Monster Ike Storms Into The Texas Coast - Updates & Videos As We Get Them
UPDATE Saturday 10:40 a.m. ET - The Morning After
FOX Photo Essay
***WATER***
Officials are currently checking into the water supplies in flooded areas for contamination. Public water pressure is extremely low and residents asked to NOT use water unless absolutely needed. Residents are urged to drink bottled water, and or bring tap water to a full boil for use. Citizens are urged to help clear neighbors’ debris to help emergency traffic to have access … DEVELOPING …
Hurricane Ike floods Galveston’s historic district: Over 4 Million without power
GALVESTON, Texas (CNN) — Hurricane Ike’s storm surge flooded Galveston’s historic district early Saturday, sparked fires and knocked out power.
Heavy winds continued to pummel the coastal region more than four hours after the storm made landfall as a Category 2 storm.
It has since weakened to a Category 1, the National Hurricane Center said in its 9 a.m. ET update.
Galveston County’s Emergency Management Coordinator John Simsen urged residents to be patient at a 7 a.m. briefing.
“We have a lot of work to do in terms of damage assessment,” he said. “We don’t understand yet what we’re dealing with …
“The last thing we want to do is put our citizens back into a situation where they may be in harm’s way.”
The storm flooded the historic district with 7 feet of water, which has since subsided to 4 feet, according to a Galveston county official. A foot of water flooded the city’s main courthouse, where many people rode out the storm, Margaret Bunch said.
The storm cut off power to more than 4 million people in the Houston area after it made landfall at 2:10 a.m. CT on Galveston Island.
Ike’s sustained winds eased to 90 mph, making it a Category 1 storm as it moved through Houston, the hurricane center said.
Hurricanes are ranked 1-5, with 1 as the weakest, on the Saffir Simpson scale of strength.
“Additional weakening is expected as the center moves farther inland, although Ike is expected to remain a hurricane through this afternoon,” the hurricane center said.
Gas prices jumped in some regions of the country.
“The Department of Energy, the Federal Trade Commission and, I know, the state authorities will be monitoring the gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged,” President Bush said during brief remarks at the White House Saturday morning.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will travel to Texas Saturday evening to review the federal response to Hurricane Ike, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Richard Kotrla in La Marque, Texas, about 8 miles from Galveston Bay, said early Saturday that Ike was “shaking this house pretty good.”
“My gazebo is a pretzel,” Kotrla said.
Houston officials warned residents to stay put because it was no longer safe to try to escape.
Those who stayed were largely in the dark.
Floyd LeBlanc of CenterPoint Energy Inc. said 1.8 million of the power company’s customers — or more than 4 million people — in metro Houston are without electricity as high winds and heavy rains downed power lines. LeBlanc said 2 million customers represent about 4.5 million people.
“It’s going to take several weeks to get all this power restored,” he said. “We’ve been saying two to three weeks.”
The hurricane caused fires and heavy damage around Galveston County, according to an initial assessment.
“Much of the Galveston Island is currently flooded, and there are several fires in that area,” the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management said on its Web site. “Many roads in the county are impassable [because of] rising water and debris.”
Some residents of Orange County — which lies on the Louisiana state line — were stranded on their rooftops and in attics because of storm surge, the county’s emergency management office told the National Weather Service. (CONTINUE)
UPDATE Saturday 12:00 a.m. ET -
Emergency crews rescue people from homes - (READ Galv Daily News)
Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for rescues: Galveston, Harris call curfews to protect evacuees’ homes - ( READ Houston Chronicle)
Black Panthers standing guard at some gas stations - (READ Houston Chronicle)
Levees breached, homes flood as Ike passes Louisiana - (READ Houston Chronicle)
WEB CAMS
(FOX)
HOUSTON — Hurricane Ike’s gargantuan size — not its strength — will likely push an extra large storm surge inland in a region already prone to it, experts said Thursday.
