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)
E.O.C. complaining about large numbers of people out on the road, getting stuck, and needing rescue....
that’s the Poop Deck Bar where all the drunks were hanging out yesterday.
it looks like it held up pretty well
That doesn’t sound too bad then.
susie
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.
"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:
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.
E.O.C. Guy...
More Emergency Services Personell inbound than you’ve ever seen...
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)
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.
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.”
—
LOL you got it! Funny but usually it’s my kids worrying about me, here in Delray Beach FL!
susie
Didn’t they close at 3:30 yesterday? Hopefully the patrons were able to stumble to safety!
All’s well @ San Felipe & Nantucket!
yeah, and the ones on the overnite show b4 f&F were even worse
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.
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
Thank you!!
Thanks for the link. Moss Bluff is just a few miles north of Lake Charles...not located near any water that I know of.
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)
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