Posted on 09/12/2008 5:12:09 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Large and dangerous Hurricane Ike approaching the Upper Texas coast. Mandatory evacuations began in earnest Thursday as an estimated one million coastal residents headed inland. There were widespread reports of gas stations running out of fuel.
The National Weather Service posted dire storm surge predictions of 20-25 ft storm surge along the coast and bay heads. Hurricane warnings covered a 400 mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico.
Wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday, or nearly $1 a gallon, out of fear of what Ike might do.
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
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 |
Previous Threads:
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)
Same here. Nice wind gusts, but not steady. It comes and goes.
One of my dogs is VERY skittish in bad weather, and she hasn't even reacted yet and is very relaxed.
Temp is still 86. You would think with a big storm we would at least get some relief from the temps. They dropped after Rita, and that was a big help when we were without power for 18 hours.
The Weather Channel?
Very pretty - they get snow in Texas?
Our lights just took a hit but fortunately came right back on.
Sheesh!
No sooner do I post that are the two prices posted. Typos? Fakes? Out of gas?
I don’t know.
Last time I was there, I was a little shocked that it was still a Hilton property.
Hope that you get through the storm safely. It's been almost 40 years since I rode out a hurricane, and frankly I'm happy I'm nowhere near this one.
If it follows the projected track, I'll probably have a tropical storm over my house Saturday evening.
Your presence was being requested earlier.
I’m on the west side of Houston. Surge is definitely not a threat for me. Flying debris coming into my house is. And once the house is breached, bad things can happen. I don’t know where to look for my satellite dish tomorrow morning.
I’m hoping the eye passes east of me since the north side of my house is somewhat more protected. But I don’t think I’ll know whether that’s the case until past midnight.
I just put on a pot of coffee. For one thing, it may be the last one I can make for awhile, and secondly, there’s not much chance I’m going to get any chance to sleep before sunrise anyway.
Lots of people are in WAY worse situations than me, but everyone’s condition is local. So you never know.
Prayers for everyone in Ike’s path, and we are talking millions of people both in Texas and Louisiana.
Thanks The Mom!
Self ping to a wonderful, and sad picture. Prayers for those in harm’s way.
Those Galveston Island houses on stilts can not possibly be there come morning, I firmly believe.
I’m watching FOX now. Whorealdo is reporting live from someplace on Galveston reporting 87 mph wind gusts.
occasionally. It can get cold enough to snow, even cold enough to stick, but it never lasts more than a coouple of days.
The thing about that picture was we got snow on Christmas Eve. That might be the first white Christmas we ever got.
The outer bands are just coming over Galveston now. I'm located about 34 miles away in Friendswood (south of Houston and west of Johnson Space Center, about 4 miles east of Alvin city limits). The wind has really picked up the last hour or so.
They keep saying the evye will cross Galveston sometime between 12 midnight and 2:00 am in the morning.
We're in for a very long night. Lights are flickering from time to time but we have not lost power here.
OMG Geraldo stoll at it in Galveston
just now:
‘I did not heed those draconian apocalyptic warnings of death’
Prayers to all in the area of the storm. Went through Hugo and hope to never have that happen again.
stoll=still
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
