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)

[1066AD]

I believe the absence of dunes after a storm like this complicates any rebuilding permits, there’s some special rules about it all.

[DollyCali]

This has to be very hard on the young men/women in national guard many of whom are in ages of 18-20

They grow up fast in the military

Going to bed soon. Tomorrow will be at a Palin/McCain rally in Vienna Ohio(near Youngstown/Warren area)

thanks to all for the informative posts. I love graphics (sad ones here) and REALLY love maps.. so was busy checking out all your contributions.

Thanks again to Nauti.. you are really appreciated.

A lot of people in NE Ohio (just under million households) still w/0 power. I was lucky it was just 15 hours here

Good night everyone

[stlnative]

The photographer will probably have his picture in Time's Pictures of the Year book. The builder might just get the builder of the year award.


Here is a cropped shot of the house upclose.


The original is here for those who have not seen it

[STARWISE]

Doesn’t even look like any of
the exposed windows smashed in.

[STARWISE]

FAA

Issue Date : September 15, 2008 at 0000 UTC
Location : TEXAS COASTLINE, United States

http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_8_8191.html

[stlnative]

The flute (rain guard) at the top of the chimney is not even blown off. Hopefully we will learn more about who owns it and who built it in the days ahead.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

TANKS,Star,,,

I think the mobile homes are in what some are callin’ the “lower end”(?) on the blogs...

[PleaseNoMore]

Cropped, it almost looks like a doll house sitting there.

[stlnative]

Did you click on the little picture. They have San Leon marked as Boliva Penn (sp) (isn’t San Leon by Texas City?)

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

LOL,,,Na’,,,Cut da’ boy some slack,,,

He’ll have a tale to tell Fo’Sho!...;0)

[STARWISE]

That will be interesting to learn.

~~~~

There are folks hanging in there today
in Galveston. Don’t imagine they’ll be
able to stay there much longer.

~~~~

Ike’s Aftermath

GALVESTON, Texas (CNN) — As Galveston’s leaders on Monday repeatedly urged its residents to stay away, people who never left tried to make the best of their muggy, tree-strewn, powerless city.

Rest here

http://endoftheagerecord.blogspot.com/2008/09/ikes-aftermath.html

[PleaseNoMore]

Could this be info on this house?

The most successful project implemented by the Government to protect and enhance the Texas Coastline is on the Bolivar Peninsula in the Rollover Pass area in Gilchrist.

Already new resort developments are being constructed, including Audubon Village.

The homes there are hurricane resistant and are built in a factory in Gilchrist.

http://www.bolivarchamber.org/Gilchrist.aspx

[STARWISE]

The stories of the people in
old trailers/mobile homes who
survived are simply incredible.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

At least here there's places zoning ordinances term “Dead Zones” on beaches where if the house is destroyed, they can't rebuild. I think they were in place before hurricane Hugo but it seems everyone was able to rebuild anyway.

[stlnative]

Well if so, the only one coming out of the hurricane proof home factory that was not a “lemon”, just happened to maybe be the only sided in lemon yellow siding.

[txhurl]

He was in a stone house, second floor, so he’ll have a good story to tell.

[STARWISE]

I see San Leon here on this map,
which finally gives me some
directional/location reference.

http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/notam_print_8_8191.html

Note the zone stops at the far
west end .. so that area seems
to apparently be OK.

[stlnative]

Well if so, the only one coming out of the hurricane proof home factory that was not a “lemon”, just happened to maybe be the only ONE sided in lemon yellow siding.

[stlnative]

San Leon is marked wrong on that map. San Leon is by Texas City which is above Galveston Island (Google Maps has San Leon to the west of Texas City along the bay shore)

[txhurl]

This is a house that was billed to be Hurricane-resistant in Gilchrist.

Didn't see it in any of the what's-left-standing photos.

Rollover Pass: