09/09/2008 REPORTS: HURRICANE IKE

[Martin Kucera]

Hi all,

went out early this morning as outer bands of hurricane Ike peaked in intensity around the Florida Keys. Most of the Keys experienced mainly tropical storm force winds. Highest winds near my location (Islamorada, FL) were reported at about 62mph. Storm surge related flooding was evident in many places.
This is a raw video cut. Photos to come later... Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKja-o9w2M8

 

[Martin Kucera]

Hurricane Ike - Florida Keys.

 

[David Drummond]

Now the real hardship comes with the 20,000 or so people who stayed in Galveston and did not certainly die but are now trying to figure out a way to survive ... because rescuers have to go in and figure out ways to get their butts to safety, which just keeps everyone at risk. Somehow people need to recognize the risk associated not just with the hurricane, but with the incredible strain it puts on the system afterward.

I45 northbound was passable by late afternoon yesterday. 3 lanes clear in many places, down to one lane in a few, and a couple you had to navigate debris, but there were plenty of emergency crews going in and those of us with vehicles were allowed to leave freely. Only emergency crews and media were being allowed to come in. We were told ferries would be running by today as well.

I45 southbound is another story and I suspect it will take many days to get that cleared. They were working on the north end of the debris but there were places we saw the generic debris was as high as the concrete barriers across all 3 lanes, and in one place and entire fleet of huge yachts were on the southbound lane.

As for the flooded areas, the water was already receding by late afternoon somewhat. Areas that were flooded to us in the early A.M. were becoming accessible, and that will continue. Even the places we saw them picking folks up in boats, there were still people walking in waist high water.

The far west end of the island is another story, even some of the cops told us they weren't sure what was down there because they couldn't get down there yet.

It appeared to me, the vast majority of the folks who want to get out will be able to right away without much in the way of "rescue" other than maybe a ride off the island. In fact they could walk off the island if they were inclined to.

To be honest, although we were able to get some incredible video and pictures, the worst of the bad stuff you see on tv, at least in the main part of Galveston, was right along the seawall. Buildings outside the seawall were either entirely wiped out or heavily damaged. All of the debris was piled up on the main road along the seawall and made for fantastic imagery.

But when you move away from the seawall, even half a block, damage in many cases was fairly minor, about what you might expect from a good supercell. The northern side of the island is where most of the flooding was. Of course back to the west where you could only get to by helicopter was I am sure you have seen on TV.

The other thing were fires that broke out. One apartment complex was on fire and had burned out several town homes already. Firefighters told me they had little water to fight the fires, and had to pull water in to their trucks from the bay, as the hydrants were on the city system that was shut down. Added to that was still the strong winds that made shooting any sort of stream any distance nearly impossible, flooded streets, and power poles down. In many cases they were basically helpless to do much about the fires.

The looters were up at sunrise. When we got out, winds were still VERY strong and loose debris was still blowing around. Nonetheless, we noted several gangs of hoodlums forming up and roaming around carrying duffle bags and such to carry their prizes in. Shortly after that we began seeing police cars. That was all we saw for 2 or 3 hours until other folks started coming out. At least early on, the police were mostly ignoring them.

Just as a trivial note... The folks at the "Poop Deck" where we did the live shots for FOX from all survived, as did the bar itself pretty much unscathed as it has in all other hurricanes, just as they said it would. Interesting.

Most everyone we encountered (unofficials) were in good spirits and happy to be honest. Even some of the people that had just brought in with the boats, didn't seem in despair, rather seemed more upset they had to be inconvenienced being without power to "watch tv or play games". A few of the homeless folks (those that were homeless before the cane) were asking for money, cigarettes and water, in that order. I asked the guy what he was going to do with money, everything is closed.

Anyway, just some real observations from the ground right after the cane that wasn't filtered through a lot of media hype.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Just to echo what David has said really. We were able to drive off Galveston Island yesterday Afternoon by picking our way through the debris that remained on I45 – The down town areas of Galveston still had flood water but this was mostly running off now – still some areas that remain impassable to vehicles. I also noted the house fires that had broken out – apparently caused by electrical cables sparking on the house – strange as I thought all the power was out over the island?

Many of the building structures away from the shore front remain OK – apart from water ingress – at one part we saw that water tide mark up around 9 feet – but for most is was about knee to waist deep.

The strongest wind gust we recorded was 104 mph (Car roof mounted RM Young) during the south eye wall pass. Recording taken from the seawall road.

