With Ike bearing down on the Texas coast, I’m taking a break from political blogging. What are you hearing about the storm? I’m hearing that there are tornadoes all the way up in Kansas City and way, way too much water. This storm is going to cause a tremendous amount of property damage.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I’m concerned about all Americans in Ike’s path, the potential for damage is huge. I’m also wondering about any pond dwellers that find themselves in harms way. I would like to hear from them about their own local situation. All of you out there that are going to be affected, we are thinking about you and hope that you escape with minimal/no ill effects. Take care and be safe.
From what I can tell, this thing is a beast of a storm, some 750 miles across. It’s going to drive a storm surge of 20-30 feet straight up Galveston Bay and deep into Houston.
Houston residents mostly stay put. They thought they could ride it out. It’s too late now.
BooMan, guys, all of you, seriously, this is going to be bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
A lot of Americans are going to die tonight. They didn’t have to. Houston officials decided to not evacuate like they did because of Rita…after all Rita bypassed Galveston Bay. It wasn’t worst case scenario, and it was a disaster of an evac.
So this time they counted on it again. It’s coming right up Galveston Bay tonight. It was a gamble by Texas officials. It’s a gamble a lot of people are going to lose tonight and they will pay with their lives.
And this is Refinery Row, too. Some 25-30% of US oil refinery capacity is between Houston/Galveston and Port Arthur to the east. It’s all right in the path of the storm surge. It’s going to get swamped. A full quarter of our country’s refining capacity is gonna be down until further notice, guys.
“Catastrophic” isn’t going to begin to describe this.
What Katrina did to NOLA, Ike is going to do to Houston.
Pray tonight.
There will be no Galveston, Texas after this storm. The surge is going to put 90% of that city under water. This is truly a bad scene.
Bush has two hurricanes on his plate:
Hurricane No:1 IKE
Chertoff made sure to have a CYA presser
Hurricane No: 2 is financial:
I’ve been to Galveston. Wanted to go there ever since I first heard that haunting Jimmy Webb song by that name. It’s a cool little piece of America. But yeah – the ocean is just right there. I have no idea how this is going to play out.
Not to make light of the storm, but North Carolina is almost out of gas already. Police are directing traffic at the few stations that still have gas. Since I only had 1/8 of a tank I tried to get some today to make it through the weekend and was very lucky to find a station that still had gas but had to buy premium and a limit of 10 gallons.
Is that still remnants of Hannah?
Nope, the local news says it’s from Ike and interrupting the production and distribution from the refineries in the Gulf.
I remember right after we got back from China, right after Katrina and around the time of Rita. Even here in Canada, there are loooong lines at the gas station.
It looks like I’ll stay on my bike. I wait in enough lines to get to America.
are there any refineries that are not in a disaster state?
Sure. The one in Saudi Arabia.
And those idiots were actually chanting “Drill baby, drill” in St. Paul. Obama should put up an ad in which he juxtaposes scenes of shut-down oil rigs being buffeted by the hurricane and refineries strewn with damage and debris, of which there will be plenty, with ten seconds of those idiots in cowboy hats chanting “Drill baby drill” and “Drill here drill now.” No voiceover, no screen text. Just shots of the oil rigs getting blasted by mother Nature and then idiots in cowboy hats shouting to drill more. It would cost them nothing to make and I think would have a devastating effect. Thoughts?
Shoot, make that yourself and upload to YouTube. I agree – that would be powerful!
Obama should put up an ad in which he juxtaposes scenes of shut-down oil rigs being buffeted by the hurricane and refineries strewn with damage and debris
Excellent idea!!
I read at Kos that the 1,000 prisoners and guards weren’t evacuated from the jail in Galveston.
WATCH 4 Houston TV Stations re: IKE coverage here.
http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html
that won’t be up for long unless by generators IKE heads for Houston.
Ike went from one end of Cuba to the other after Gustav had already crossed it. This has been the worst storm pair for Cuba in 50 years. Here’s an eyewitness report from Cuba and here’s a snippet:
2 hurricanes – Gustav and IKE and only 4 persons died. Cuba has the best Hurricane prep, evac and shelters in this hemisphere.
