09L: Hurricane Ike

[Sarah Austin]

Jeff Piotrowski, I'm glad you guys are holding strong. That fire was way too close. Stay safe.

Quoted by Bill Tabor
I propose a new hurricane rating index...

That makes sense. We know so much more about hurricanes now then when the rating index was created. I definately think storm surge should play a big part in this, especially after Katrina and now Ike.

 

[Jason Young]

Anyone heard anything on Dickinson tx.?

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Downtown Houston Ike

There is a fairly impressive roar downtown as the air rushes between the skyscrapers which the two tallest ones are barely scrapping the convection. The wind gusts have been up into 80mph territory on top of the parking garage I am at next to the city hall. There is also min vortex's in all the intersections and there is a large open park where a large vortex is, the park is the size of a block and there is pretty extensive tree damage in it most of the trees are laying down and pointing into the middle of the park. There are also stoplights that have been pulled off their posts.

In Jersey Village there is photographed proof of pea size hail.

EDIT: There are a few buildings with their fire alarms going off here and there are windows and office materials that all over the road. We are evacuating back to a parking garage.

 

[Mitchell Daszewski]

Downtown taking it hard right now. Tons of glass falling from Chase tower. Stuck in the eyewall with the eye moving east of town. This will keep Houston in the eyewall for an extended period of time.

We're hopeful our windows hold, but they are bowing badly now.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Downtown taking it hard right now. Tons of glass falling from Chase tower. Stuck in the eyewall with the eye moving east of town. This will keep Houston in the eyewall for an extended period of time.

We're hopeful our windows hold, but they are bowing badly now.

The ground was littered all around there with glass and blinds among other things and the power is out all the way up to the very edge of downtown. We also found about every other intersection had either already lost their stoplights or the stoplights were flapping in the wind and barely holding on. One building down town was shedding its metal facade.

We have gotten back to our shelter.

Mitchell, how high up the building are you and how much is the sway noticeable?

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Buddy in IN sent this to me, competition for the streaker?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIyzcpR6oo

Apologies if it was already posted. Did a search and couldn't find it here.

On a serious note... As one who will likely never experience a landfalling tropical system, do wish to express genuine appreciation to everyone both professional and freelance who have been on this storm and all the others for that matter. Guys like you who accept massive risk for the purpose of enriching our lives are a true inspiration.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Wow.. last post at 5 am... looks like everyone zonked out.

Houston Hobby lowest pressure 0853Z with 28.35", hit 92 mph, wind equipment out of service at 0700Z but one more report at 1102Z
Houston Intercontinental stopped reporting at 1000Z and was topping 74 mph
Houston Hooks wind equipment out of service at 0800Z with 54 mph
Conroe wind equipment out of service at 1000Z with 60 mph

The loss of anemometer data is really strange as except for Hobby Airport we should not be losing wind measurements in this kind of speed range. I wonder if the ASOS sites are dealing with damage from debris or suffering from poor design?

Tim

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

TV station KHOU passed on a report of 9 feet of water in downtown Beaumont. (Population 100K)

http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes

 

[Patrick Martin]

Dave Drummond's web cam is up this morning and he is out and about in Galveston. Seeing damage to buildings, and boats not being where they are supposed to be.

 

[David Douglas]

Need Recon Help

If anyone is in the Friendswood area, I could use some recon help. My sister evacuated to my house from a zone B area in Friendswood (near NASA Rd 1 & 45) and we need to know what the damage to her house is. That way we know what to bring down for recovery.

Please email me offline - [email protected]

Thanks,
David

 

[Todd Friskey]

I read a comment that was posted on ABC news from a reader. The individual wrote "I just saw the ABC news reporter on TV and he said authorities told news crews not to shoot pictures of floating bodies." Has anyone heard if this is really occurring? I hope and pray this is not case!

 

[Heidi Farrar]

So ... what/where are the reports? I am trying to find the news of how many people are stranded on the Bolivar Peninsula, the situation at High Island, Port Arthur, more on the flooding in Beaumont, what SW LA is looking like. I am having a hard time! Is the media stuck (literally or figuratively) in Galveston? One would think that there would be some opportunity for some better info to be hitting the mainstream media by now. The images that are being shown online are not showing major flooding in Galveston... a good bit of debris and structural damage, but not an inundated city. Reports?

 

[Steve Bottkol]

I would think we will see more later in the day. Most of these reporters/photographers/engineers have been up many hours and need sleep as well.

 

[Philip Flory]

So ... what/where are the reports? I am trying to find the news of how many people are stranded on the Bolivar Peninsula, the situation at High Island, Port Arthur, more on the flooding in Beaumont, what SW LA is looking like. I am having a hard time! Is the media stuck (literally or figuratively) in Galveston? One would think that there would be some opportunity for some better info to be hitting the mainstream media by now. The images that are being shown online are not showing major flooding in Galveston... a good bit of debris and structural damage, but not an inundated city. Reports?

That's great news if we don't have a totally under water city.... hopefully that is the case.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

If Katrina is any example, it takes at least 12 to 24 hours before the real reports start rolling in. There are a large number of coastal communities to check on, and the highest concentration of media is in Galveston, which is probably not terribly accessible itself at the moment. Hopefully by later tonight we'll hear that it wasn't as bad as feared, but given the size of the storm, I'm thinking that's a pretty precarious hope. The officials in Galveston were telling the Houston Chronicle journalists last night to please not shoot pictures or video of floating bodies when the sun came up.