Hurricane Ike targets Subsim (Texas)

[Torp III]

And his name is Ike. Batton down your hatches and dive deep. You'al take care down there Texas way. Sure now you get the wasser to put the fire out. We'll see you on the other side. We are all here with ya "Riden the Storm Out"

Danno

[Onkel Neal]

5:30 PM: Nothing to report. My friends Richard, Ryan, and Brenda came over to ride out the storm. We ordered pizza and watched Wild Hogs. Wind has picked up a bit. I'm beginning to wonder if this hurricane is a simulation generated by the gasoline and D cell battery lobbies....

[Stealth Hunter]

I have a bit of rain going on right now. I sent Wallie to my nephew and his family. Hopefully, he'll be safe there.

[Captain Vlad]

Good luck, guys.

[sonar732]

USS Bataan Returns from Successful Underway Training

NORFOLK (NNS) -- The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) pulled into its homeport of Norfolk, Sept. 11 following a successful underway when the ship completed a four day Hurricane Exercise (HURREX 08-002) and landing qualifications for pilots from Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 542 and Marine Medium Tilt-rotor Squadron (VMM) 263.

Perfect timing...fair winds and following seas as they are dispatched to the GOM for sure.

[sonar732]

Defense Department Readies Help as Ike Approaches Landfall

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2008 – With Hurricane Ike forecast to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow on the Texas coast, the Defense Department already is assisting civilian agencies.

U.S. Northern Command, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is coordinating DoD’s support.

The storm is expected to hit the coast as a strong Category 2 or possible Category 3 hurricane. A Category 2 storm has winds between 96 and 110 mph. A Category 3 has 111 to 130 mph winds. The storm surge is expected to be between 15 and 20 feet, officials said.

U.S. Transportation Command has evacuated more than 400 patients from Corpus Christi and Beaumont, Texas.

Defense coordinating elements are in place at federal and state emergency centers all along the Gulf Coast, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today.

Six DoD bases have been designated as staging and logistics bases in advance of Hurricane Ike. They are: Marine Logistics Base, Albany, Ga.; Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; and Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Some of those installations will provide lodging for Federal Emergency Management Agency urban search-and-rescue teams, Whitman said.

More than 1,500 active duty personnel are in a “prepare to deploy” status due to the storm.

NorthCom has more than 50 aircraft available for the response effort, and the USS Nassau is loading disaster relief supplies in Norfolk, Va.

“We are also looking at having a disaster relief team going aboard that,” Whitman said. The team would have a surgical team, utility landing craft and other support, he added.
The Nassau would support “what would be DoD’s primary mission, which would be to save and sustain lives and relieve suffering,” Whitman said.

About 11 million packaged meals are cached at sites in Louisiana and Texas, and another 50 million are available if needed. Trucks and flat-bottomed boats have been pre-positioned and will be ready to go into affected areas in the aftermath of the storm.

U.S. Air Forces Northern is establishing a search-and-rescue unit in preparation of Hurricane Ike landfall and in support of Texas Search and Rescue. The 331st Air Expeditionary Group is responsible for search-and-rescue operations, and will be located at Randolph Air Force Base. The unit’s helicopters can fly once the wind drops below 50 knots.

NorthCom also has ready to deploy a wide-area damage assessment capability that comprises manned and unmanned aircraft that can gauge the extent of damage once the storm passes. Officials used the assets to chart the California wildfires and in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

Bases along the path of the storm are reacting also, Whitman said. Air bases are evacuating or “hangaring” aircraft. “We are getting critical DoD assets in the path of the hurricane out of the way,” Whitman said.

[geetrue]

To answer bluebeards question:

Galveston is about 45 miles from Houston proper, but with urban sprawl it's probably a lot closer by now.

Saw rattlesnakes hanging on barbed wire fences after Hurricane Carla back in 1961 ... yep I was in that one when I was 17.

Here's some interesting reading while waiting for the surge to pass:http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/0...alveston.1900/

By KC Wildmoon (CNN) -- The worst weather disaster in American history took place in Galveston, Texas,
in 1900 when a hurricane estimated as a Category 4 intensity blew ashore, killing thousands of residents and obliterating the town.

PS I wasn't in that one lol

[mookiemookie]

A while back, History Channel had a great show on the 1900 Galveston hurricane. My girlfriend and I were talking about it....amazing how at that time they had to rely on weather observations from ships when they finally came into port, as they had no radio or wireless at the time. Yet we still have pretty good records on the 1900 hurricane track and strength and whatnot.

As of 7:00 here on the west side of Houston in the Galleria area, theres some pretty strong gusts of wind, but sustained wind isnt that bad. Saw a few sprinkles earlier today around 4:00 but that's it as far as rain goes.

Girlfriend and I are tucked in tight on my 3rd floor apartment. Our cars are in a covered parking garage on the 2nd floor, so we're not concerned with flooding. All the windows face a courtyard, too, so flying debris damage shouldn't be a problem. Food and water stocks are great, as well as the booze, so we're splicing the main brace and rigged for hurricane running.

[AVGWarhawk]

The latest is a high pressure system north of TX that will keep the storm moving very slowly over TX. This means dumping rain like mad!

[Stealth Hunter]

Maybe we won't be whirled away, Neal... maybe we'll drown.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

To rest your mind Neal, I have 150 trucks staged in Carville LA. I have over 300 trailers loaded with MRE, water, tarps and JFO kits at Carville and Port Allen. I have 5 86000# generators (these can light a small city) and 15 trailers of smaller generators in Carville as well.

I'd feel a lot better if I had one of those generators parked in my drive way right now. I'll PM you my address.

It's 2200 hours here, power is still on. Wind gusts have picked up to ~40 mph, food is still holding out pretty well but I'm eating non-stop now. Something about hurricanes makes me hungry. So far, things are peachy here.

PS: Richard says park one of those generators in Clute, too.

[RamRod]

Originally Posted by sonar732

Defense Department Readies Help as Ike Approaches Landfall

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2008 – With Hurricane Ike forecast to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow on the Texas coast, the Defense Department already is assisting civilian agencies.

Sonar732, it's really cool the US government is ready and set to assist those of us living along the gulf coast but... this is not New Orleans. I believe most of us Texans are actually prepared for this storm and will not require a fraction of the assistance Lousianna did. Check the ID's of any FEMA trailer applicant after this storm and I'm sure you'll find a transplanted resident of NO.

[Stealth Hunter]

I'm about to post a thread on this subject. Stand by. I've got a few things to say.

[cappy70]

,,,be safe down there and my thoughts with you guys in the path of ike ,,

[vois2]

Originally Posted by vois2

On 09-10-2008, 10:38 PM , vois2 wrote

It looks like this thing will make landfall within spitting distance of Galveston on either side ... and yet am I correct in my understanding that Galveston Island is *NOT* being evacated?

I don't know where Neal is exactly but he's probably closer in to Houston proper.

I'm no emergency modeler but I am thinking ... low-lying coastal island ... Cat 4 washing up very nearby ... not good for the dogs and the cats and the toddlers living on that island.

Well, hopefully the residents won't shoot firearms at the rescue helicopters landing on the island after the storm passes.

I wrote that 48 hrs ago when almost all the models had Ike coming in at Freeport. Mr. Ike decided to head in much closer and onto Galveston Island - not that Freeport would have been much better for the island itself considering the location of Galveston Island relative to (what was once predicted as) a Freeport landing. I haven't followed the news in the last couple of days but I do hope every living soul is off of Galveston Island.