Major Hurricane Ike

reply to post by apk4o7mxb


Ike is not yet a category three, but may become one before landfall. It's maximum winds are 110 MPH, with higher gusts. Making it the highest Cat 2, if it strengthens at all, it will be cat 3.

reply to post by Shugo


It only needs a 1 mph increase to be "officially" considered a Cat 3 but they only state the speeds in increments of 5..

reply to post by Kr0n0s


I am well aware of that.
However, based on that factor Ike is not yet officially a category three. Would not suprised me if it does officially gain the status before landfall however.

Also should add, that it is likely that Ike is in fact a cat three, despite the official reports. I am meerly pointing out they are not yet calling it that in the advisory.

[edit on 12.9.2008 by Shugo]

reply to post by Shugo


lol, what an attitude.
My comment really wasnt even directed at you but to the other guy.. your post was the first on this page so i hit the "reply to" button.
Dont worry, I wasnt attempting to insult your intelligence or
anything like that

The only point i was making is that whether its a high Cat 2 or a very low Cat 3 makes no difference anymore. 1-5 mph winds arent going to effect the already
high storm surge thats coming in one way or another.

reply to post by Kr0n0s


Oh no, just have to say my part you know.
At any rate, the forecaster issuing primary statements on Ike has said relatively the same thing.

AS MENTIONED EARLIER...THERE IS
STILL A CHANCE THAT IKE COULD BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE BEFORE
LANDFALL...BUT BASICALLY THIS IS LARGELY IRRELEVANT SINCE WE ARE
ONLY TALKING ABOUT A 10-KNOT WIND INCREASE. STATE OF THE ART
TECHNIQUES TO FORECAST INTENSITY AND MY SKILLS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH
TO PREDICT SUCH CHANGE WITH PRECISION. ALL WE NEED TO DO AT THIS
THIS TIME IS TO BE READY FOR A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE.

Time for the interesting part.

Cheers Kr0n0s

I'm in Texas and on the west edge of the path. You are right-Cat2 or Cat3 it's still coming and things are going to get sporty pretty soon!

Ike's eyewall is tightening up, now down to 50 miles. The winds just outside the eye will be strengthening, the gusts will be higher.

They're still holding him at 110mph, cat 2 at the 11pm advisory. Position updates are happening every hour, advisory updates every 2 hours from here on out.

The edge of the eye will hit just left of Galveston in less than 3 hours. After that, they can expect another couple hours of relative quiet as the eye passes, then the nasty, dirty back end of Ike will come barreling in carrying the storm surge. It appears that the surge will hit right at high tide, and this is a full moon tide so it'll be higher than normal.

300k people without power already and the number is growing rapidly.

...with the U.S. economy already in decline, this truly unreal storm strikes, and while touchdown hasn't been reached fully, destruction is commencing:

The outer bands of Hurricane Ike began lashing the Texas coast on Friday night as the enormous storm, 550 miles wide, churned toward Galveston and Houston, raising fears that a 20-foot-high wall of seawater could devastate Galveston.

Officials in Galveston, on a vulnerable barrier island, estimated that 40% of the city’s 57,000 residents had ignored an order to evacuate.

As many as 100,000 homes could be inundated by the wall of water expected to hit the coast, federal officials warned, and millions of people could be left without electricity.

The 61st Street pier was washed away, and several buildings lining the seawall had partly collapsed.

Galveston was mostly without power Friday night. Most of the buildings in downtown were flooded, as was the western part of the island. About five blocks inland from the seawall, streets were so submerged by 9 p.m. that the water had reached stop signs.

The storm shuttered at least 17 refineries in the Houston area, including those owned by ExxonMobil, Valero, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell, which alone handle about 13% of the nation’s oil processing needs.

The Coast Guard reported that the situation at sea had become so dangerous that it could not evacuate 36 men adrift on a 584-foot freighter, the Antalina, registered in Cyprus, which was about 90 miles off the coast of Galveston.

The ship was in the direct path of Hurricane Ike. The crew, which had lost power about 4 a.m. Friday, will have to tough it out until after the storm, the Coast Guard said.

In Galveston, despite the order to leave, officials decided not to evacuate the 1,000 prisoners at the county jail for security reasons.

In low-lying Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, as much as seven feet of water was reported on State Highway 39 by a state official.

'A Million Flee as Storm Hits Texas Coast'

Risk Management Solutions pegged the value of insured property in the Houston area at nearly $1 trillion, including the city's port -- the nation's second busiest.

Katrina devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast in August 2005, killing 1,500 people and causing at least $81 billion in damage.

'Hurricane Ike could be "catastrophe" for Texas'

Parts of Galveston city are reporting "extensive flooding." Emergency personnel are off the streets and will not be responding to any emergency or call for assistance until the storm has passed.

