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)
OMG...
Am I hearing correctly? I swear I just heard on FOX that the hospital on Galveston didn’t evacuate! Apparently they had critical care patients that couldn’t be moved.
If this is true, prayers up!
Odd - disturbingly - exchange between studio and on-site reporters on WC:
“What’s that fire behind you?”
“That’s just a refinery”
On-site started to say that’s normal for refineries to burn-off — then stopped (hopefully realizing that the refineries were shut down), then said he needed to check it out and report back...
Gives rise to speculation of a refinery fire, on top of everything else....
Or - it could be nothing....
If a refinery catches on fire, run like hell to your car and drive as safely and as fast as you can away from there...
This guy must be dumb as a post...
I can't believe this guy is this dumb... This was just on the weather channel about 3 minutes ago...
Well, we lost power for about an hour but it just came back on, thank goodness, but I don’t know for how long.
I can’t believe that the power company workers are out in this storm. I thought once we lost it that would be it.
Its really bad right now, heavy rain and wind. Lots of limbs, debris but so far, all my trees and house are okay. I have friends in Sugar Land and if I hear from them, I will let you know.
Please check in if you can.
This is in Houston? (not on Galveston Island?)
Some 60 miles inland, storm surge was pushing into a neighborhood near Johnson Space Center where Houston Mayor Bill White had made rounds earlier with a bullhorn trying to compel people to leave. Nearby, the popular Kemah Boardwalk at the mouth of Galveston Bay, ringed by million-dollar homes, was submerged, state officials said.
This means there are going to be power outages probably in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and additionally in the Shreveport, Louisiana araa. The Tyler/Longview area will probably have outages as well.
Maybe there could be 5 to 7 million homes/businesses without power...
Number according to Weather Channel is already 3 million and it is still very early on Saturday morning...
Same here.
I want to say this..."HOW MANY TIMES WERE THEY TOLD THEY FACED CERTAIN DEATH?"!! People, in order to deal with this, we must hold on to that.
sw
Not sure — ‘phased in’ when I heard the word “fire” during what seemed to be a routine “wind and rain” photo-op....
(I sit with my back to the TV, and only have the soundtrack to go by..)
Tyler is where there are 3000 people in a Walmart
Good Morning SW!
sw
His mother should have taught him better...
I couldn't sleep well last night. I'm siding with your estimate of lost souls. This is going to be an awful day.
sw
Can anyone give a quick report about overall damage reported so far? Gotta leave in few minutes and won’t be near the computer until later this afternoon.
sw
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