Hurricane Ike---Human Impact

[hoghedge]

what time is daybreak? this is when the true extent of damage will be revealed.

Should be shortly within the hour, they're 6 hours behind us

KW Airport is N/E of downtown - just to the side of Humble, I am hearing debris, glass shards etc flying around downtown -

[Diane_W]

what time is daybreak? this is when the true extent of damage will be revealed.

Should be light in just over an hour.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

amazing picture in glaveston now it's in the eye of the storm

Anyone got any pictures of this?

[kold weather]

Well they will continue to get hit by the western eyewall for a little while yet hoggy, then from the south-west eyewall probably before Ike clears out but there is a lot of rain still on the backside of Ike but the region should be going through the worst of it now for the next few hours.

Edited September 13, 2008 by kold weather

[Nick F]

Unfortunately because Houston and the surrounding area are built on flat reclaimed drained marshland, flooding could be be a major problem, particularly as the worst of the heavy rain is yet to come on the Sern side of the eye south of Houston, looking at the radar, though I guess the drains are built to withstand heavy rains which are frequent visitor to the area, but whether it will withstand the rising river levels in the bayous. 6 to 8 inches of rain falling already south of Houston!

[hoghedge]

Unfortunately because Houston and the surrounding area are built on flat reclaimed drained marshland, flooding could be be a major problem, particularly as the worst of the heavy rain is yet to come on the Sern side of the eye south of Houston, looking at the radar, though I guess the drains are built to withstand heavy rains which are frequent visitor to the area, but whether it will withstand the rising river levels in the bayous. 6 to 8 inches of rain falling already south of Houston!

Yep - they're saying they are used to 6 inches and can cope - but then there seems to be another 6 on its way. Bayous are starting to look dodgy now.

JP Morgan building lost windows downtown. Bissenet - Greebriar impassable - Rice Village house oak tree landed on it. Medical Centre - Hospital St Lukes has windows break.

I was there during a storm once, and the water in the downtown area was just incredible, so this has to be way worse.

Thanks for the info KW

[Diane_W]

It's difficult to get a clear picture of the flooding due to this hurricane until it gets light,

but at the moment it doesn't look much worse than we had in the UK last year.

[jemtom]

It's difficult to get a clear picture of the flooding due to this hurricane until it gets light,

but at the moment it doesn't look much worse than we had in the UK last year.

I think you'll find it will be considerably worse than anything we experienced in the UK last year Diane, but as you say until it's light and winds have abated enough to get the planes and choppers airborn we really won't know the full extent of the devastation.

[kaz]

i think Diane is more talking about the extent of the flooding we had last yr not the strength of the winds.

Take it from someone who gets battered every year from the Atlantic storms what we are sadly seeing is far worse than anything we will ever experience just think Ike would have covered most of the UK if not all of it. Makes you think eh?

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Sounds like the people in the stranded boat are all safe! The coastguard has heard from them and is sending out a tug to rescue them.

[hoghedge]

The Freighter that was caught with engine trouble yesterday and is safe (they're sending a tug boat now to get it) Thank Goodness!

EDIT: We must be watching the same TV station StormforceB! Posted at the same time!

Edited September 13, 2008 by hoghedge

[*Stormforce~beka*]

I'm watching this ...

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

[tornadomanuk]

Buffalo Bayou (Stream/Creek to us UKers!) is now overflowing its banks in Houston - most other Bayous very close to overflowing now. The southern edge of the storm is taking slower to clear North than first thought. More bands of rain/thunderstorm keep forming and rotating from west to east almost like its 'backbuilding'.

[hoghedge]

Did you see that the gas stations have been profiteering over Louisiana etc... prices going up as people queued!

SB that's the one that most are watching....

Tornadomanuk - yes the pictures of Alan Parkway are now coming in with the light as everywhere else - Bush now addressing...

[geoffw]

damage does not look as bad as n initially thought

[tornadomanuk]

Seems to be a lot more focus on boiling/conserving water now - water supplies seem to be much more affected than previously estimated (or just standard precautions) + the fact that most of Houston is without power now too

Edited September 13, 2008 by tornadomanuk

[hoghedge]

Houston Chronicle www.chron.com has some interesting reports/pictures

[tinybill]

watching the local Houston news channels if Houston under water , hate to think what happening down in Galveston, looked on the local Houston traffic cams, cant get the traffic cams up

[bybo1999]

watching the local Houston news channels if Houston under water , hate to think what happening down in Galveston, looked on the local Houston traffic cams, cant get the traffic cams up

Probably because theres no power in houston

[tinybill]

Probably because theres no power in houston

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/feature?sectio...&id=6102015

its sounding they bad in Galveston its like a lake the reporters are saying

[Cookie]

Those people on that stranded ship are enduring 16 to 20 foot waves and winds of up to 130mph apparently.

thier kind of speeds and size is something we can't evern begin to imagine crazy

[geoffw]

am i right in saying the damage could have been a lot worse?

[hoghedge]

Geoff - think the damage could have of course been worse, but I think we're going to see some pretty bad stuff along the coast where there was no seawall - they're saying east and west of Galveston may be pretty bad. The storm surge certainly wasn't as bad for Galveston as it hit more to the East apparently... and so the resulting surge didn't top the wall at that area..

Seems some bayous are still rising as well -: which will mean more flooding

Lots of tree damage it seems

On the Houston Chronicle there was a report from a woman in Galveston @ 7:30 saying that the West side looked like a lake - you could see the rooftops and treetops though....

Sky were saying it could rate number 3 in cost after Katrina and Andrew....

Edited September 13, 2008 by hoghedge

[tinybill]

thier kind of speeds and size is something we can't evern begin to imagine crazy

yep the worst problem i,e, houston is flooding in houston

[geoffw]

thank god we averted a major tragedy