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)
Always welcome !
Stay safe !
Reports are that the storm is still a cat 1 and the eye is just east of Bryan TX....so in the next few hours Tyler will be punched bad and if it continues moving north, DFW will get a pretty good braising as well.
Damage assessment top priority for Galveston County
Galveston County officials plan to fan out into the county at daybreak to assess damage from Hurricane Ike, but so far no injuries have been reported, county officials said.
“Obviously we’ve had widespread power outages throughout Galveston County, flooding in a variety of areas, tree damage, of course, damage to some structures and a couple of fires” said John Simsen, the county’s emergency management coordinator.
About a foot of water was reported at the Galveston County Courthouse at 722 Moody Ave., Simsen said, noting that workers moved computers and much of the furniture to higher floors.
Emergency officials were moving from the shelter in place mode to the recovery mode as daybreak approached Saturday, and were preparing for search and rescue operations countywide once the high winds subsided.
The county’s Emergency Operations Center on FM 646 in League City lost power after midnight and switched to generators. The center housed county officials, the National Weather Service and the media during the storm.
Gene Hafele, meteorologist in charge of the Houston-Galveston National Weather Service office, said Hurricane Ike made landfall at 2 a.m. in Galveston, and was moving north-northwest at 12 to 14 mph.
Hafele said the storm hit further east than predicted, resulting in a less severe storm surge. The eye of hurricane entered Galveston Bay, he said, causing an 8- to 10-foot storm surge long the western shore. It also brought 80- to 90-mph winds.
Flood levels were higher along Galveston’s Seawall a0nd Bolivar Peninsula. By 7 a.m. Saturday, the hurricane was located in eastern Montgomery County, about 15 miles east-northeast of Conroe
As the hurricane approached the island, the winds were not as dramatic as earlier predicted, Hafele said. Once the eye of the storm moved further inland, the winds became more intense, Hafele said.
The county sustained winds in excess of hurricane force, and gusts between 80 and 90 mph, he said. Conditions should begin to improve from the coastline inward about 9 a.m. Saturday. Tropical force winds should be out of the area by noon, he added.
Simsen said special teams would be sent out early Saturday to assess damage in the county. Their input would help officials decide when to suggest residents to return home.
“Obviously we have a lot of work to do in terms of damage assessment,” Simsen said. “There are bound to be downed power lines and trees that have fallen and blocked roadways. The last thing we want to do is put our citizens back into situations where they may be at harm’s way,” he said.
Simsen asked that residents allow authorities to have time to the situation and to pick up debris before returning to their homes.
That assessment, Simsen said, could include the loss of life.
“It was a significant storm at landfall,” he said. “I’m not going to sugarcoat any possibilities. We did have a major surge on Bolivar Peninsula, a lot of water over Galveston Island and a lot of water pushed up into the bays.”
neat..
http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes
Drew’s Mom was using her cell phone to freep last night and asking about reports..She’s an evacuee I believe.
Still sorry I missed that. I enjoyed seeing him get a little wet yesterday (I suppose I need to say a prayer about that!). He’s so annoying, I think he looks forward to disasters so he can play big dog.
susie
Here is the latest email report from my friend in Lake Charles:
“Hi Everyone... Still have power, we were very lucky and thanks to the prayers.
9:10am CST We are among the few who have power. Wind is still fierce. The surge is still coming in, the military trucks going down the streets full of civilians. The area is flooding, horror stories and phone calls before dawn. Now the military are doing the rescues.
Water is creating a very serious event. Sewage has gotten into the water so we are being warned not to drink the water or use the water. Rushing water pouring into the town from the lake and water ways. Lord only knows where this water problem is going to lead.
Many people in their attics in Orange Texas waiting for rescue. We are hearing reports and many are calling on their cell phones to the local media for help.
Trees on houses, live wires but the water is the main problem, it just keeps coming. Huge power outages and water is rising all over town. Looting and arrest last night.
Still under the south wind. First floors flooded downtown, water to the knees. The cars of the people who evacuated in the buses are flooded in the parking lots.
What you see is unbelievable!”
What the report said was that the wind was driving waves that size across the blvd.
If you have 100 mph winds plus a 20-25 storm surge -- you can have waves that reach 40 feet at the high end and 20 feet on the low end easily.
Remember the storm surge is how much the water rises, not the size of the waves hitting the beach...
There were pictures yesterday of Geraldo Rivera getting wet early afternoon at the Galveston seawall because of the impact of the waves and the surge...
Another thing that I consider lends credibility to this earlier report is the report from Beaumont (currently). There are now reports of Beaumont is under 9 feet of water and it is somewhat inland...
I remember being on a JACK UP RIG circa 1972 in the Gulf of Mexico being towed to our next location. The rig would ride about 20 feet from low point to high point -- because of the waves...
The TOOLPUSHER gave me hell at the time for being outside in a storm (I was a lowly galleyhand)...
I believe that TELEPHONE REPORT from Galveston...
You think DFW will get smacked? I talked to my son, he’s paying attention but didn’t seem to think they would get much. Then again, he may have just been trying to keep his Momma from worrying..... They did cancel his fiance’s son’s soccer game.
susie
Thank you for the explanations! I remember some from my college meteorology course but don’t know all the terms. I have lived in tornado country but not where they get hurricanes!
“Winds were gusting to 120 mph, measured, right about where residential construction begins to fail substantially.”
This is a bizarre statement and completely weird. Some residential construction fails at 40 MPH and some, mine, survived near 200MPH. It is nutty to generalize like this.
He would have blamed the oil companies...
thank you. i still can’t get to a t.v. so I am grateful for your info!
CNN has a reporter in Galveston on—says part of the wall of a motel beside the big one was blown off—but there isn’t any footage of standing water. He was staying in that big hotel where all the emergency people were, and the news teams. Looks like that building is OK. Nothing on how much lower-lying areas were flooded.
It will not be too bad if the storm takes the easterly track as predicted. 40-45 MPH winds predicted at this point. 2-4 inches of rain.
You’re welcome. “formulations” is one of my hot buttons.
By the way, did you find the post I made yesterday about wind changing drastically with height helpful?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2080674/posts?page=993#993
Thanks for the update, I stayed in bed this morning.
Don’t sleep much when a storm is in the Gulf, had to catch up some.
Sunshine down here.
Reports of 9’ of water in downtown Beaumont!
Really now...... Who is making that kind of a report?
The Neches River runs next to downtown it was no where near that high last night. Now downtown Beaumont has under passes that may have 9’ or more of water when pumps don’t run to get the water out. But the City under 9’.. no way ..
What spot had 1200 x 911 calls
?
KHOU showing helicopter footage of MANY military vehicles in Lake Jackson, Tx preparing to depart
Galvestone Storm Stories-Man & daughter wade thru neck deep water to safety
Video titled “Father, daughter wade through neck-deep water” records a call with a man who waded through flooded streets with his daughter to the safety of the Galveston Convention Center.
http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=282425
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