 

[Tim Marshall]

HURRICANE IKE CHASE SUMMARY

Short: A great chase. Rode out the hurricane in my truck in the parking lot of the San Luis Resort on Seawall Blvd in Galveston. Encountered wind gusts estimated to be around 100 MPH in the north eyewall, a calm eye for about 90 minutes, and 100 MPH winds in the south eyewall. Filmed waves crashing up onto the Seawall throughout the night. The highest surge occurred in the north eyewall and maintained itself through the eye before receeding. Glad to arrive home safe and sound.

Long: Shawn McQuinn and I departed Dallas at NOON and drove straight to Galveston on I-45 arriving there about 5:30 PM. Water from Ike's storm surge already covered portions of the I-45 south of Tiki Island but the Interstate was still passable otherwise we would have stayed on a bridge in Texas City. We filmed fierce wave action in Galveston Bay before proceeding onto Galveston Island. Much of Seawall Blvd was not driveable due to all the waves topping the wall and depositing debris on the road. Also, water ran up several feet on the road. So, we took back roads occasionally checking out the structures along Seawall Blvd and noticed several buildings (restaurant, giftshops, Flagship Hotel. etc) that were built seaward from the seawall. These buildings had been constructed on pilings and we figured they wouldn't survive the storm.

I decided to ride the storm out at the San Luis Resort on Seawall Blvd, where some of the TV media were staying. I parked the truck in a small parking lot front of the hotel that was 17-20 feet above normal water level. I figured this was a relatively safe location for a CAT 2 storm and could move up the ramp in front of the hotel if the surge got any higher. Between 6 and 8 PM, I wandered the hotel chatting with Geraldo Rivera, Jim Cantore, Jay Gray, and others and helped myself to an all-you-can eat hot shrimp dinner buffet with rice pilaf, salad, and dinner rolls. That beat a cold turkey sandwich I had.

Then I retreated to the car and watched the approach of Ike on the WxWorx radar. The eye appeared to become better defined as it approached the coast indicating the hurricane was strengthening. The media had set up bright lights they ran from generators which lit up the ocean front in from of the hotel. This allowed me to film the violent surf on the Seawall throughout the night. Winds steadily rose and peaked in the north eye wall around midnight. A portion of a brick wall on the adjacent Holiday Inn toppled and periodically flying debris came over my trick and headed west. A few pieces of light debris hit my truck but caused no damage. Shawn abandoned the vehicle and sat on the leeside of the truck as he wanted to experience the full force of the storm. I estimated the winds gusted around 100 MPH from the east in the north eye wall.

Winds wend dead calm relatively quickly and the eye lasted about 90 minuted between 1 and 2:30 AM. I walked for awhile filming the wave action. The water level ranged from one to two feet on Seawall Blvd. It was eerie to see large breaking waves occurring through the calm eye. The mosquitos were terrible and I had to eventually retreat to my vehicle.

Winds rapidly increased after 2:30 AM and I estimated winds gusted around 100 MPH from the west in the south eyewall. Some of the same debris came back at us. Shawn decided to sit outside in the leeside of the truck, however, when he stood up, a piece of palm tree debris smacked him in the head and he quickly retreated back to the vehicle. A lump the size of a golfball soon formed on his head and that ended his outside excursions. But, he has a souvenier now.

When morning arrived, we drove around and checked out the damage. All the seaward buildings on pilings were gone or heavily damaged except for the Flagship Hotel which remained and had only a few wall sections missing on the top floor. We tried to leave the island around 10 AM but the floodwaters behind the seawall were too deep. Also, debris had blocked I-45 and street crews had to wait for the water to receed before clearing a path. We finally were able to leave the island at 1:30 PM and headed through a canyon of flotsom that had piled up 3 feet deep along portions of I-45 north. There was a lot more debris, including several large yachts piled up on I-45 southbound. It will take several days to clear that debris. We arrived back in Dallas safe and sound around 7 PM. Ah, electricity, hot food, and a hot shower along with much needed sleep. Total Time: 31 hours. Total mileage: 650 Total fuel: 30 gallons.
TM

 

[Steve Miller TX]

I can't really add anything to what David wrote up. It really is an eye-opener being there and then seeing how the media was hyping things up. The exception of course is the western end of the island. Anyway, I've got some preliminary photos of our experiences out of the nearly 400 I took. I'll eventually get an entire photo album up soon.

 

[Simon Brewer]

Report:
Juston Drake and I rode out Hurricane Ike in the Hotel Galvez parking Garage on Galveston Island. The parking garage was 3 stories with an open roof north of most of the media at the San Luis Hotel. Tough to tell the exact storm surge at that location due to large waves. Witnessed numerous structures claimed by the sea as the eyewall hit. Saw the shape of the moon through a cirrus canopy in the eye, which was cool.

