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)
No. I’m just not panicing
The eye hasn’t hit; but will within the hour. Don’t know of any damage downtown Houston; except the resturant.
What KHOU is showing is RADAR. It cannot punch through the clouds enough to see the far side of the storm that well. The way it appears to be organized right now, the back side might be “stronger” than the front was.
Somebody (Maybe you) put a 4 channel link up and I watched them all for a minute and ended up at KHOU. That should speak something for their coverage. Sorry you missed the cable, Jerry Rivers was in a palm tree broadcasting.
mylife - stay safe and post whatever takes the edge off, you are with friends.
Good Lord!
Didn’t you watch anything on TeeVee?
I said in a post to you earlier that this was like Katrina.
It’s a very large storm, and is very slow in passing.
You didn’t want to believe it, did you.
Seriously?
Aight. I am out a here. Best wishes to those in the path.
That will drive the water back and take down compromised structures. It will be a mess tomorrow.
Its a cat 1
The levees around it were holding as of an hour ago.
Iposted this link twice and a wrong one (a video loop) also.
I listened to this station when I lived there (when I watched TV which wasn’t often)
Yes
I’m old school and hope everyone can get back on their feet but if they blame this crap on Washington.......
AFN News is showing it currently at Cat 2....???
Aight...
that’s what I expect from a good Texan.
;o)
Best wishes to you.
Not stupid at all! This is my understanding, and I’ll let more knowledgeable folks step in to correct me if I misstate anything (I’m on the west coast myself, and don’t claim to be an expert ;-))
When the eyewall opens up, it could mean that the hurricane is becoming more disorganized due to periodic “eyewall replacement cycles” (you can read about those here: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/412/) or due to other reasons.
When the eye closes up again, it’s a sign that the storm is becoming more organized (not a good thing).
The previous few cycles of data that I posted showed the eyewall being open, but the last two indicated it had closed again. Hopefully the storm won’t have enough time left to ramp up before it moves completely over land and begins to weaken.
Exploding transformers - as in what started the boat warehouse fire, the house fire jumping from house to house, and what they think started the Brennen's fire as there was a loud pop ahead of it.
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