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)

[AFPhys]

thanks for pinging me to a couple posts on thread 4... catching up now a bit.

[TornadoAlley3]

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/BREAKINGNEWS/80913002/1006/news01

Patrick AFB Search And Rescue Team Houston Bound

[SE Mom]

It wasn’t so much what he said- he just seemed very...concerned and worried.

He offered all the help the feds can provide, and will get gas back into the market by suspending regulations etc.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

She has a portable battery powered Tv which she is watching the storm on.

Prayers go out to all of you for her safety.

After tons of searching, I did confirm something I suspected that when HDTV comes out next year, battery operated portable TVs will become useless. And that includes emergency channels. I have one too.

Will need a portable HDTV converter ( not the same one that will go in house ) which doesn't exist yet. Or we will all have to buy a portable TV with HDTV tuner if we want a replacement. It looks like there's only one model currently available that has that and they cost about $200.

Thank you Congress for forcing that on us.

[Caramelgal]

did the president seem extremely sober this morning?

I certainly hope so. GW has been sober for quite a number of years. (Just kidding with you….but you do know that some of the gossip rags have been claiming that he “fell off the wagon” so perhaps a better choice of word would be somber).

[NautiNurse]

I didn't hear the President. I'm listening to Houston presser. The Mayor and Judge Emmett reporting much of Houston (~2 million) without power, except those areas with fully underground power lines. Bayous and creeks rising with 6" rainfall. Fire and EMS have received thousands of calls. Asking that only life threatening conditions call 911. Responders will respond as soon as it is safe to do so.

Water conservation in effect. One water pump known to be non-functioning at this point.

[MrPiper]

I did hear about the gas regulations being suspended.

Not if the Democrats can stop the senseless decision by crazy BUSH!

No Extra Pollution For Politics! Just a political stunt!/s

[stlnative]

I am glad they made it but I sure hope we hear more stories like this. 20 blocks away is not that far I wonder about the others that were more than 20 blocks away.

[sheikdetailfeather]

My friend in Lake Charles emailed this in the early morning:

The wind is building, we are minutes away from some real rough weather, they just announced the storm may take a north direction, good for Houston but not good for us.

Geraldo is a drama. :))

Update: 4:48am CST We still have power! Thank you Spirit! :))

Ike is still #2 Storm at 5:00 Advisory. Mega rain band now

Had a few hours sleep, they are asking us to stay awake as to the surge/floods. It is a very strange (spooky) feeling (Katrina) listening to the directions about going into our attics or not going into the attic and what to take with us. Orange County Texas (40 minutes from Lake Charles) people being forced on their roofs and attics, calling for help. Alot of the communications are cut off now. Ike’s eye just east of Houston.

I did take my dog out for a quickie, the streets are a mess, the main streets are flooded on the local news. We are getting heavier rain bands and high winds 70+.

Many without power calling local TV station with reports of flooding and some fires. High tide soon and the surge coming in now. Surge reported up to 20ft. on La. Coast and 10 ft. in Lake Charles, this will be worst than Rita. Water is over the sea walls in the down town area for blocks, waves too. This surge will continue to rise since it came in so early. Ike’s eye just east of Houston bringing up some huge rain bands & tornado warnings coming in now.

I will give ya’ll a report as soon as we have daylight.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers, we still have power, a blessing!

[Allegra]

I just spoke to The Mom. She and Eaker are OK...they just don't have any power. As far as they can tell right now, they've lost their backyard fence and some tree branches.

Waiting to hear from others...

[NautiNurse]

KHOU showing video...Houston’s JP Morgan-Chase building...the entire east side of the high rise building windows are blown out.

[nobama08]

I can’t believe people in Galveston would choose to stay. Not wise.

[nobama08]

I can’t believe people in Galveston would choose to stay. Not wise.

[MrPiper]

Will need a portable HDTV converter ( not the same one that will go in house ) which doesn't exist yet. Or we will all have to buy a portable TV with HDTV tuner if we want a replacement. It looks like there's only one model currently available that has that and they cost about $200. Thank you Congress for forcing that on us.

Yep,, I called congress critters and senators about this 6 months ago. They really did not care. Just get a radio and deal with it!/s

[patton]

Thank you.

[NautiNurse]

Wonderful news!

[penelopesire]

Thanks for that update on The Mom. I woke up this morning thinking about them all!! Please ping me as you hear about them.

[SE Mom]

Oh wow. God bless them..live and learn. Reading what his 19 yr-old said ..so awful

It’s just so hard to even get an idea how many others were in his position..

[proudofthesouth]

A few months ago I purchased a portable, battery operated digital (7 inch screen) from Radio Shack online. This thing is good. Amazing picture! If you have a lot of wiring in your area (for instance like my teensy office) you will need to purchase their plug in antenna to get reception. I think I spent about $125.00.

Have had small battery/portable TV's for decades to use in office during severe weather outbreaks and cause my office is located out in the boonies and I'm by myself I needed a digital TV for severe weather.

[stlnative]

That is not good...

J P Morgan Chase Tower is the tallest multifaceted building in the globe. This 75 storied tower is also the tallest building in Texas with a height of 1002 feet. Built in Downtown Houston at Travis Street this tower was originally known as the ‘Texas Commerce Tower’. The spectacular tower was designed by renowned architects I.M. Pei & Partners.

It is the also the world’s tallest five-sided building. During the construction stage the original plan was for 80 stories but due to fear of creating a hindrance to the nearby Airport and planes, this plan was shelved. After the tower was completed it took over the Aon Center tower in Los Angeles as the tallest in that area.