ATL: IKE Discussion

[JonathanBelles]

Pales in comparison to what folks in N and W IL are dealing with but I have some pics from this morning taken around Macon County IL on my blog.

http://pawleewurx.blogspot.com/

Awesome pics!

[mathwhizz]

Bolivar damage slideshow

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/ ... etail.html

[CrazyC83]

Finally, it seems the rainbands are taking over with the squall lines forming (one of them had wind gusts near 70 mph)...no more dry 80 mph gusts.

[Shoshana]

Update from TxDOT: Travel to Houston area strongly discouraged

By Laura Heinauer | Sunday, September 14, 2008, 08:29 PM

Texas Department of Transportation officials said several highways, including Interstate 45, Interstate 10 and Texas 71, are experiencing significant backups tonight as people return to the Houston.

Numerous reports of traffic delays and people running out of fuel on routes into Houston were inundating state transportation and public safety officials Sunday night, particularly on Interstate 45.

“Very few gas stations are open and even if they are, many do not have power and it is very difficult to get fuel,” TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said. “We are strongly, strongly discouraging any unnecessary travel to the Houston and Beaumont areas.”

Officials cautioned that the congestion has the potential to cause problems both for motorists and emergency crew and clean-up efforts.

“Our concerns are for the motorists as there are still major roads and streets that are impassible,” Lippincott said. “Also traffic congestion on these major roads risks delaying rescue and recovery efforts.”

Despite earlier setbacks due to bad weather Sunday in the area, department officials were able to conduct an aerial survey of some roads to assess damages. The Interstate 45 bridge into Galveston does not appear to have sustained structural damage, Lippincott said. Engineers will do assessments tonight and tomorrow to determine how heavy a load it can sustain.

Lippincott said damage in places on Texas 87 on the Bolivar Peninsula appeared to be significant and may need to be replaced. Other areas to the north and east have yet to be assessed, he said.

Meanwhile, while efforts to clear debris on major routes is going well and nearly complete, he stressed the importance of evacuees not attempting to return to their homes without permission from local officials.

[Pebbles]

Found a new report on the search and rescue near my house. I can tell you they are STILL searching and they did get/have a helecopter out here. It keeps flying over my house. The water is STILL rising.. there are many many homes flooding out now. It is true there has been flooding near this creek before. But I've never seen it this flooded. The water is getting very close to my daughters school and this has me very concerned.
Here's the article:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/hera ... EB.article

On a very very sad note 2 gentlemen (father and son) drowned today in Indiana trying to save a 10 year old boy who fell in a culvert in front of their house today (the boy survived).
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 6756.story

I am absolutely floored by the long reaching impacts of Ike.

[haml8]

What a harrowing few days... My family is ok, house is a little worse for wear with roof and water damage, but that is able to be repaired. we have power so all is good. I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all the pro mets and friends I have met on this forum for your insight on the storm! Good luck to all that have been in Ike's path.

[CrazyC83]

The last HPC advisory issued...now we can definitely and safely say Good Riddance to Ike! You surely will NOT be back in 2014! This is your final home -

[RL3AO]

The "I" storm in 2014 will be trying to pull off the not so good retirement three peat.

[Doc Seminole]

The question is if the break will be short (In next few days) or more long (More than two weeks)

I'll go with the more than two weeks........ and I'll go a step further. Let me be the first to say, and therefore blasted for saying it but here it is ......

Cape Verde Season is CLOSED! Done! Over! Finished!

p.s. Cajunmama, your bug drives me crazy

p.s.s. How many on the coastline of America will not evacuate after Katrina and now Ike. There could have been no further or greater warning than if you stay you are going to die".

Doc

[weunice]

The question is if the break will be short (In next few days) or more long (More than two weeks)

I'll go with the more than two weeks........ and I'll go a step further. Let me be the first to say, and therefore blasted for saying it but here it is ......

Cape Verde Season is CLOSED! Done! Over! Finished!

p.s. Cajunmama, your bug drives me crazy

p.s.s. How many on the coastline of America will not evacuate after Katrina and now Ike. There could have been no further or greater warning than if you stay you are going to die".

Doc

Sadly I think its a regional thing and it loses its effect over time. As Katrina and Ike pass into history new generations IF they are not educated on these events will make the same mistakes. Louisiana has Audrey and Betsy to look back to. That alone should have prevented a Katrina. Texas has the 1900 storm and Carla to look back to. I promise you though most people my age (mid 30's) know very little about those storms and when it happens in other states its easy to say "well they there ... that cant happen here"

[Cyclone Runner]

Ike-Related Deaths ( I have gleaned all this from various AP News Articles)

29 People in 8 States

Texas 11
A 10-year-old boy died north of Houston when a falling tree limb hit him in the head, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said.

