Hurricane Ike Open Thread
Good live coverage here, and the reports make this sound like it is going to be a real bad one, despite being only cat two.
Good live coverage here, and the reports make this sound like it is going to be a real bad one, despite being only cat two.
I can’t believe that some people stayed put in Galveston, given reports about the storm surge and its history.
It’s expected to still be a tropical storm by the time it gets to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Trust me–I lived up there when I was in grad school. Most of those people have no idea what’s about to hit them. Tornadoes are a bitch, but they’re also over relatively quickly. This could get really ugly.
Some is actually 40%…
Remember the disaster that was the Rita evacuation three years ago? I grew up in Louisiana, so I took it personally when people talked shit about the New Orleans evacuation for Katrina (which went better than anyone expected, by the way) but no one really mentioned the disaster that the Texas evacuation plan turned into with cars running out of gas on the highways, and the fear that if the storm hit and they hadn’t cleared that out, that the death toll would be insane.
My guess is that Galveston residents figured it was better to hunker down than to take the chance they’d get stuck on the road to Austin.
I’ve been to Houston a few times and I envision something like Wilma hitting downtown Miami. Not pretty.
I hope for the best but expect the worst.
Reporting from Houston, very windy right now (77005). MOst of Houston will be just fine. the coastal areas are in big trouble though. Houston is a lot farther from the coast than Miami.
That is really scary …
I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the stubbornness of the Galvestonians. Does anyone want to die that way, drowning with the realization that they made a piss-poor decision? Watching their kids drown? Are we looking at thousands of dead here?
I was watching video on KHOU today (thanks BJ commenter for the link), and lots of people stayed thinking it was much ado about not much.
Sorry, but I wonder if they are some of the unplugged. I’ve been watching the storm for a week on satellite, and I’d have got the hell out of there. Really bums me out that so many stayed.
And the guy on the beach? That is suicide by hurricane–the guy is a recent widower. I dunno. I guess a person can only take so much.
I have no idea.
I know that if there was a way of giving me this much warning for a major earthquake where I live, I would get the hell out of there ahead of time.
Human psychology is a funny thing. WAY too many people down here got on the road during Rita, which did not even hit Houston, because of what happened a few weeks earlier with Katrina.
This time people figured, well CAT 2, I’ll take my chances. Not getting on the road this time….
I think I just heard a transformer pop (big crash in outside). Our power went off and then back on a little while ago as well.
Stranded Galveston residents call in vain for help
I dunno. Maybe they should take the pictures and wait until the next major hurricane to print them.
I just can’t imagine people thinking “certain death” wasn’t clear enough warning. :(
Coverage is even better on the ABC affiliate, channel 13- -http;//abclocal.go.com/ktrk/livenow?id=638042.
Lots of fires, one death in Houston so far. At least it’s moving fairly fast.
crazy weather all over. 6 baseball games were postponed tonight. SIX! that has to be a record…
On a slightly related note, can I just say that the people on the islands have it right when it comes to electricity in hurricanes. A Jamaican friend of mine said they shut down the grid when the winds come up, thereby lowering the number of transformers that blow. And when the storm is over, they repair the lines they need to and the power is back on a lot faster.
The NOAA site (as of 3 AM EST) is showing a really powerful Cat II crushing into the Galvestopn/Hustion area. The area to the Northesat looks to be taking a even harder hit. The surge must be really bad. Hope this turns out wrong but a 25′ surge is being called now. The storm is not yet weakening at all, damn. This storm is not looking good. God be with you all in that region because Ike is bring hell to shore.
There’s been some good wind up in northwest Houston, and I’ve lost power in sub-minute spurts maybe 5 times in the last half hour (got UPSs on my PC and my network infrastructure so I’ve still got internet). But the rain has been so-so in Houston terms (for those who aren’t familiar with the Gulf Coast, we get HEAVY rainstorms…the kind that can last a week or more with almost constant rain of varying intensity)
The back end of this storm will bring the greatest surge, and it will coincide with the high tide. The other side of the wall will reach Galveston within the hour. . . Let us hope that their estimates are wrong, but this looks like it has come ashore in a highly populated area. I can see nothing but sprawl for a hundred miles in both directions, and there are a few channels and lakes in Houston that threaten large ares of the suburbs.
Site with interactive map showing storm path, storm surge, etc. Good analysis as well.
