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)
What is the news?
Good news to report:
I went to the local fishing hole to see about supper and found the “T” pier flooded... barely, 6” at most. This status proved to be a midget magnet as they were all splashing and hooting to the occasional screech of “piranha!”
So, the twits are all happy, if soggy.
Part of that has to be chagrin at realizing that a majority of Galvestonians were stupid enough to elect Lyda Ann Thomas.
“Large traffic jam leading into Galveston.”
I still think that could have been coordinated better. Is this mayor crazy??? It is frustrating to watch....a little bit of common sense should tell the stupid woman that wouldn’t work and would create mass chaos...
Sorry, I am venting b/c this is making our area look so bad.
Thanks for your thorough analysis. Nice work.
It’s over at 6 isn’t? People still in line aren’t going to be too happy in about an hour.
Yes and they are doing a mini press conference about it right now and said they are about to start turning people away who have been in line for hours. Major goof up there and no organization...should have let Bobby Jindal give that mayor some advice...
I wonder if this incident will even make it to court.
WOOHOO!!!,,,Great News!!!...;0)
Fema and the elected leaders need to act like doctors instead of nurses. No one should expect perfection the first few days but they need to stick together. Fighting confuses people and gives the media ammo. Take it behind closed doors.
HOUSTON Two Houston men may have been victims of a generator death.
Houston police said 20-year-old Francisco Garcia and 32-year-old German Rojas had secured their mobile home at 14100 Del Papa by covering the windows with tin. They then placed their generator inside the home to provide power after last weeks hurricane.
Both victims then started the generator and went to their rooms.
On Monday, Garcias brother went to the residence and found both Rojas and Garcia dead.
Police are investigating the deaths, but think they may been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning from the generator.
Sad. I heard earlier that a man died sleeping next to one.
And I think you should be mayor of Galveston ;0)...
But if the majority of people there are dems, then your idea of “home owners and volunteers running it” might not go over very well...I mean actually expect people to do for themselves??? Ridiculous!
She’s about to get a valuable leson in communication in about 20 minutes. Maybe they will behave but I doubt it.
A little hurricane advice needed here...
We don’t own a chainsaw and have a medium side tree (a main branch from it) split and on top of our shed...
Is there an alternative to a chainsaw to cut it down?
The chances of us finding a chainsaw are slim...
Hah .. true.
Thanks for the laugh!
He was strictly getting free airtime for his political campaign ad.
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