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor
Infrared Channel 4 Enhancements
None	None	None	None
AVN	AVN	AVN	AVN
Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak
JSL	JSL	JSL	JSL
RGB	RGB	RGB	RGB
Funktop	Funktop	Funktop	Funktop
Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow

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

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)

[texasredtop]

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/roadclosures/

From the same site - a list of high water closures. Looks like Beltway 8 and US59 are clear of high water. Beltway 8 to 59 looks clear sailing.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I’m just guessing if they want help the organizations will. No power is a big detriment to home assistance.

I’d try to see what area churches are doing with their efforts.

[texasredtop]

I’m afraid you’re right. They have no clue, do they? Without their blackberries, they have no identity. Their life is wrapped around a piece of electronics.

[CindyDawg]

Well I read comments that people in the media post here so I know there are reporters out there that still represent the people, but IMO, the vast majority of them now work for a powerful 4th branch of the government. This was not how freedom of the press was intended.

Zoolander? I had not heard of that one:')

[Uncle Ike]

**bttt**

[texasredtop]

Zoolander’s problem is that he’s mesmerized by his own reflection in the mirror. Now mind you, he IS a pretty boy. But he has NOTHING else. I imagine when he sleeps with his wife he tapes a mirror to her face so he can see himself. (did I just say that? - oh my)

I would say he’s similar to the silky pony except he has brains and doesn’t think with his *ya know what*. He does not respect women or anyone else for that matter. He totally thinks he’s a God and we are all his adoring puppets. He’s quite flagrant about it, like he’s the only one smart enough to get it. I have no clue what Bush was thinking by dumping him on us. And to top it off, he’s the best choice we’ve had and we re-elected him. Oh well.....

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Here was one of my favorites. The day after Hurricane Hugo a man called the local cable company and demanded “Where's my cable! I pay for cable TV and should get it!” A few miles away they didn't even know if people were alive or dead and this moron is screaming for his cable. His area was out for a few days, many people south of his location were without power and cable for weeks, some months.

[CindyDawg]

King Richard. He’s either being really good or really bad.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Is jpsb the only Freeper who we know was in a bad place who hasn’t checked in?

[Cvengr]

They should have asked he would mind if they recorded his conversation so everybody working to restore his service would hear him directly. More than likely, his arrogant behavior would have insisted upon no less. Then they could have broadcast him throughout their cable services as a public service for the entire area to know who the fellow was and let him reap the consequences of his behavior in that particular market.

[txhurl]

I can read my President, he is extremely depressed.

[stlnative]

The problem is Ike and another large storm joined forces over Missouri and Illinois and off they went together towards the Northeast. I think it up in northeast Canada now.

[texasredtop]

I’m not at all surprised. We called Direct TV yesterday and they credited our account for over $100 and we didn’t even ask them to, we just wanted on the list to get service. We were given an appt for 9/26 for the guy to come get the signal back. My husband got up there after the call and adjusted it himself and it’s fine now. We’re going to give it a few days and make sure and then cancel the service call. Most of the time, you can get a lot more if you don’t demand the impossible. I hate to be on the other end of the line for some of these calls from people demanding services right now.

[davetex]

NautiNurse, thanks so much for creating and riding herd on these threads over the last several days. I have family and friends in and around Houston that naturally, I was concerned about. Without a doubt a was able to collect more information from the hurricane threads than I would have otherwise. It’s folks like you that make this world a little better!! Thanks again!!

Davetex
Pflugerville

[texasredtop]

Did the hurricane making machine die after Ike? LOL

Seriously, I hate to hear that. I try to stay away from the tv for news. He usually does take things like this very hard and very personal. He has a big heart. I will say a prayer for him tonight. Also it may be other things weighing on his heart that we don’t know about.

[stlnative]

Let us know what you hear.
I think they are trying to hide it, but I hope I am wrong.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Hey there,,,

Great to be back,,,

Got my little mess sawed up and hauled to the curb,,,

Po’trash-man is gunna have a backache,,,;0)

[Enosh]

“I imagine when he sleeps with his wife he tapes a mirror to her face so he can see himself. (did I just say that? - oh my)”

Hmm... if I shaved... maybe a little lipstick...

Nah! *nevermind*

[Peter Horry]

Do I know you, or was this another one? The one I remember was a 6’1” guy who had a 5’4” girl ready to take his face off.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Now on to the subject of roof repair, the biggest problem most with home damage will face in the coming days. After Hugo, plenty of fly by night roofing operations showed up in town and did shoddy/ incomplete jobs. No idea how to avoid these jerks especially now with most of the craft being populated by illegal aliens. Here's hoping the insurance companies have their act together on that one. The closest thing for a homeowner to protect oneself is to see if the company has a state contractors license, but even that doesn’t always work.