Hurricane Ike Live Thread IV

NOAA/NHC ^ | 14 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[tcrlaf]

E.O.C. complaining about large numbers of people out on the road, getting stuck, and needing rescue....

[stlnative]

that’s the Poop Deck Bar where all the drunks were hanging out yesterday.

it looks like it held up pretty well

[brytlea]

That doesn’t sound too bad then.
susie

[SE Mom]

Thanks for the information. Listening to an oil guy on FOX a little while ago he said the port of Huston was ok and that the levees held in Port Arthur.

[AFPhys]

regarding article you copied to here a couple hours ago:

"The storm surge was expected to be as high as 14 feet to 17 feet at Galveston and possibly greater in Chambers County to the northeast" - - - - The highest surge above expected tides that I've seen was 10 feet. I've not looked at data from everywhere though. Most areas were 9-10ft.

"City Manager Steve LeBlanc went so far as to ask the media not to photograph “certain things” in the aftermath, referring to the possibility of dead bodies. - - - - Yeah... that will happen.

"... about 260 are in a shelter at Ball High School." - - - - This is of great concern to me. That so few people of the 10,000+ who stayed there turned up. I sure hope that the only people who stayed were those on the higher land of Galveston Island.

A refresher of what Galveston Island was expected to look like with the 12ft surge:

[LA Woman3]

Calm here. HOT Soccer canceled all the games because of IKE! Glad you got your leak fixed!

[SeaHawkFan]

Just got a cell call from my girlfriend. She had turned off her phone to save battery power. You might want to call your friend again.

[tcrlaf]

E.O.C. Guy...

More Emergency Services Personell inbound than you’ve ever seen...

[topher]

KATC-TV Channel 3 Lafayette, Louisiana Reported:

Storm Surge in Cameron Parish peaked this morning at 12 feet.

That exceeds the deadly storm of June, 1957 -- Hurricane Audry, which had a Storm Surge of 11 feet.

And it is only 3 feet under Hurricane Rita.

Considering how far away the eye hit from Cameron Parish, Louisiana -- it should give people an idea of how destructive this storm is...

We finally reached our peak for surge here in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the rains are tapering off, and the winds are (FINALLY) started to fade -- but consider we are over 200 miles from this storm, and it is blowing pretty good here...

And there are also reports that downtown Beaumont Texas is under 9 feet of water... (That was from Channel 11 KHOU in Houston)

[Constitution Day]

I watched Fox for a while late last night and was afraid to turn it off, lest I miss a live shot of Geraldo the Fraud either being blown away into the storm or impaled by a 2 X 4.

Eventually I had to turn it off though. I was a little nervous about which force would prevail - the winds of Hurricane Ike, or Geraldo’s massive ego.

[sheikdetailfeather]

A Running Collection of Notes, Reports, Stats On Hurricane Ike by the Hour:

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/hurricaneike_news.html

“10:20 am ET

A very preliminary look tells us that water level rise forecasts did not reach their predicted levels, however, there was still considerable coastal flooding due to surge.

Final official measurements will be investigated during the next few days. It is possible that higher surge levels could be discovered when the surveys are completed especially along the west side of Galveston Bay.

Here’s a quick glance at some of the highest surge levels:
Sabine Pass, Texas - 14.24 feet
Lake Charles, Louisiana - 10-12 feet
Galveston, Texas - 9-11 feet

The main reason behind the lower than forecast totals can mainly be attributed to a landfall just slightly farther east along Galveston Island. This did not allow for a pure southeast trajectory of winds channeling into Galveston Bay.”

—

[brytlea]

LOL you got it! Funny but usually it’s my kids worrying about me, here in Delray Beach FL!
susie

[LA Woman3]

Didn’t they close at 3:30 yesterday? Hopefully the patrons were able to stumble to safety!

[bayouranger]

All’s well @ San Felipe & Nantucket!

[TheRightGuy]

These three info-babes on F&F are an embarrassment.

yeah, and the ones on the overnite show b4 f&F were even worse

[deport]

Okay....... I need to see if I can find that info. I’ve been looking at the local tv stations in Bmt, steaming video and they aren’t reporting such an event. Now water was up in the parks, yatch club and areas along the banks of the River but nothing has been said about down town having that kind of water. In fact FEMA has a large ship docked at the port whick is downtown awaiting the weather to clear to begin unloading supplies.

Anyway thanks for the input.

[brytlea]

I wondered about how prepared Houston buildings are for hurricanes? I knwo here in S. FL we have strict codes for anything built after Andrew, and after Wilma many have shutters.
susie

[truthluva]

Thank you!!

[truthluva]

Thanks for the link. Moss Bluff is just a few miles north of Lake Charles...not located near any water that I know of.

[tcrlaf]

THE LATEST at 9:44a:

Galveston is covered with two to four feet of water and authorities are planning to close access to the island Saturday, state officials say. “You can go out, but you can’t come in,” Allison Castle, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, told reporters at the emergency operations center Saturday in Austin.

Castle also said the U.S. Coast Guard is preparing to evacuate four critical care patients from the flooded University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. She said the Coast Guard is waiting for winds to drop below 50 mph before conducting the rescue operation.

Castle said the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Transportation are being dispatched to Galveston to shut down roads and assist people out. “Only emergency vehicles are going to be allowed on the island,” she said. (Associated Press)