Whoa. Jim Cantore just walked off camera saying "We gotta cut this, we're done, we're done" after nearly getting blown over.

Where's that guy from a few pages back wondering why anyone would evacuate for "just" a category 2 storm?

Looks like we have our first death from Ike.

Source

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a 19-year-old male who was swept off the south Packery Channel jetty by high waves associated with Hurricane Ike Friday.

Two rescuers, including one who is in critical condition, also have been transported to area hospitals after being pushed against the rocks while attempting to rescue the man.

reply to post by anachryon


...I hear you, 'specialists' are saying while considering storm factors, treat as category five. Speaking of a couple pages back, page nine has some 'great' live-feed links tracking storm. Also, here's a link to the NY Times blog page for more info:

topics.blogs.nytimes.com...

Mentioning 'storm surges' could reach 30 feet. And the highest point in Houston is 50 feet above sea-level.

Curfew is in-effect for many areas, and first death reported earlier:

Hurricane Ike, still 135 miles at sea, apparently claimed its first victim earlier today when a 10-year-old Montgomery boy was killed by a falling branch as his parents cut down a tree.

The death was the darkest event thus far in a day that saw numerous rescues of coastal residents from the hurricane's rising waters.

Montgomery County authorities, who declined to immediately identify the victim, said the boy was killed about 9 a.m. as his parents cut down the tree, apparently in preparation for the coming storm.

The accident occurred at the family home in the 1800 block of Coe Road. The boy was dead on arrival at Tomball Regional Medical Center.

www.chron.com...




[edit on 12-9-2008 by arktkchr]

Originally posted by anachryon
Parts of Galveston city are reporting "extensive flooding."

Hell, there was "extensive flooding" more than 8 hours ago. The Strand flooded pretty early, in fact. But yeah, I think I heard that about 12 square blocks of the island will remain above water...

Originally posted by arktkchr
Mentioning 'storm surges' could reach 30 feet. And the highest point in Houston is 50 feet above sea-level.

Storm surge is going to wreak havoc on the ship channel, but I don't expect any major flooding in Houston proper. It's the wind that's going to be more problems. 100mph winds in Houston. 315,000 people without power already. My in-laws lost power about an hour ago. I'm expecting to go dark any time now. Projected 78 mph winds at my house. Joy.

I live just north of Houston, and the wind gusts are starting to pick up. We haven't had any rain yet, though.

We have a closet set up for shelter in the event of a tornado. So we're just sitting and waiting.

I hope all those 'sticking around' in Texas are sheltering-in-place. Becoming more intense by-the-hour -- latest update:

A monster-sized Hurricane Ike bore down on the Texas coast late Friday, threatening to rattle the sparkling skyscrapers of America's fourth-largest city, shut down the heart of the U.S oil industry for days and obliterate waterfront towns already flooded with waist-high water.

At 600 miles across, the storm was nearly as big as Texas itself, and threatened to give the state its worst pounding in a generation. It was on track to crash ashore early Saturday near Galveston, the same site that suffered the nation's worst natural disaster when a legendary storm struck without warning and killed 6,000 more than a century ago.

As of 11 p.m. EDT, Ike was centered about 55 miles southeast of Galveston, moving at 12 mph. It was close to a Category 3 storm with winds of 110 mph, and was expected to strengthen by the time the eye hit land. Forecasters predicted it would come ashore somewhere near Galveston early Saturday and pass almost directly over Houston.

www.nytimes.com...

[edit on 12-9-2008 by arktkchr]

Live TV reports: the Galveston seawall has been topped, water is flowing over Seawall Blvd like a river.

-KHOU

Originally posted by anachryon
Live TV reports: the Galveston seawall has been topped, water is flowing over Seawall Blvd like a river.

-KHOU

In Galveston, a working-class town of about 57,000, waves crashed over the 11-mile seawall built a century ago, after the Great Storm of 1900 killed 6,000 residents.

While the Galveston beachfront is dotted with new condominiums and some elegant beach homes on stilts, most people live in older, one-story bungalows. The National Weather Service warned ''widespread and devastating'' damage was expected.

In Surfside Beach, a town of 800, the police chief asked one stubborn couple, David and Dondi Fields, to write their names and Social Security numbers on their forearms with a black marker in case something bad happened to them.

Dondi Fields, 50, wrote ''I heart U'' and ''for my kids'' on her arm. But the couple finally decided to leave. Police used an aluminum boat to reach them, and a National Guard truck carried them to safety.

www.nytimes.com...

All of you folks in harms way, I hope you stay safe. I very much respect your decision to ride it out. I'd be there with ya .

Water is at 11 feet on much of Galveston Island and rising with more surge incoming. The eye is still offshore about 2 hours.