ATL: IKE Discussion

[Deathray]

It does seem quite apparent that there is a media quarantine on Galveston Island. Checking Google News, there are NO eyewitness reports coming out from the eastern and western portions of the island.

We are going to find out the news, good or bad, sooner or later. I fear that this quarantine is so that emergency response personnel can "sanitize" the most impacted areas before any real reporting is done. That may be the sensitive thing to do, but I'm not at all clear that it's truly in the public interest.

It's not as much about being quarantined as it is the fact that it's flooded is it not? So they can't drive their and would require boats to survey damage

Although, media helicopters are not allowed in the air as of yet, so yeah, their ability to report has been reduced

[soonertwister]

But yeah, major kudos to the NHC. Once again they did an amazing job.

The NHC was remarkably on target with Ike. They gave everyone all the needed time to evacuate comfortably from danger. It's just a darned shame that more didn't heed the warning.

We don't know what's happened at Galveston, but looking at places like Kemah, Seabrook and others on the east side of Galveston Bay, that area appears heavily devastated.

[O Town]

First-hand accounts from reporters from Austin Statesman in Galveston. .. Pictures from the Austin Statesman newspaper

Pretty devastating pictures there luker.
They sure have alot of work ahead.

Just talked to a guy who was in soaking-wet jeans. Says he was at a bar at a hurricane party and water came up to his waist.

Wonder what happened to the folks that were on the poop deck?

[Frank2]

This from Jeff Masters:

Houston Hobby Airport on the south side of town recorded winds of 75 mph, gusting to 92 mph, at 6 am CDT today. The winds likely were higher, but the anemometer failed. The airport measured a central pressure of 960 mb as the eye passed just to the east. Houston Intercontinental Airport on the north side of town recorded top winds of 56 mph, gusting to 70 mph. Eagle Point on Galveston Bay, at the northern end of Texas City, recorded sustained winds of 68 mph, gusting to 87 mph, at 1:34 am CDT. Top winds measured at Galveston Pleasure Pier were 60 mph, and the station recorded a pressure of 952 mb as the eye of Ike passed over. Top winds at Sabine Pass on the Louisiana border were a sustained 70 mph. Much higher winds undoubtedly occurred on Galveston Island and nearby coastal areas, but the anemometers failed before these winds were recorded. An experimental wind analysis done by NOAA's Hurricane Research Division suggests that Category 2 force winds probably only affected a 40-mile stretch of coast northeast of Galveston. There were no weather stations there to record these peak winds.

So, at least we are pretty sure the winds in the Galveston and Houston area were not as high as they could have been...

[Frank2]

Oh, boy - before I leave the computer, as a Hurricane Andrew "person" let me advise all here to be VERY careful when it comes to the "someone just told me" rumor...

For a few weeks reports kept circulating of high numbers killed in South Dade County due to Andrew, but, in reality, there were 15 fatalities, and, 2 or 3 directly due to someone being crushed by falling debris...

Andrew was in the days before Internet use was common, so, I can only imagine what is being said today - only listen to official information, not what someone else said to someone else, since it's the usual way of a story getting blown completely out of proportion by one person telling the next, and so on...

We learned that after Andrew, and, it's worth mentioning now...

Frank

P.S. Yesterday the (Florida) Governor's office stated that individual blogs were causing a gas rush across the country, and, blamed them for making the public believe in statements that are not true - that speaks for itself...

[CrazyC83]

This from Jeff Masters:

Houston Hobby Airport on the south side of town recorded winds of 75 mph, gusting to 92 mph, at 6 am CDT today. The winds likely were higher, but the anemometer failed. The airport measured a central pressure of 960 mb as the eye passed just to the east. Houston Intercontinental Airport on the north side of town recorded top winds of 56 mph, gusting to 70 mph. Eagle Point on Galveston Bay, at the northern end of Texas City, recorded sustained winds of 68 mph, gusting to 87 mph, at 1:34 am CDT. Top winds measured at Galveston Pleasure Pier were 60 mph, and the station recorded a pressure of 952 mb as the eye of Ike passed over. Top winds at Sabine Pass on the Louisiana border were a sustained 70 mph. Much higher winds undoubtedly occurred on Galveston Island and nearby coastal areas, but the anemometers failed before these winds were recorded. An experimental wind analysis done by NOAA's Hurricane Research Division suggests that Category 2 force winds probably only affected a 40-mile stretch of coast northeast of Galveston. There were no weather stations there to record these peak winds.

So, at least we are pretty sure the winds in the Galveston and Houston area were not as high as they could have been...

Downtown and west Houston was on the west side of the storm so they missed the highest winds. The highest winds would have been in the eastern suburbs - Baytown, Kingwood, La Porte, Deer Park, etc.

Galveston was dead in the center of the eye, as were some mid-eastern suburbs. I believe Intercontinental Airport was just inside the eye.