Power is out but I’m running dsl modem and wireless router on UPC.
Really blowing now but we are on the “clean” side of the storm. Need more beer…..
I hope y’all are doing ok.
I have to ask, wtf is up with hurricane reporters? Why? Stick a still cam in a building and shoot. It would be as valid as some douche getting wet, bending against the wind and yelling into some barely working mic.
Just saying…
I think I no what they mean now by wind driven rain. It is really coming in hard now.
I grew up in and around Texas City / Galveston / Brazoria County. We ran from Alan, and after it turned out to be a false alarm, we never ran from another storm. Just put the shutters over the windows, and bought water, dry ice, and charcoal. Of course, a year or 2 after Alan, Hurricane Alicia went right over our house, *rolls eyes*. Still, if I were back there, I would have stayed. Maybe not in Galveston, but honestly, I can’t say for certain I’d have fled even from there. Mom’s holed up in Sugar Land right now, and I’m not that worried. I might be wrong, and this might be as bad as Carla, but … I just wouldn’t have left. My therapist does say that I’m susceptible to counter-phobic behavior, tho…
I’m not going to harsh on anyone who stayed, especially after all the crap people uttered post-Katrina and yeah, putting tons of people in their cars and sitting them on the road during Rita wasn’t exactly very smart. Who the Hell knows? If humans only did safe, sensible things our sole means of transport would still be the leg and the foot.
Hope the folks down there come out all right. For those who don’t I hope it’s over quickly.
The surge in Galveston may be very bad – the news crews claim that the area went under. The size of the hurricane wind coverage area is amazingly large (past the Texas border!) I hope to God that the people in Galveston and other coastal areas are safe. This monster hit and held as a Cat II for far too long. I really don’t know and can only hope that everyone got lucky. Again, evacuation from a coastal area is critical. Emergency and rescue crews are saying they need to wait for the winds to drop from Hurricane strength. Looks like even the asshole bushwhack and the Feds are ready as well as the State. Luck.
Hurricanes pretty much convert themselves to rain when they come ashore. Ike is a monster which means that there’s going to be some fairly serious flooding for miles around Houston. I heard that one-fourth of our gasoline is refined nearby Houston so the modest relief we got at the pump may be short lived.
Anyone responsible for the lives of children or adults who do not have ability to make decisions for themselves and chose to stay I sincerely hope none of ther charges are injured or killed. If they are those dumb fucks should be put in prison.
The Previous False Alarm excuse doesn’t apply. Its one thing for an adult to make that decision for themselves, it is an entirely different matter to make it for a child.
The Galveston sheriff refused to evacuate 1000 prisoners from Galveston jail. Why? He wouldn’t say, because of “security reasons”. I hope those poor bastards made it through OK.
MSNBC reported that a 10 yr old boy was killed when a tree limb hit him.
Now I ask…WTF is a 10 yr old boy doing outside in the middle of this? And where the hell where his parents?
My opinion, these parents should be brought up on charges of child neglect and endangerment. Also if any other children die because of this storm, the parents should be held liable.
They had ample time to get out. They are the adults, they chose to stay. However, children of these idiots don’t have a choice.
According to what I heard, he was outside with his father and an older brother. His father was cutting down trees that I guess he thought might hit their house during the storm. The boy got hit by a tree that his father cut down,
so the accident was before the storm hit.
The price of gas in Mpls/StP went up a dime a gallon before the storm started to make landfall.
I started watching the coverage on KHOU last night and got hooked. I watched for a while again this morning. I’ve never been thru anything like that and it’s riveting to watch. Houston mayor sounds pretty ticked off about people out running around and creating more work for emergency crews. I hope that those people who decided to ride it out find a way to get through. Sounds like liquid hell down there.
Bullshit, gas prices are going up so rapidly because Dems refuse to drill and drill now.
I don’t recall WHICH mayor it was, but some mayor in Texas urged the citizens NOT to evacuate this time. I believe he said it because there was concern about looting of vacant houses, but that doesn’t justify such a statement. You can always go buy more shit, but you only get one life. I read it in the Santa Rosa Press-Telegram a day or two ago. I suppose it might depend on what city is was and where it was located, but that seems pretty reckless to me.
Kiss My Big Blue Butt has some photos from near Houston. The Jesus Is Lord Used Cars felt the Wrath of the Lord.