A 19-year-old man drowned Friday off the coast of Corpus Christi. Officer Josh Morales says Moxly was on a jetty when he was swept away Friday off North Padre Island as Ike approached a Texas landfall. The Coast Guard has been searching for 19-year-old Michael Moxly off the shores of Corpus Christi, Texas.

An elderly person died as he was transferring from a home in Brazoria County to a shelter in Bell County, said Doc Adams, Brazoria's emergency management coordinator.

Authorities say a Pinehurst, Texas woman died in her bed early Saturday after a tree fell on her home, crushing her. Officials say she was the first reported death attributed to Ike.

A 4-year-old Houston boy died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the generator his family was using for power.

After a three-day stay in Dallas after fleeing Houston over the weekend, a 17-month-old boy was fatally hit by a car at about 3 p.m. Sunday at a Pleasant Grove gas station.

Five deaths were in the hard-hit barrier island city of Galveston, Texas, including one body found in a vehicle submerged in floodwater at the airport

Louisiana 4
Two members of a Lake Charles-area family fleeing from Hurricane Ike were killed Friday in a collision between two sport utility vehicles on Interstate 10 in Iberville Parish, State Police said Friday. he victims were identified as Warren Rideau, 53, and Marie L. Bonhomme, 83.

Louisiana. Terrebonne Parish coroner senior investigator Gary Alford says a 16-year-old boy drowned in his house in Bayou Dularge, La., when he fell through wooden pallets used as flooring and floodwaters rose. Mr. Alford also said a 57-year-old man died from a broken neck after he was blown over by wind.

Indiana 4
Four people died in floodwaters and high winds in Indiana. A teacher and his father were sucked into a culvert and drowned Sunday morning while trying to rescue a 10-year-old boy from a flooded ditch in Chesterton in northwest Indiana, the state Department of Natural Resources said. Falling trees were blamed for two deaths in southern Indiana.

Ohio 3
Strong winds were blamed for three deaths in Ohio. Two motorcyclists were killed Sunday when a tree toppled onto them at a state park in southwest Ohio, said state Department of Natural Resources spokesman Jason Fallon. and a woman wan killed when a tree crashed into her home in Hamilton County, just north of Cincinnati.

Kansas 2
In Kansas, a volunteer rescue worker who fell into river and was pronounced dead at Wichita hospital and a man was also killed after driving his SUV into deep water in Wichita, officials said.

Missouri 2
A Ladue woman was struck by a tree limb that fell during the storm, and an elderly man was found dead behind a University City home with a flooded backyard. Authorities suspect the man drowned. These deaths have been erroneously noted in some reports as in Illinois.

Tennessee 2
In Tennessee, two men sitting in a golf cart on the 16th hole of a Nashville golf course were killed when a tree fell over on them Sunday morning, fire department spokesman Ricky Taylor said.

Arkansas 1
One death was reported in Arkansas, where a 29-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on a mobile home as he was preparing to leave, the Pointsett County sheriff said. The fatality occurred in Fisher in southwest Poinsett County.

[welcome2florida]

The question is if the break will be short (In next few days) or more long (More than two weeks)

I'll go with the more than two weeks........ and I'll go a step further. Let me be the first to say, and therefore blasted for saying it but here it is ......

Cape Verde Season is CLOSED! Done! Over! Finished!

p.s. Cajunmama, your bug drives me crazy

p.s.s. How many on the coastline of America will not evacuate after Katrina and now Ike. There could have been no further or greater warning than if you stay you are going to die".

Doc

Sadly I think its a regional thing and it loses its effect over time. As Katrina and Ike pass into history new generations IF they are not educated on these events will make the same mistakes. Louisiana has Audrey and Betsy to look back to. That alone should have prevented a Katrina. Texas has the 1900 storm and Carla to look back to. I promise you though most people my age (mid 30's) know very little about those storms and when it happens in other states its easy to say "well they there ... that cant happen here"

I am having many thoughts along these lines. After Katrina and now after Ike it greatly bothers me that so many without necessary supplies and are mad at others for not providing for them. Rather than me getting frustrated with seeing this, I need to start thinking- WHAT CAN WE DO TO PREVENT THIS IN THE FUTURE. Should there be people that buy adds on the local radio and TV to educate people more? Show them the photos of what has happened to remind them of the past? Clips of 30 poeple saying "I didn't think it would be this bad." Fly to the stike zones and go door to door? Put up bill boards? Mailers? What? There HAS TO be more we can do. I do not want people to suffer. Esp. kids, elderly etc. Katrina was practically yesterday and it was not close enough to their memories.
What can we do???

