Prayers for those of you in Texas & Ike's path

**LCHIEN** · 09-13-2008, 02:21 PM

I spoke with my family a while ago and the worst of the storm is past and the remnants are headed north, well past houston although they are still getting mild wind and rain from its trailing edge.

On the west side of town, they got torrential rain and strong winds that broke a lot of tree branches. The power went out early... not long after Ike made landfall and well before teh eye passed Houston. The word is that 90% of houston area customers (some 4.5 million people) are without power and it might take 2 to four weeks to restore to all.

So this is a recap of what I'm hearing:
The eye passed just to the left of Galveston and to the right of houston which is 60 miles north of Galveston.
The worst brunt was taken by galveston island with storm surge of 14, 17 and 20 feet (depending upon which end of the island you were on) which basically overwhelmed the west end of the island (mostly dunes and some beach homes) and the east end where the city, seawall, businesses, hotels etc. are with 20 feet surge + tides overtopping the 12-15 ft. seawall put up after the 1900 storm. An estimated 20,000 people failed to evacuate despite city orders. Water may have been 5-10 feet in downtown galveston. There may have been a lot of as yet unreported deaths in Galveston.
At 9PM Sat, some 5 hours before the eye of the storm hit Galveston, there were over calls to Galv 911 requesting emergency help, basically they were told rescue crews could not get out at all.

There was also a comparable surge on east of Galveston and the Houston ship channel openeing, on the Bolivar peninsula. this low lying area was completely washed over, fortunately it has always been low and the coast behind it is very sparsely populated.

These is also reputedly a lot of wind damage in downtown Houston and probably areas a few miles to the east of the immediate downtown area.

**Ed62** · 09-13-2008, 05:47 PM

Originally posted by Bruce Cohen

Sitting here somewhat dry in NY, we want you to know you're in our hearts and prayers.

Hopefully you'll miss the worst of the storm, and maybe it will curve off and stay in the Gulf.

Just want you to know we're thinking about you.

Bruce

That was a nice post, Bruce. Our prayers are with them too.

Ed

**ironhat** · 09-13-2008, 06:01 PM

Originally posted by Ed62

That was a nice post, Bruce. Our prayers are with them too.

Ed

Yea, I'll ditto that Bruce. Good on ya, sir. Prayers up for coastal Texas.

**shoottx** · 09-13-2008, 06:48 PM

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those on the coast. Looks like Galveston and South Houston and suburbs took the brunt.

Here is a great storm tracking site. http://www.stormpulse.com/fullscreen/current
Ike is about 100 miles east of the DFW area. We are getting light rain and some high winds. Storm is starting to peter out.

**goslin23** · 09-13-2008, 10:03 PM

My family and house made it through just fine. We are 20 miles west of Houston near Katy. lot's of rain and wind. The only thing that happened was the rain guage fell off the fence. We lost power for a total of 3 minutes, power is on internet is up and my Buckeyes are getting slaughtered by USC.

The folks in other parts of town weren't so lucky and my thoughts and prayers are with them. I'm not sure that I'll be able to go back to work Monday, but we'll see.

**Uncle Cracker** · 09-13-2008, 10:22 PM

dbhost lives in League City. Although he did the smart thing and got the heck outta there, I have seen many pictures from League City today that show major flooding. I hope his place was spared.

**billwmeyer** · 09-14-2008, 01:20 AM

Ike

I hope and pray for the best for you in and around Galveston and Houston. Heck, we are even getting hit with Ike's remnants in Kansas! It has been raining all day and between 10 pm and 6 am Sunday, we are supposed to get an additional 3 to 6" of rain. With this much rain in Kansas from Ike, I cannot imagine what happened in Texas.

Bill

**Pappy** · 09-14-2008, 08:19 AM

Hopefully all the members from the coast will be able to check in over the next few days. Some of the hardest hit areas may be without power for 2-3 weeks.

The forecast for the Austin area started out as 50-60 mph winds and an 80% chance of heavy rains. Mid-morning Satuday it was down to 25 mph and 20%. By the afternoon we had sunshine, a light wind, and temps around 100. Did get some light rain last night but I haven't checked the gauge yet.

**dbhost** · 09-14-2008, 09:51 PM

I am still evacuated. I have no idea if I still have a house... My home was very close to Kemah TX on the far east side of League City. I have reason to believe I may not have a home to go back to... I sure wish somebody woud go look for me...

**codaman33** · 09-14-2008, 10:15 PM

I'll go check.

I will go check for you if I can get over there. I live in Clear Lake, and luckily, I have sustained no damage. I have already been down on my knees saying my thanks, but if there is something that I can do for you, please let me know. That isn't too far away if I can get in. To read my saga, check the post in what did you do this weekend section? Thank God it is over, and good luck to all who are going to try and come back. We have a lot of clean up, both big and little, ahead of us.

**Kristofor** · 09-14-2008, 10:25 PM

I can easily imagine the Kemah and Clear Lake folks getting wet. We have an office in Webster and I have been staying at the Hilton by NASA when I go down there. There were lots of pics on the CNN website from/of that hotel and the nearby area. I hope for the best for you DBhost.

One good piece of news was that the surge was apparently like 10' lower than they were forecasting. If it would have been 10' higher it seems like it would have had an even more widespread impact, and you might not have been quite so lucky Codaman..