We recorded a minimum pressure in the eye of 954mb, but I rounded up a mb when I calibrated the barometer and there is a 1mb error with the device we used, plus we didn't stare at the barometer the whole time in the eye, so our barometer could have measured a lower pressure when we weren't looking. With those factors in mind the pressure could have been in the range of 952-954mb from data we collected. NHC officially pegged the central pressure of 952mb at landfall, so I'm happy with our data.

Also, we measured wind gusts on the top of the parking garage with a handheld sonic annemometer in the 120-130mph range in the front eyewall. I'm suspicious of these values, but we were at the top of the parking garage much higher than ground level (~40 ft above sea level) and the winds were not blocked by the Hotel Galvez, so these values could easily be correct. Highest sustained wind speed measured was approximately 90mph, but this has massive errors due to the annemometer being held by my hand which had difficulty holding the annemometer in position. I should have connected the sonic annemometer to my tripod and duct taped the tripod to a light pole on the roof of the parking garage to eliminate errors due to the lack of steadiness by my hand.

Had difficulty getting off the island; even with media passes some police officers could not get off their power trip. I don't want to talk smack about all police, because a majority of police officers I have encountered during hurricane chases have been awesome, but there are some who are on major power trips! Every hurricane I have chased confirms to me as a storm chaser/meteorologist/photographer that the police are more dangerous than the hurricane, but that is because I have taken every possible precaution for the hurricane, but there is only so much I can do to protect myself from crazy police. The hurricane is of course more dangerous to the average person that knows little about the hurricane, but I've never been in the position that I've felt in danger from the effects of a hurricane.

Another thing: if people can afford beach front property, then they can afford to build a steel reinforced concrete house. Much easier to sweep out debris, spray off the floors and walls than to gut out and redo the interior and exterior of a house...

Simon Brewer

 

[Jason Foster]

A couple of teaser photos

I chased with Chris Collura once again for Hurricane Ike. We originally targeted Freeport, but after not being able to cross the causeway, and watching radar, decided it would be best to head north...Galveston being the best choice...if we could get past the road blocks (there were none).

Chris will update with maps I'm sure....or I will...whomever is first...better yet...I leave that upto Chris, since he does an outstanding job with the reports.

Below is two photos I posted to the blog...so I'm posting them, since that's all I've done so far (but will be working all night long from Dallas-Ft.Worth Airport, until my flight tomorrow morning).

The house fires that took seven units in a row.

An air rescue along the seawall.

<br>

 

[Brandon Ivey]

My wife and I documented hurricane Ike from the Houston area. We spent the majority of the night in the downtown region. We never totally lost power where we were at, which allowed me to film throughout the night. A video summary of our trip can be seen through the link below.

http://thestormreport.com/blog/2008/09/hurricane-ike-from-houston/

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I apologize for the slow reports on my intercept with hurricane Ike. Below is a brief description of my chase log and pictures to follow.

I flew out to Austin, Texas on Sept 11 in the evening from Florida and met up with chase partner Jason Foster (N3PRZ) who flew in from the DC area (Baltimore). We met up, picked up the rental / prepared it for the chase (invertors, WX gear, etc).

We spent the evening / night in Rosenberg, TX and headed towards Freeport on the morning of Sept 12. The causeway to the island was blockaded, so we took some footage there (of rising water) and decided to target Galveston as it would be to the right of the storm track. Galveston wound up being a very wise choice.

We reached Galveston to find I-45 already flooded and impassible and a police checkpoint in place near Texas City. We went into Texas city, shot more footage of rising water, and made our way back to I-45. Taking a different ramp, we passed by the blockade / flooding and were able to get onto Galveston Island.

We documented the waves crashing onto and over the 17' seawall, including some 500+ pound boulders across Seawall Blvd. We ran into numerous other chasers, including Jim Reed, Mark Sudduth, and George Karounis to name a few. A large fire broke out at a marina on the east side of the island near the medical center at about 3 PM. The heavy winds and bands arrived in Galveston there after, and remained until about 3 AM on September 13, when the eye passed directly over the island.

The waves and storm surge began severely flooding Galveston from the evening through the night. Water nearly reached the ceiling of a parking garage's first floor near the medical center and most roads became impassible. At this point, we decided to seek refuge in a parking structure on the opposite side of the medical center.

Winds in the eye decreased from 110-MPH out of the NE to complete calm, with severe flooding all around our "parking garage" near the medical center. Conditions in the eye were a light fog, moonlight, and night sky peeking through. Pressure measured there was 955 MB. The eye lasted about an hour, and the second half of the storm followed, with winds from the SW once again gusting near 100-MPH at times.