Ike took 4 days to cross Cuba.
When the National Weather Service says something like;
IF YOU STAY, YOU WILL DIE
WRITE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON YOUR ARM IN PERMANENT MARKER SO THAT YOU CAN BE IDENTIFIED LATER
I find it hard to be concerned about those who stayed in Galveston.
I take folks at their word when they use language like that.
Pray for all of them, in whatever religion you practice.
A lot of smart weather people post on the Hurricane City message board so I browse it frequently to get the gist of what they’re thinking and posting.
These people are very good. When Katrina was still crossing Florida, they were predicting that it would intensify into a huge monster. They knew it; it’s inexcusable that WH ignored it
Anyway, tonight, they have two main points:
1. Hurricane parties and people who didn’t evacuate Galveston and the coastine will provide some grim statistics.
Just one example:,
Some posters are describing the effects like a long tsunami flood, and maybe 30 foot flood on Galveston.
That’s because…
2. Ike is the 2nd-most powerful storm in the past 20 years.
Heck, we’re on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico (St. Petersburg) and there are unusually high tides here.
I might have sounded cold, and I didn’t want to. But, damn, what did the National Weather Service have to do – come to their door and personally evacuate them?
The wording was so cold. so straight forward. scared me.
I have a hard time believing it, but FOX News has Geraldo Rivera standing on top of that 17′ seawall in Galveston reporting live. I knew the man was a drama king, but there are limits..
I never understood the whole hurricane party thing. They’re popular in Florida, although nowhere near the water. But we’re Floridians. We’re supposed to do crazy shit. (We even have our own tag on Fark.) It’s one thing if you’re far enough inland and can get together to keep company in your house, but at a bar on Galveston Bay? That’s fucking suicide. Anyone who survives it, if any do, needs to be tied up and shipped to the nuthouse.
The local news is all about the derailment of a commuter Metrolink train here in Los Angeles. At least 10 are confirmed dead, and some 100 are injured, but there may more – the train is on its side, and we don’t know who else might be in trouble.
The Fire Dept and LAPD are all over this, and the mayor is speaking now. The pictures look awful. And I know people who take such trains.
If any of you believe in prayer, while praying for hurricane victims, please keep the train victims in your mind as well. This is really a bad news day, on so many levels.
Any chance of Ike hitting Crawford, Texas?
Seems alot of folks evacted here to Corpus Christi. Since I got to work this afternoon the traffic on Shoreline Blvd is about twice what I’ve ever seen. Also more people walking the seawall this afternoon than usual. Tides are also up a good deal. I don’t have the details, but it seems 2 people got washed off one of our numerous jetties, probably at Port Aransas. 1 got beat up pretty bad on the rocks and I heard the other hadn’t been found. As for anyone staying in Galveston, they must have a death wish. Also read about half the people of Beaumont didn’t leave. The next 24/36 hours are going to be deadly indeed.
The KC tornadoes were from a different system. However, Arkansas and Missouri both are gonna get deluged from Ike over the next couple days.
As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I lived in Galveston (and Houston) for a few years – was there for the last direct strike (Alicia, in 1983). That was bad. From the first reports this morning, this looks to be far worse.
The storm surge apparently wasn’t as bad as feared, which will doubtless save a lot of lives; the center hit the eastern tip of the island, meaning the worst of the surge hit mostly uninhabited (for a reason!) Bolivar Peninsula. That’s a blessing. But it still looks grim. Very, very grim. Aside from a few tops of trees and houses, the western half of the island (beyond the Seawall) is virtually indistinguishable from the Gulf. A lot of people lived there. Many of them didn’t evacuate.
If someone finds out any info regarding ROSHARON TX which is south of Houston I would appreciate it. My sister lives there and has not gotten in touch.
Aside from having no electricity, I’d bet the phone lines are jammed. Hope she’s okay.
I tried calling and know that the lines are down. she said she would use her cell, but hasn’t called yet.
We had an ice storm a couple of years ago and our cell phones didn’t work because so many people were using theirs.
Thanks SN that is good to know.