Ike’s giant girth means more water piling up on Texas and Louisiana coastal areas for a longer time, topped with bigger waves. So storm surge — the prime killer in hurricanes — will be far worse than a typical storm of Ike’s strength, the National Hurricane Center said.
And because coastal waters in Texas and Louisiana are so shallow, storm surge is usually larger there than in other regions, according to storm experts. A 1900 hurricane following a similar track to Ike inundated Galveston Island, killing at least 8,000 people — America’s deadliest storm.
“It’s a good recipe for surge,” said Benton McGee, supervisory hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s storm surge center in Ruston, La. “We’re already seeing water being piled up in the Gulf. On top of that you’re going to have water forced into the bays along the coast.”
The National Hurricane Center is forecasting a 20-foot surge — a rapid rising of water inundating areas and moving inland — for a large swath of Texas and the Louisiana coasts. Above that, the center predicts “large and dangerous battering waves.” Waves could be 50 feet tall, said hurricane center spokesman and meteorologist Dennis Feltgen.
Some computer models have waves topping out at 70 feet, but the waves usually break well before hitting shore, so the maximum usually doesn’t get quite that high.
“It’s going to do tremendous damage over a large area even if its doesn’t strengthen anymore,” predicted former hurricane center director Max Mayfield.
That’s directly due to Ike’s size. Experts are trying to figure out when they’ve seen a storm this wide. Ike’s tropical storm force winds stretch for 510 miles, and weather radar from Galveston to Key West can see its outer bands. That’s about 70 percent larger than an average hurricane.
“Because of the very large expanse of hurricane force winds, Ike will create a storm surge well in excess of what would normally be associated with a storm of its intensity,” the National Hurricane Center warned late Thursday afternoon.
Areas that have a hurricane warning — Morgan City, La., to Baffin Bay, Texas — can expect storm surges up to 20 feet. Areas with a tropical storm warning — Baffin Bay to Port Mansfield, Texas, and Morgan City to the Mississippi-Alabama border — can expect five to seven feet of storm surge, Feltgen said.
The size and relatively slow speed means more water keeps building, pushing inland for hours after Ike hits the coast, McGee said.
Geography doesn’t help either. Experts say the Texas coast ranks second, behind Louisiana, as the worst region for storm surge in the United States. That’s because the water there is shallower than in most other regions. The energy from a hurricane needs a way to escape. Deeper water can absorb more of it, dissipating the surge, but along the Texas coastline, the water has nowhere to go but up on shore, McGee said. Think of the Gulf of Mexico as a shallow bathtub with a big-time disturbance in it, Mayfield said.
Storm surges reached 16 feet during 2005’s Hurricane Rita, which hit just east of Galveston, McGee said. Because the worst surge is always just east of the eye of the hurricane, the Galveston-Houston area was spared the worst of the damage.
Houston is buffered by Galveston Island — which sits in the way of the surge — and the bay system, but still is likely to get a rush of high water as the bay, rivers and canals fill up, McGee said. And water that rushes into Galveston Bay may not be able to get out after the storm, he said.
More Pictures
The U.S. Geological Survey on Thursday sent five teams to the Texas and Louisiana coast installing 80 storm surge devices to measure the flood to come, McGee said.
Hurricane Ike Bitch Slap of Geraldo
National Hurricane Center
FOX Hurricane Center
Not Bill Ayers’s Weather Underground
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I have family near Houston.. I told them Monday to get the hell out and come stay with us.. But no they were going to wait and see.. then when they realized they needed to get it was too late. So I get to sit for the next few days and worry. And be mad at them for not getting out!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:01 pmBunch up trumped up bullshit. Gas is nearly 5 a gallon in charlotte, lines are backed up into the streets all because people are ignorant sheep.
