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)
Just got a call from our son who went up to Moss Bluff. He said they are fine, just a lot of wind and rain and no electricity. He has not been out yet to see the rest of the area that is just north of Lake Charles. He is concerned about his school campus, but is glad he didn’t stay in town last night.
“Chlorine gas leak in Surfside.”
That would have to be coming from the DOW Chemical Plant across the river, if true...
An old Coast Guard Station sits between them I think.
Sorry for cutting out. Got stuff to do. No, I haven’t heard anything on Galveston.
True, but I was up pretty muh all night watching the stats flash by and the highest surge I saw reported at Galveston pier was 11.7 feet. And that was about an hour after the storm came ashore.
Eeesh. Not a good morning for cable internet disruption. Been out for an hour. Now I have to catch up a couple of hundred posts.
On this thread, I didn’t want to get as specific as you did about the “formulations”, but I’m glad you did. NN: Repeat this story several times over to understand the “formulation” garbage - I’ve seen numbers of “formulations” that are mandated ranging from “only a dozen” by those who support this silliness up to well over a hundred.
My guess is the latter is closer to the truth, but which ever is the truth, “formulations” cost us all more money, and make life much more difficult for those who put the gas in your car - and what is gained by doing that is quite minimal.
What’s the status of the area around M D Anderson?
Did you see Gerlado the Palm Tree Monkey?
Looks like I was pretty accurate in my assessment last night, a surge of 12.8 so low cat3 (13-19) above cat 2 (9-12). Wind damage looks consistent with cat 2 winds. And, thanks to lots of untold laborers, the 100+ year old seawall did its job.
You don’t think that the chlorine gas could be coming from a water treatment facility?
My brother called from his location on Highway 290, toward Austin, and they had hurricane force winds early this morning and water came through the walls through all crevices in the new home of his son. They will at least have sheetrock damage.
They are reporting a “Winnie-the-Pooh” kind of rainy day now. The grandkids are watching cartoons.
He is afraid of what he’ll find at his home in Seabrook. They know there is no power and since they are right on Taylor Lake, near Clear Lake, they are afraid there must be some flooding. Probably won’t have power for days, but the good news is....the beer is safely with them...or was till they drank it. :D
Yep - the Environmental Protection Act was the biggest assualt on Freedom ever concieved.
Morning Houston/Galveston
I stayed up with yall as late as I could last night. Fell asleep on the couch:’) Yall ok?
KHOU-
“Chlorine Gas Leak forcing evacuations in Surfside”
Guess that confirms it.
The surge didn’t top out at the higher forecast as best as I can tell. It was about 14.25’ in High Island which is to the east of Galveston and by 4 am it was beginning to fall. Port Arthur got something like 11.5’ according to the local weather guy.
I’ve seen comments and reports from Galvestion talking about the hugh waves when what they were seeing was the splash effect from when the wave hit the sea wall and created a splash of several feet.
Chase building, tons of windows blown out, a smashed computer on the street, shown on ch. 11.
I can certainly sympathize with those folks down there. My area of Chicago is rapidly going under water. I-94 on the north side is closed, the main road to O’Hare is about to be closed completely (1 lane barely open), my street and yard are both flooded. More rain today and Ike pays us a visit tomorrow with another 3”+ due in. We already are at 7” of rain since about midnight.
But the wind is darn near calm!
Prayers for all the REAL deal storm strugglers on the Gulf Coast!
He looked ridiculous! LOL!
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