[CrazyC83]

The town of Gilchrist is "gone".

Not surprised. I'd expect severe to catastrophic damage on the Bolivar Peninsula and on the eastern shores of Galveston Bay with the maximum storm surge. East Galveston could be really bad as well.

[bob rulz]

This from Jeff Masters:

Houston Hobby Airport on the south side of town recorded winds of 75 mph, gusting to 92 mph, at 6 am CDT today. The winds likely were higher, but the anemometer failed. The airport measured a central pressure of 960 mb as the eye passed just to the east. Houston Intercontinental Airport on the north side of town recorded top winds of 56 mph, gusting to 70 mph. Eagle Point on Galveston Bay, at the northern end of Texas City, recorded sustained winds of 68 mph, gusting to 87 mph, at 1:34 am CDT. Top winds measured at Galveston Pleasure Pier were 60 mph, and the station recorded a pressure of 952 mb as the eye of Ike passed over. Top winds at Sabine Pass on the Louisiana border were a sustained 70 mph. Much higher winds undoubtedly occurred on Galveston Island and nearby coastal areas, but the anemometers failed before these winds were recorded. An experimental wind analysis done by NOAA's Hurricane Research Division suggests that Category 2 force winds probably only affected a 40-mile stretch of coast northeast of Galveston. There were no weather stations there to record these peak winds.

So, at least we are pretty sure the winds in the Galveston and Houston area were not as high as they could have been...

Why do most anemometers fail at such relatively low wind speeds, even official ones?

[Bunkertor]

Anahuac, Beach City, Smith Point, Bolivar, Crystal Beach, etc. all much worse than anything on tv right now.

What is the common stuff to heat the homes over there ? Gas or oil ?

[funster]

That Austin Statement reporter has a good Twitter going as mentioned above. The Houston Chronicle has one as well. It plus several others are listed here: http://twitter.com/hurricanes/statuses/917277150
on the http://twitter.com/hurricanes twitter

[BlueIce]

Anahuac, Beach City, Smith Point, Bolivar, Crystal Beach, etc. all much worse than anything on tv right now.

What is the common stuff to heat the homes over there ? Gas or oil ?

Natural Gas is the most commonly used heating source

[wx247]

Johnson Space Center has damage... some buildings have lost roofs. Guppy hangar is also gone, according to KHOU-TV.

[Frank2]

Anemometers fail due to power loss or damage to the instrument or the pole it's mounted on, though you have a good point - they need to build one that can be rated up to 200 mph...

The problem is that it needs to be mounted high enough (a certain number of feet away from buildings) to make the reading accurate, and, that makes it vulnerable to damage to the instrument or the pole itself...

[artist]

The Strand on Galveston Island under 6-8 ft. of water.

can you tell me where you got that info? I have a cousin whose house is behind the Strand. Thanks

[cycloneye]

Jim Cantore just said that he has information not confirmed about many people missing in the eastern part of Galveston.

[mattpetre]

Missouri City, TX -- It was a long night, but no big damage in our immediate area... roof shingles off, fences down, and a few trees down here and there (ok, numerous branches.) We got out power back at 12:30... thank you CenterPointe! The following were my measurements from weather station I just bought. (No idea how accurate.)

Max Wind Sustained = 47.4 mph
Max Wind Gust = 69.1 mph
Min Barometric = 969 hPa
Max Barom (before storm) = 1012 hPa

Just a little more info to share. Prayers with those that were in worse parts of the storm.

[soonertwister]

I was just looking at video of one skyscraper in downtown Houston, and at least on one side of the building, every single window top to bottom was blown out.

[patgaz]

It does seem quite apparent that there is a media quarantine on Galveston Island. Checking Google News, there are NO eyewitness reports coming out from the eastern and western portions of the island.

We are going to find out the news, good or bad, sooner or later. I fear that this quarantine is so that emergency response personnel can "sanitize" the most impacted areas before any real reporting is done. That may be the sensitive thing to do, but I'm not at all clear that it's truly in the public interest.

Just had txt from UTMB, damage to hospital not bad but still flooded.

[bob rulz]

Anemometers fail due to power loss or damage to the instrument or the pole it's mounted on, though you have a good point - they need to build one that can be rated up to 200 mph...

The problem is that it needs to be mounted high enough (a certain number of feet away from buildings) to make the reading accurate, and, that makes it vulnerable to damage to the instrument or the pole itself...

Sometimes we do get the rare anemometer that records gusts that high, but I'm sure it gets frustrating when you're looking into a hurricane effect's and find that every single anemometer along its path failed with cat 1 gusts. I mean, they are built to measure WIND speeds after all.

Power failures OTOH I can understand more but surely there's a way to overcome that?

[MaryEllen71]

Jim Cantore just said that he has information not confirmed about many people missing in the eastern part of Galveston.

If thats true, I'm not surprised