It’s a f*cking category 2.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:02 pmSame thing here in Greensboro, just saw a report on the news where they are telling people to report suspected price gouging. It’s simple supply and demand, and retarded demand at that. Everyone freaks the hell out for no reason and just adds to the problem.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:18 pmWas just talking to Kurt just south west of me here in Ohio near the Kentucky state line. He says there is a report a Kentucky gas station was charging $6 …
I know ours went up over 30 cents since this time yesterday. Katie called from the Kent area and said it’s pushing $4/gal there
Also, we have stations whose pumps are closed because they are out of gas.
Oil closed at below $100 a barrel today.
Look for a major jump come Monday when the markets open.
Also, look for the price at the pump to climb as those Texas refineries repair any damage, clean out the storm waters and crap, and try to get a work day back online as the towns around them maybe inaccessable and such …
BTW, Ike is projected to head mine and Kurt’s way by the end of the weekend … and it’s already been raining cats and dogs here since late last night from another system …
September 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pmHere in Illinois, gas is just under $4.
…across the river in St. Louis, it’s like ~30 cents cheaper, give or take like ten cents. The gas only went up over here.
Why is it that they find any excuse to jack up the prices, and then take forever to lower it? I’ve always wondered that.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pmWatch this thing not make a 3, it barely will anyway, and have little real impact on refining capacity.
This is a bit off topic, but, if McCains people have their heads out of their ass they could use this as a further reason to exploit our own reserves, for a vast economic benefit. It is the economy stupid, and if the marxist wins that argument he will win.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pmWell, guys I know everybody thinks that a Cat 2 ain’t sh*t but take it from somebody who is going to be dealing with this thing all night. This will be no joke thanks to the topography. Galveston’s 17 ft. seawall was already being over-topped by waves 6 hours ago. The main winds aren’t supposed to come until 1 am CST. I relocated about 20 miles to a family member’s house in Missouri City. I live in Dickinson right between two bayous and about a mile from Galveston Bay and don’t expect my house to be there tomorrow. Texas City an the Houston Ship Channel where a bulk of the refining capacity are located have a possibility of seeing over 20 foot surges with over 100 mph winds which will last for a couple of hours atleast. Not as dramatic as a Tornado but it will tear sh*t up.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pmand all our Texas famdamnily …
STAY SAFE! And keep in touch with the site to let us know how you all are.
Maggie
September 12th, 2008 at 3:10 pmI was stationed In Galeston for a year. Nice place, I hope they all left!!!!!! (GOOD LUCK)
September 12th, 2008 at 3:52 pmCategory is only wind speed, Ike is a big angry motherfucker that is going to drop a fuck ton of rain, it may take him a day or more to get inland enough to blow himself out.
I hope everyone stays safe.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:58 pmwe live in Nassau Bay (by Johnson Space Center), about 17 feet above sea level.they say we will get 20 ft surge. I’m hoping bbecause the eye is going over us and not west of us that we will get a break. we need it
September 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pmI would estimate that from Lake Charles to Sweeney TX there are over 2.5 million barrels per day out of production as a result of Ike. This comes on the heels of over 1.5 million barrels per day disrupted for several days from Gustav.
The eye is passing over a friend of mine’s home on north shore of Galveston Bay right now. He is riding it out in West Texas.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:19 amWhen you live near the coast Category means a lot less than size of windfield. Storm surge is the largest threat by far. larger windfield means more water is piled up.
For instance Katrina’s storm surge was more than a strong category 5. Mississippi actually saw 56 feet high water come ashore as confirmed to me by a member of USCG. Also in Chalmette, LA he and his fellows were looking down into the water over roofpeaks where the surge was supposed to be only 12 feet deep at most. Total BS reports from National Weather Service about water depths.
What Galveston has going for it that NOLA doesn’t is that the Mississippi River Delta to act as a dam. Houston does not have a lake such as Pontchartrain to is north similar in makeup to Galveston Bay to its east.
Brent - Good luck hope you fare well.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:17 amIsn’t it the storm surge that makes the difference? When Charlie hit Port Charlotte FL. it was at low tide - no flooding, just wind. I received little damage. It seems to me the tornadoes it spawned were the things that caused the damage.
True 
September 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am