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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject: Ike draws a bead on Galveston |
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Cars and trucks streamed inland and chemical companies buttoned up their plants Thursday as a gigantic Hurricane Ike took aim at the heart of the U.S. refining industry and threatened to send a wall of water crashing toward Houston.
Nearly 1 million people along the Texas coast were ordered to evacuate ahead of the storm, which was expected to strike late Friday or early Saturday. But in a calculated risk aimed at avoiding total gridlock, authorities told most people in the nation's fourth-largest city to just hunker down.
Ike was steering almost directly for Houston, where gleaming skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas vulnerable to wind and floodwaters. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 130 mph. |
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/Travel/wireStory?id=5776981
I'm really looking forward to hearing the evangelical crackpots explain how devastating Houston and America's oil refineries is all part of God's will.
It is, of course, but I think I and they might disagree what the Big Guy has in mind.
I wonder how America will like paying $6 a gallon for gas? Do you think they will catch on?
Oh, and guess what else is in Houston?
Mission Control.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2008/09/hurricane-in-sp.html
This is a mighty wind.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809.html?MR=1
For those of you too young to remember, Galveston, Texas, was the site of the deadliest natural disaster in the United States.
People bandy about the phrase "storm of the century;" the official "Storm of the Century" was the hurricane that nearly wiped Galveston off the face of the Earth.
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Funeral pyres were set up wherever the dead were found. In the aftermath of the storm, pyres burned for weeks. Authorities had to pass out free whiskey to the work crews that were having to throw the bodies of their wives and children on the burn piles.[14] More people were killed in this single storm than have been killed in the over three hundred tropical cyclones that have struck the United States since, combined, as of 2006. Thus, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Hurricane_of_1900
The city largely ignored the dangers for years, and ignored what little weather warnings of the storm they received.
My guess is the three most vulnerable areas to hurricanes in the U.S. are the Florida Keys, New Orleans and Galveston. But that is discounting the protective structures that have been built.
There has been so much over-building along coastal areas that they are pretty much all vulnerable to a big enough hurricane. But if a Cat 4 or 5 made a direct hit on a coastal city, there would be billions of dollars of damage, again, as in Hurricane Andrew.
Some say the modern system of weather forecasting in the U.S. grew out of the Galveston Storm of the Century.
Ike is nothing compared to the original. But even though forecasters in the U.S. have done a remarkable job of predicting tracks for the past 10 years, it is still impossible to predict the extent of damage with precision from wind, rain and storm surge. Hurricanes are still essentially unpredictable.
We are already seeing more frequent hurricanes and stronger hurricanes, on the whole, because of warmer ocean water. As the water becomes even warmer in coming years, they will become an even greater threat.
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| The potential for a large loss of life exists along the upper Texas Coast due to the increase in population, greater exposure to potential storm surge, and the lack of experience. A fundamental purpose of the NWS involvement in all of the 1900 storm commemorative activities has been the hope that increased awareness created by a look back at the most devastating storm in the nation's history - measured in terms of loss of life - will serve to educate the citizens of the upper Texas Coast and minimize the potential for destruction and loss of life in any future storm. |
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/topics/attach/html/ssd00-22.htm
http://www.1900storm.com/ |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:16 am Post subject: |
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I have a friend in Houston who is at this moment parking his many vintage trailers together in a bunch in an effort to minimize damage. Doesn't know what will happen to his house or his business. Just knows that there isn't a lot that can withstand 100 MPH winds for too long.
I'm hoping for the best outcome. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:42 am Post subject: |
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Houston's pretty far inland. The winds probably will have died down some by then.
Actually, 100 mph winds are not as destructive as you might think. A well built home can withstand it, from what I have seen of wind tunnel tests. The damage to homes usually starts with 110 to 120 mph winds, with 130 destroying pretty much everything of a frame house if not hurricane-proofed.
A well built travel trailer can be pretty resilient, given they are built to be towed at 70 mph or more. The "vintage" trailers tend to be heavier and more solid.
I think those TV reporters during hurricanes tend to exaggerate, don't you?
It is the storm surges, rain and flooding that will probably be the greatest threat, along with the risk of tornadoes within the hurricane area, and strong winds near the core of the hurricane.
But you never can tell. The extent of damage from Katrina over such a wide area was mind boggling.
Good luck to your friend. Let us know how he fared. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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My friend has an infirm 90-something yr old mom to take care of as well.
But he's pretty handy--my guess is he's probably battened down the hatches as well as they can be.
I think what also causes a lot of damage is flying debris--trees, barbeques and whatnot. Hopefully Ike will veer east to less populated areas once it hits land. |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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Ike could strenghten more yet. Offshore are warmer waters, the 70-mile eye is shown to be tightening and that usually means it's gaining strength.
Preparing for a hurricane means putting everything away before you evacuate the area. We used to 'hurricane stack' helicopters in a hangar that normally held four (blades spread), to holding ten--all folded up. Clear the decks then get home and clear the backyard.
There's a 24-25' storm surge predicted, that'll put a lot of Galveston underwater. The hard-headed that stay behind best have a zodiac or their jet ski strapped to the roof. The authorities are advising them to write their names on their arm with water-proof marker. Staying there really isn't a good idea. But if you're going into an attic because of rising water... take an axe, hatchet, saws, hammers to be able to break out if you have to.
GALVESTON STORM SURGE MODELS:
ftp://ftp.tpc.ncep.noaa.gov/surge/Latest/i47_bp3.gif
ftp://ftp.tpc.ncep.noaa.gov/surge/Latest/i47_gl2.gif
Watch Houston Live:
http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Some refuse to evacuate as Ike closes in on Texas
By JUAN A. LOZANO � 42 minutes ago
HOUSTON (AP) � Hurricane Ike, a colossal storm nearly as big as Texas itself, battered the coast Friday, threatening to obliterate waterfront towns and give the skyscrapers, refineries and docks of the nation's fourth-largest city their worst pounding in a generation.
But even as towering waves crashed over the 17-foot Galveston seawall and floodwaters rose in low-lying areas, it became clear that many of the 1 million coastal residents who had been ordered to get out refused to do so and were taking their chances.
Authorities in three counties alone said roughly 90,000 stayed behind, despite a warning from forecasters that many of those in one- or two-story homes faced "certain death."
"I believe in the man up there, God," said William Steally, a 75-year-old retiree who planned to ride out the storm in Galveston without his wife or sister-in-law. "I believe he will take care of me."
At about 600 miles across, the hurricane was a monster. As it zeroed in on the coast, it trapped 60 people who had to be rescued by helicopter from the floodwaters near Galveston, breached levees in rural Louisiana, and stranded 22 crewmen on a disabled 584-foot cargo ship in the Gulf. |
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jG1m4XT341oCKXPMIZlKffdhP9vwD935HAM00
The conceit of people like this is just breathtaking. Did it ever occur to him that it might be God's will that he drown?
Anyone who stays in Galveston must have a screw loose. No place on the island has an elevation of even 9 feet above sea level. Everyone there knows the history of the 1900 storm.
I take it back. If you commit suicide, your wife doesn't get anything from your insurance. If you drown in a hurricane, the insurance would have to pay up, even if the person is virtually committing suicide, I would guess.
The radar and satellite images are striking. The outer bands are sweeping over New Orleans and Fort Worth at the same time.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809_sat.html#a_topad
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809_radar.html#a_topad |
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hogwonguy1979
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: the racoon den
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| wife has a lot of family in the houston area. galveston and the areas along the ship channel are going to get devasted by the storm surge. even inland its gonna get nasty |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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