Hurricane Ike

[Navigator]

This is a link to 4 stations that are showing live coverage of Hurricane Ike as it comes ashore on the coast of Texas.

They all come up on your computer screen with the volume on.

So...first turn all 4 volumes down with the volume slide in the lower right corner of each picture. Then turn up the volume of the pictures you want to hear about.

Our prayers go out to those estimated 20,000 people in Galveston who did NOT evacuate despite the National Hurricane Centers warning that they are facing "certain death" if they choose to stay.

http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html

[Boreas]

20,000 people did not evacuate? I wonder what it would take to get them to hear the warnings. Wow.

It does sound like Houston is in for a rough ride. I wish them well.

[usmc1]

Depends on where they are in Galveston. If they are coastal, they are likely to be dead before the night is over. If they are inland, they might make it, if they are high enough, and if they are in Galveston county, especially North County, they should, most of them survive.

Houstonians, I understand, have been told that if they have a stable, well-built, single-family dwelling they should stay put. There are many issues that you're not hearing discussed yet, and let's hope they don't become a matter of discussion.

Much of Houston and surrounding areas were built on bogs, cane and rice fields and bayous. It is swampland. With the extensive buildup of the 70s, 80s, & 90s, experts have warned for years of catastrophe from run off and subsidence increased flooding in the event of a major "wet" hurricane. There is a layer of concrete over what was once water absorption fields, and the land has sunk. A bad combination if there is storm surge and torrential rain.

AND.....the ship channel. If the hurricane goes straight up the Houston ship channel into the chemical plants and oil refineries of Pasadena and Deer Park, we'll be looking at an economic and environmental catastrophe, which will make 9/11 and Katrina combined look like a minor accident.

This is a big old *******' storm, we're hundreds of miles away from the coast and have spent the day laying in a week's worth of non-perishable supplies, potable water, oiled the weapons and checked the ammunition and two-ways, battening down the hatches, and making certain there is nothing to fly about in winds that can be anywhere from 50 to 90 mph by tomorrow sometime.

I really fear that Galveston may be gone by tomorrow, much of Houston flooded and wind damaged, and the ship channel industries in a state of national catastrophe. Yes, there will be deaths

Anything less than that, and I'll be happy.

This will be my third. I did Camille, and Alesia, and now Ike. Ike has raised my eyebrows.

[usmc1]

This is a link to 4 stations that are showing live coverage of Hurricane Ike as it comes ashore on the coast of Texas.

They all come up on your computer screen with the volume on.

So...first turn all 4 volumes down with the volume slide in the lower right corner of each picture. Then turn up the volume of the pictures you want to hear about.

Our prayers go out to those estimated 20,000 people in Galveston who did NOT evacuate despite the National Hurricane Centers warning that they are facing "certain death" if they choose to stay.

http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html

Damn, good find, we're glued to it, beats teh nets and twc, even saw an old colleague of mine Bill Balleza

[lordshipmayhem]

I'm watching CNN right now, and the commentator just said, "And now for clothing, er, closing comments."

Freudian slip, maybe? ^_^

[lordshipmayhem]

20,000 people did not evacuate? I wonder what it would take to get them to hear the warnings.

A large wall of water, but by then it'll be too late. Funny how that works, what?

I wish them all the best, too, in Houston and everywhere else in Ike's path, but I fear many of those 20,000 are going swimming. :(

I do NOT like THIS Ike.

[garbo]

Having lived through the extreme flooding of TS Fay recently, the 3 hurricanes in '04 and countless others prior that, my best wishes go out to the folks in Texas. I know what you are going through. It is always a big decision to ride out the storm or evacuate. Here in Central Florida many of us are prepared with hurricane survival with supplies, food, water and many have small generators as well. One of my neighbors who recently went through a major home remodeling, installed a larger generator which will turn on automatically when the power goes out and can provide power to the entire house, including the a/c. I feel many people in Texas may be less prepared as they are not subject to these fierce storms as frequently as we are. My prayers go out to you.

[Navigator]

People do interesting things during emergencies sometimes.

Anyone who was watching the Hurricane Ike news Friday afternoon probably saw the clip of the guy (or girl) in a bear suit dancing along the top of the Galveston breakwater in the wind and spray from the breaking waves. The media played it over and over.

I've heard that The Weather Channel also showed a clip of a guy dancing naked in the wind and rain as the eyewall passed through Houston. I didn't see this and...probably since the guy was naked...TWC doesn't seem to be showing it anymore. Maybe it will show up on YouTube. Did anyone here happen to see it...or maybe capture a video clip?