[Shoshana]

My husband says one of the reason Cuba is able to evacuate so many people so well is because they have block captains who know who's who and who's where and because people know this person, they leave when s/he says 'get on the bus'.

I don't know how that would translate here, but I suspect more people would prepare and or evacuate if they knew all their neighbors were doing so too.

What kinda baffles me is people who could have but didn't leave Galveston either before or after Ike and then they're on tv having a cow because they have no water or electricity or food and they want help *now*...

[CrazyC83]

I've calculated out all the data I have seen, and it appears nearly 2 million customers are without power in the inland states (from Arkansas northward) at this point.

By area:

Arkansas - 200,000
Louisville area - 300,000
Cincinnati area - 825,000
Columbus area - 350,000
Cleveland area - 310,000

I am sure there are tens or hundreds of thousands in the dark elsewhere as well.

[Deathray]

I would say force something akin to martial law

Have the military come in and kick everyone out... it's about life or death. Especially where you see families with young kids defying common sense. Basically have buses come into the locations before it strikes and make everyone board them and get out

Ideally we would like to believe that a life is priceless, so the cost of such an excercise shouldn't matter, nor should the inconvenience. If you want to flee on your own, go for it, but don't stick around, then afterwards endanger the lives of emergency personnel because you were being stubborn

Naturally some people say they had no way of getting out, and this would solve that problem as well since they'd be shuttled away

Aggressive... I know, but it would limit all that nonsense gang related activity, theft, and anything else that MAY occur... and clearly it'd save lives... it would lessen the strain of the distribution system to get water, food, and other essentials to sporatic locations all over the place, as there could be central locations

[curtadams]

Re what we can do:

"Isaac's Storm" could be part of standard high school reading lists in coastal areas. It's a good read, and I think it gets across how terrifying and dangerous a major hurricane is, and how even what you'd think are good preparations do not suffice. One part that really stuck in my mind was how Cline stayed in his near-the-beach house because he'd built it himself and knew it was of excellent construction. And it was up to taking the wind and water. But the battering waves shoved the wreckage of the boardwalk into it and it disintegrated. His wife died that night. These storm are just too powerful to take chances.

[Pebbles]

I am pretty dang sure they didn't find that guy.. think we are going to add one more to the total from IL. Another article from CBS news *sighs*

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/new.l ... 17532.html

[Shoshana]

Gilchrist TX - I hadn't seen this picture before

[suepeace]

ORDER TO VACATE BOLIVAR PENINSULA, GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS

Whereas, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston County, Texas on September 12, 2008 and on September 13, 2008 with catastrophic winds and storm surge, inflicting widespread and severe damage, injury, loss of life and property;

Whereas, Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County, Texas, has suffered extreme and extensive damage from Hurricane Ike and is estimated to be 90% destroyed;

Whereas, the storm surge on Bolivar Peninsula has led to extreme and massive damage;

Whereas, on this day, BolivarPeninsula remains under water, impassable, inaccessible, and isolated;

Whereas, there is no water, power, or other utility services on BolivarPeninsula;

Whereas, there are no open stores, other amenities, or means of communication functioning on BolivarPeninsula;

Whereas, there is no usable infrastructure on BolivarPeninsula;

Whereas, Galveston County recognizes its obligation under law to preserve and protect public health, safety, and welfare;

Whereas, the County Judge of Galveston County, Texas, has declared a local state of disaster for Galveston County, Texas;

Whereas, the Governor of the State of Texas has proclaimed a state of disaster for Galveston County, Texas;

Whereas, the President of the United States of America has declared a state of disaster covering Galveston County, Texas;

Whereas, on September 11, 2008, the Health and Human Services Secretary of the United States of America, Mike Leavitt, declared a public health emergency in the State of Texas due to Hurricane Ike;

Whereas, rescue efforts are underway on BolivarPeninsula to continue to locate and rescue survivors;

Whereas, the continuing presence of survivors located on BolivarPeninsula will hamper and impede ongoing rescue efforts;

Whereas, the continuing presence of survivors located on Bolivar Peninsula will contribute to or exacerbate a public health emergency on Bolivar Peninsula; and

Whereas, Galveston County is facing extraordinary circumstances in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Now Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED by the CountyJudge of Galveston County, Texas, that:

all survivors located on BolivarPeninsula shall be and are hereby ORDERED to vacate BolivarPeninsula; and

this Order shall take effect immediately from and after its issuance.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, on this, the 14th day of September, 2008.

Signed
James D. Yarbrough,
County Judge of
Galveston County, Texas

http://www.guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000011948

[crazycajuncane]

Gilchrist TX - I hadn't seen this picture before

WOW... looks amazing almost like it's fake!

Someone got really lucky there.