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)
Ike is still hammering away at Houston.
Thank God we appear to done with Tornado Warnings and Watches and I am 200 miles East of Houston and the storm.
Now the tornados are getting closer to Houston.
This storm wimp out
Maybe when the pick the pieces from the Astrodome, it will have wimped out and be past Dallas, TX.
I did not get that info..I got that from the KHOU station..
Not knowing is hard, I know.
IKE may be moving fairly slow, but it is not as slow as tropical storm Faye was earlier here in Florida.
The rainfall from Faye was much worse than what IKE will drop.
The Superdome had some problems with Katrina, but I am not sure if the winds were as strong as Ike.
I guess the Eye of the Storm has passed over Galveston but has yet to pass over Houston...
The Astrodome has one good thing going for it -- it is on the Southwest side of Houston...
East is the dirtyside of this thing. stay safe.
Looks like i am gonna miss it now. I may get the west side.
At any rate stay safe. But it looks awful weak too me at this point
Rita didnt take the Dome off
any info is helpful, so thanks. I would certainly be lost without FR...
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - A Hurricane Ike evacuee gave birth in the bathroom of a shelter Friday with the help of an expert in geriatric psychiatry who delivered his first baby in two decades. Dr. Mark Burns told the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung in a report for today’s newspaper that it was kind of like riding a bicycle. Ku Paw had her fourth child, a baby girl.
I expect the Astrodome may have problems with the roof.
I believe Houston may still get hit with 110 mph winds and 130 mph gusts...
Large structures are an impediment to such strong winds...
Lake Charles, Louisiana is only 100 miles away...
eye was over pasadena at 3:30
So whats the ground report in Lake Charles? What are your winds?
So how does someone from Oregon know about a tiny town called Chester? (you can FRmail me if you like)
It looks like the big story is going to be all of the foolish people that elected to stay behind, ignoring the mandatory evacuation orders, and ignoring the ‘certain death’ warnings from the NWS.
Now, a huge rescue operation will no doubt have to be mounted, weather permitting, to bring these folks to safety. Perhaps, charging them for their rescue costs, such as what stranded mountain climbers face from time to time, would drive the point home.
Well not Lake Charles, but whats the ground report where you are?
The eye of the storm is a quiet area in the centre of the low pressure area. Surrounding this quiet area is the eye wall which has the strongest winds in the storm.
When an eye passes directly over, the winds increase dramatically as the storm passes over until they reach maximum as the lead wall passes. Then the winds die completely. The sea in the eye is very disturbed but no wind, When the trailing wall passes, the winds suddenly resume at full force in the opposite direction. (no build-up like the lead wall passage, just sudden resumption of the full wind force). This is a good time for anything loosened by the lead wall's passage to come unstuck.
Did you see # 332 and # 333?
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