Jason and I slept a bit during the second half of the storm, awakening at first light and when the water began to recede. Damage to inland structures was, suprisingly, sporadic. Along the gulf shores, and near the seawall, that was much different. Many structures on the water were either disintegrated or damaged beyond recognition, with a debris front out ahead of the "surge line". Many roads were still severly flooded, and driving was difficult, if not impossible.

At least three major fires broke out while the diminishing winds were still at strong tropical storm forced. One fire was well-documented, as it started at a home on one end of a 6-home complex and completely leveled all the homes in just an hour. Firefighters simply could not get to these fires until it was way too late.

Finally, by early afternoon, driving became easier (somewhat) as long as flooded roads were avoided. We were able to document some spectacular rescue efforts that were well underway as winds dropped below TS forced. One rescue was for 2 complacant individuals who rode out the storm / were trapped atop a beach-front structure / pier that only had it's roof remaining and had to be rescued via a Blackhawk chopper!

We finally found a way to the main road, and I-45 to leave the island by about 3:30 PM. On the harbor side of Galveston, a countless number of boats, debris, even large vessles were strewn all over I-45 like toys. Upon leaving Galveston, and reaching the mainland, we headed to Houston via I-45 to pick up I-10. Inland damage was not very severe from wind (mostly powerlines, trees, and signs). Some flooding was observed passing through Houston, and a portion of I-45 was closed.

Reaching I-10, we headed west to 183 (about 100 miles) and planned to go north to Austin. A violent hit-and-run accident was observed and Jason and I stopped to help just outside Austin at about 10:30 PM on Sept 13. There were absolutely NO hotels anywhere, so this final night was also spend in the car sleeping in a parking lot. The following day, Sept 14, I flew out of Austin and back to FL while Jason took a bus to Dallas, then flew back home from there. Total mileage driven on the rental vehicle, a PT Cruiser, was about 689 miles.

I am working on a full chase log at the link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/ike08.htm

Below are some pictures I figured I'd post here for you to look at...

Above: Ike from 36,000 feet over FL Panhandle (The edge of the hurricane cirrus deck can be seen).

Above: Extremely agitated waters of the Gulf of Mexico below us. Another airliner can also be seen.

Above: Large waves crashing into the Galveston Seawall. Picture taken by Jason Foster (N3PRZ).

Above: Perspective into the size of the waves, versus the 17-foot-high seawall in Galveston.

Above: Fire at a marina near the medical center. Picture taken by Jason Foster (N3PRZ).

Above: Major house fire towards the end of the storm. This first home spread to at least 5 others. Note the "7513" lucky number ;-(

Above: One of many structures along the waterfront that were no match for the forces of the hurricane surf.

Above: This is the Interstate 45 causeway connecting Galveston to the mainland on the north side of the island. Boats are tossed like toys.

Above: First floor of a parking structure during the start of the worst part of Ike's eye.

Above: Storm surge induced street flooding.

Note: A full chase report for this is currently under construction and will soon be available at the link provided above.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Report, Hurricane Ike

Drove down from Dallas on Friday morning, 9/12 after making motel reservations late Thursday evening for Deer Park, a suburb about 15 miles SE of downtown Houston.

Chose to watch inland rather than by the beach due to concern for dangerous surge, waves and wind.
The very outer edge of the hurricane made it's presence felt before I departed Dallas, as a dense misty arc of high cirrostratus overcast across the southern and SE sky.

As I moved deeper into SE TX, the overcast thickened and a bank of altocumulus clouds appeared on the horizon. As I drew closer to this, banding or arcing across the southern sky was quite apparent.

South of Fairfield, TX, low puffs of cumulus began to appear and increase as I continued southward.
It was fascinating seeing the very, very few cars on my side of the road, while buses and waves of moderate traffic rode northward on I-45.

As I approached Houston in the early afternoon, the outermost rainbands off shore appeared on my in-car radar, adding excitement to my approach. Meanwhile, the cumulus had gathered to a stratocumulus overcast which thickened into grayish as sun went in and out.
A round or two of drizzle fell as well.
I was surprised to see many more cars heading southward along with me.

Arrived to my Deer Park motel about 2 pm. By 3 pm, The winds had increased, especially towards the coast. I took a drive towards the Sylvan Beach area and noted that towards the Coast, winds were already gusting to tropical storm levels.

Winds continued to slowly increase in gustiness and in length of gusts as afternoon continued and moved towards sunset.
Deep gray clouds gathered low in the SE sky, and while the deep clouds moved SW, the entire complex moved NW towards me. It reminded me of thunderstorm skies I have seen when the storms were about 20 miles away.
Of note was a patch of mammatus clouds that moved overhead across the sky, something I didn't expect seeing with a tropical system.