Another one I missed seeing was the clip of Heraldo Rivera getting too close to the breaking waves and getting knocked down by one of them on camera. I spent a good amount of time yesterday on an internet forum for professional Meterologists who reported it on that forum and were cheering for the Gulf of Mexico...not Heraldo: "Come on Gulf...Take him! Take him!" :D:D:D

[usmc1]

We lost power from 2PM until 6PM. Neighbor's tree down on carport, & Car.

Other than that, we're still dealing with TS level wind and rain, but it is moving east NE.

I'm thinking this was the "wet one" that Houston had been warned of for years, can't build on swamp, cane and rice paddies and expect any different.

All my Houston peeps have checked in, we're cool.

Galveston was!

[hm0504]

Actual headline from CNN's front page: "Bush lands in Texas; Residents urged to leave"

The longer form in the actual story isn't quite so droll:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/16/hurricane.ike/index.html

[Naturist Mark]

By most reports FEMA did a better job responding to IKE than it did to Katrina, but there are rumors of some appalling failures. But not on the news. Unlike New Orleans after Katrina where the press managed to deploy much more successfully than government relief workers, on the Bolivar Peninsula (southeast of Galveston Bay) the press is being kept out. News flights over the region have been banned by the FAA, but eyewitness reports from the few who rode out the storms describe unimaginable devastation - whole towns literally erased from the landscape - even roads are missing. And bodies. But you won't see it on the TV machine - news is not allowed.

http://tfr.faa.gov/save_maps/map_8_8191.gif

FAA no-fly zone in red

<blockquote> (via Daily Kos freepress4all (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/14/22830/8407/27/598996) diary) I just called the FAA Houston TRACON to ask who issued the NOTAM. The Controller I spoke with was surprised that there was no indication in the file to indicate who issued the order, so he refereed me to the Flight Services Station (FSS) in Fort Worth.

First surprise is that was used to be the FAA FSS is now privatized as "Lockheed Martin Flight Services" but that will have to be another diary for another day. Anyway, Flight Services could not tell me who issued or authorized the NOTAM. Nothing in the record. So FSS referred me to the NOTAM office in Washington, DC. Called NOTAM office. Guess what? No indicaiton in the record as to who authorized the NOTAM. Only indication is that it was authorized and issued by "FAA Headquarters" in Washington, DC. Only thing he could do was refer me to the FAA FOIA Office and suggest I file a FOIA request.

What is FAA Headquarters in Washington DC doing issuing a No Fly Order for a small strip of otherwise deserted shoreline in Texas?

This story feels like it might have legs.

...

News Blackout

At the same time, in an unprecedented move, the FAA is keeping all of the news helicopters and other private aviation away from the disaster areas. The FAA has issued NO FLY ORDERS that prevents all general aviation aircraft from flying within one mile of the worst of the stricken areas, specifically the areas along the Boliver Peninsula, including the cities of Crystal Beach and Gilcrest, and the coastal city of High Island. Evacuees from those areas are reporting almost total devastation, but the media is not being allowed to see the areas and report the story.

What Are They Hiding?

What is the Bush administration hiding? Are they hiding FEMA's failures? Are they hiding the results of a natural disaster?

Obviously it has to be both. The last thing they need right now is for the public to see anything that reminds them of the absolute failures of FEMA and the Bush administration during Katrina.

...

Watch the video titled: "Wayne Dolcefino confronts Gov. Perry." (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6391268)

freepress4all (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/14/22830/8407/27/598996)</blockquote>

Excerpt from the videolink above:

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/arptvzj5bEE"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/arptvzj5bEE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

[lordshipmayhem]

One of the things that all governments and conspiracy theorists have to come to grips with is that in this day when every bloody cell-phone comes with the ability to take pictures, the Internet has a world-wide reach and everyone with a blog thinks they're the next Edward R. Murrow, nothing stays secret long.

You may have to wait a few days before you get to cell phone service and you get your cell phone recharged, but so many of us have such a device that it doesn't take more than a few days to get disquieting pictures to start circulating, on sites located beyond any regime's power to take them down.

If the government IS hiding anything, they're doing a poor job of it. CNN had pictures taken from an aircraft of one town in Texas that had one (1) house still standing, and that two-storey structure was a writeoff. They had a live interview with the woman whose family was the owner (she said it would have been better if Ike had leveled the structure, sparing them the trouble). All the rest of the houses in town consisted of the foundations or concrete pads they'd been sitting on, and that was pretty well about it.