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)
I guess you missed this. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2058138/posts
Oh, no, I was ALL over that!
Y’all who haven’t seen it go check out eastforker’s BBQ rig.
The Toll Ways are still free to anyone, but there were zero lights from Beltway 8 to Antoine. That was fun, some people need remedial driving.
The house is good, no interior damage but I do need to get shingles done. The fence is still gone, but I rigged a temporary one with some chicken wire. Such a versatile tool.
The dog is still a bit stressed, but we have power and water, and I'd consider us a going concern again.
Clean up will continue tomorrow, but I think I will have a nice cocktail and be happy that we're here. If I can assist others, please let me know.
Thank you for all your good thoughts and prayers.
RS
Thanks for checking in with your update. Glad you made it home safely. Enjoy your nice quiet evening at home!
coupler things...
one, those NOAA images are huge...if you know what image you’re after (two browser windows open), you can download a zipfile of the similarly named image, for 1/16th to 1/8th the bandwidth, here:
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/ike/
good news for dial-up dinosaurs like me...
two, pretty sure those are aerials, pretty sure NOAA doesn’t have hi-res orbital platforms...if they do, they failed to tell me about it...
three, resolution on that imagery is 1.64 feet per pixel (close to what NSA can do with the Keyhole platforms, AFAIK, more reason to believe these are aerial, not orbital imagery)...not sure the Nyquist theorem applies directly but we should be able to resolve objects roughly twice that size, three feet or larger, on average...
Oh, that's a possibilty. The answering message at FEMA didn't exactly say.
I can believe the traffic, I am home for the duration unless I need do deal with an emergency. I called the insurance people, and they said if my damage was less than my deductible, I might as well pay it out of pocket. It looks like I might have less damage than the deductible. On the one hand that is good, on the other, ....out of pocket? (whimper)
The damage I saw as I was driving in was just unbelievable. Most of my neighborhood has fences down, branches on roofs, and the like. I thank the Good Lord that the Psycho Dog and myself are safe and sound. Now our thoughts and prayers go out to others less fortunate.
I grew up in Alvin which is not far from Surfside...spent a lot of time there and in Freeport. Weird to see places you recongize all torn up like that.
I wish I could get down there to help...I feel awful.
GREAT news!
I think DrewsMum found the place. I think I read a bit earlier that she has further info for you.
The blue roof people were in the parking lot in front of Harbor Freight Tools. It was a small set up though and easy to miss...the workers were walking around in red shirts.
It was really easy in out and we were done in about 7 minutes.
Tomorrow they are gonna be down at the Bay Area Christian church (that’s just down spencer toward 146 on the left I think.)
I think the Georgia State Militia is similar to your Home Guard idea...
Glad all was well and you have freepmail.
They used to be called the Texas State Army up through the early eighties?
I remember during the late 70's they comprised of a lot of out of state college kids who joined to get in state tuition. They had their own personal Texas State Army license plates back then.
They used to be called the Texas State Army up through the early eighties?
I remember during the late 70's they comprised of a lot of out of state college kids who joined to get in state tuition. They had their own personal Texas State Army license plates back then.
I didn’t see a thing over there and I looked. My eyesight is not the best, even with my glasses on though. I noticed nothing over there on that side was open yet. It did appear the Kroger was open and Kelley’s was open too.
Thank you, freepmail back atcha. :-)
Psycho dog, still hasn’t left her bed, she’s got this attitude of I am home now, and you cant make me!
This has certainly been a life experience, that’s for sure.
RS
Traffic is certainly a nightmare. Why are there NO cops directing traffic anywhere? We went into Deer Park Lumber and there were 4 cops in there drinking coke and laughing, chatting with the owners. Supposedly they were there to “protect” the store since it didn’t have power but was open.
I say give the owner 12 guage shot gun and put the cops on the street directing traffic. But that’s just me. I’m kind of left brained and logical that way. Otherwise, someone is going to get badly hurt at those intersections. I think I will call the police dept now and give them my ideas...hehehhee
Oh I would have missed it and I actually drove right by it at first then my hubby saw it, pointed it out and of course, being a woman and all, I slammed on breaks and did a u-turn in the middle of spencer and whipped up in there, him mumbling the whole time about what a crappy driver I am ;0) but I got us there....needless to say I had to hand over the car keys cause I “make him nauseated” when I drive. Pffftt...whatever.
Well, I called the police dept and mayor’s office and asked them why there were no police at the intersections...at least the large ones...she (at the mayor’s office) said “you mean there are no police directing that traffic?” I said no. She said well, let me get them for you. Police department answered the phone and I asked them the same thing and she said “Oh, you think the police should be directing the traffic?” DUH!!! I told her yes and I understand they are busy, but I saw several police officers doing things today that were less important than directing traffic and that is a major public safety issue. (especially with all the illegals driving out there who have NO IDEA what to do at a “4 way stop”
They WERE at every corner Monday and Tuesday and it was actually MUCH worse where they were directing traffic, my husband pointed it out to me and I noticed it after that. I guess they got too busy with other things like shootings in the gas lines. :-) Not much going on in DP so I guess they have some “free” time.
The owner of DP Lumber has built hundreds of homes here, his Dad built many more in his day. He’s also a City Councilman. He’s very precious to DP and does so much for the community. Does he deserve all the armed guards - doubtful. Not much going to happen in DP, probably one would have been more than enough.
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