At sunset time, given tree motion and action linked with the Beaufort scale, I estimated winds blowing 25-35 MPH with gusts as high as 45 MPH.

One thing that really surprised me was the thinness of the overcast.
The setting sun revealed three layers of horizontal, thin cloud. A low bank of stratocumulus racing SW; above it a thin layer of altocumulus and above this relatively high splashes of cirrus. This was especially interesting in light of the intense gusts of wind. A beautiful salmon color seized the clouds as day moved into night.

Again, given tree motions, consistent tropical storm strength winds set in by 8 pm.

I was quite blessed with perfect surroundings at my locale. My motel room, which featured cloud paintings on the ceiling, had a view of the entire eastern sky. Outside, across the street on the south side, lots of trees and a residential neighborhood.

For the first half of this storm, I actually sat outside during it's entirety as a wall protected me from the NE winds and a roof lay over my head, thus giving me a front row seat to the action.

By about 10 PM, I estimated that winds were consistently blowing in the 40's of MPH with gusts over 50 and quickly attaining heights even greater.

The wind made music with the telephone wires that surrounded the motel to the south and east.

As night continued, whining turned to musical roars going up and down the scale. Eventually the roars grew more and more sustained, and occasionally I heard growls through the wires.

The storm seemed to peak about 1:30 am, or so I thought at that time. Frequent power flashes lit the sky, and huge blasts of wind made trees dance with near constant frequency. Surprisingly, rain fell in very small drops and very lightly almost like an ocean spray.

I called my wife and friends to share with them the sound of the tremendous wind, now estimated consistently in the 50's and 60's with gusts to 70's, 80's, and finally 90's MPH.

By 2 am the full force of the storm seemed to be upon us. Consistant hurricane forced winds, with gusts estimated from 90 to just over 100 MPH.
All the trees in the yard across the street, some several stories tall alternated between bending in half and wildly swaying, and I heard frequent loud snaps and cracks. I also heard an occasional strange bell sound that I have never heard before.

Ambient light allowed me to see this till close to 3 am when all the power went out.

Around 3:15 am the eye approached and long gusts of wind came with less and less frequency and intensity. By now, winds estimated at 35 MPH seemed so calm and mellow as they rattled the window of my motel room.

Having had 3.5 hours of sleep in more than 24 hours, I felt utterly exhausted and the calming winds allowed me to catch some sleep, so unfortunately I missed the eye.

I woke up just in time to see the uncanny energy of intense winds gearing up to blow from the opposite direction (SW) with equal and opposite force.

Hurricane winds and increasingly heavy mists of rain lasted till dawn. After dawn the truly heavy rains came in, connecting sky and earth with a wall of water, along with hurricane force winds that decreased slowly to tropical storm strength with higher gusts.

A walk around the neighborhood later revealed a tremendous amount of tree damage. It reminded me of F-0 to F-1 tornado damage. Not too far from my neighborhood, I also saw telephone poles down as well as satellite dish antennas ripped out of industrial building roofs with the roofing torn up as well.

This was my very first hurricane intercept and represented the deliverance of a 35 year dream come true!

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Interception on hurricane Ike is completed...

Above: Standing in winds gusting near 100-MPH along the I-45 causeway during the early evening of September 12 near Galveston. Wind-buffet effects are un-mistakable.

Full chase account available at the link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/ike08.htm

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Downtown Houston and Clear Lake, Texas footage.

Good morning to all.

I apologize for the delayed post as my connection here at home has been spotty at best lately. I believe the splitter on the cable box on the side of my house is giving out....

...anywho Tyler Constantini, Mike Scantlin and I all were in Houston and Clear Lake for the storm and while what I caught on film was not as spectacular as some of your shots I thought I would still go on ahead and share with you. Due to this being all of ours first tropical cyclone chase we decided to play it safe and stayed well back off the shore. A full account of the chase can be found in the video description o my youtube page.



click here for the video and description --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1oDn0gUFps

 

[Steve Miller TX]

I finally got all of my best photos uploaded into a nice photo album.

http://texastailchaser.com/chases/Hurricanes/Ike/album/

 

[George Kourounis]

Way overdue but here are links to my Hurricane Ike chases:

Flying over Cuba into Ike with the Hurricane Hunters:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Hurricanes/Ike_Hurricane_Hunters/Ike_HH.html

In Galveston for the landfall:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Hurricanes/Ike/Ike.html

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca