If you are reading this from Galveston, or if you have friends from the Galveston area, it is time for you to get out:
On the hurricane’s present path the surge will certainly top the Galveston sea wall, and he estimates that if the path holds your chances of living through the night if you’re still on Galveston island are probably less than 50%.
Seriously, folks. Grab the kids, the pets, and GTFO.
Brendan Loy has the coverage.
Zifnab25
And it’s going straight for Houston. As a Houstonian, I’d just like to say “Hello, from Dallas”, although I know more than a few people who are sticking around to weather the storm.
But yeah, Galveston is just getting flooded by storm surge. How much you wanna bet the good folks down at GOP central will be cooking up bits to read on the Congressional floor about how everyone living on a hurricane-prone island is stupid and we should just let the city drown without a second thought to rebuilding?
Oh wait, Galveston is in Texas, not Louisiana…
toujoursdan
I have been watching the coverage on KHOU
http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes
It’s amazing (depressing) how quickly the water is rising. People are still on the beach taking pictures not knowing that the rising water is going to cut off their out off the island.
toujoursdan
I have been watching the coverage on KHOU
http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes
It’s amazing (depressing) how quickly the water is rising. People are still on the beach taking pictures not knowing that the rising water is going to cut off their route off the island.
norbizness
Better weather coverage for locals here. The seawall is 16 feet, the potential storm surge 20 feet. Of course, I think mandatory evacuations for the island were ordered several days ago.
The problem is that people (not at LGM) conflate the different areas: Houston is 50 miles inland, and nothing short of an Andrew should get them to leave. It’s coastal areas, which include Galveston Island and about 20 miles inland, as well as all places along Galveston Bay to the east (Baytown, Ship Channel, Kemah, even the Johnson Space Center on Clear Lake), which should have bailed.
My parents are right on the edge (southern Harris County along 288), but are not evacuating because there’s no surge that would reach them, 35 miles inland. Wind-and-tornado wise, it’ll be just a little weaker than Alicia (1983), whose major damage again was from storm surge (the destroyed Brownwood subdivision in Baytown, along Galveston Bay, from a 12′ storm surge).
There will also be localized flooding due to rain along bayous and creeks, but that’s a constant concern for Houstonians. Also: here’s the traffic map. I think there’s about 12-18 hours to go, and maybe 3-6 before it starts getting squall-y.
Ripley
Just curious, cuz I’m not watching the teevee, but are McCain and Palin in Galveston to show how much they care and how super prepared they are?
Dennis - SGMM
Ike is on the same track as the hurricane of 1900. That one killed 6000 men, women and children. It’s eerily coincidental that the 1900 hurricane hit Galveston on September 8th.
Here’s hoping that those in the way of Ike get to safety.
crack
Anyone know any good adblocker software? I love the site and Cole, but I can’t take seeing Charles fucking Johnson and Michelle Malkin every time I come here.
Notorious P.A.T.
You may have survived a previous hurricane but that doesn’t mean this one will be as easy. Get out!
Cris
I can see how McCain wants to avoid another “Maverick shares birthday cake with Decider while New Orleans drowns” photo moment, but it’s just silly for either presidential candidate to visit a disaster zone as though they could actually do anything about it.
The President got criticism for goofing off during Katrina because the chief executive actually has the authority to act in such a situation. A Senator or Governor from another state has nothing to do down there but get wet and ask for your vote.
chopper
ha! the convention’s over, silly.
Don
I hope Galveston pulls through okay; I was there a year and a half ago while working on a conference and was struck by how pretty “old” Galveston is. If you were teleported from the French Quarter in New Orleans to Galveston you might not be able to tell the difference.
Except the beer’s a lot cheaper.
Conservatively Liberal
I use SeaMonkey browser (right click on any page image and select “Block Images From This Server”) to control images and popups (you can also manually add the URL to the image blocking function), and I install the FlashBlock mod to block all Flash Player media (replaces the Flash with a frame you can click on if you want to play it).
Everywhere I go, I block image URLs from ad sites and I can control all Flash media. Works for me.
DonnaInMichigan
Well the ones that decided to evacuate have already done so.
The one’s planning on riding out the storm, will stay no matter what kind of scare tactics are thrown at them.
Our family has tried….
Uncle Jim (my husbands uncle) told us he was going to evacuate, now is planning on staying to ride this out. He wants to take photographs.
Every family member has called him to tell him to get the hell out. Like he said, he’s 75…..if he dies, then he dies…..but he’s not going anywhere….this is where he’s spent his whole adult life, and he doesn’t want to run.
We’ll probably be burying Uncle Jim, next week. Stay tuned.
Lee
They are estimating 37k have not evacuated and will need to be rescued.
I know it’s cold and heartless, but do we really have to rescue them? At this point they made the choice to stay.
Zifnab25
Some people are too poor to leave. Some people are too old. Some people are too stupid. At the end of the day, I think they’ll receive such lackluster aid that you won’t really have to worry. The only thing worse than the meager assistance they receive will be the extraordinary price-tag. And that won’t have anything to do with the humanitarian actions so much as with who has what connections at the Governor’s mansion.
Dropping a few hundred thousand dollars to suffer the fools isn’t really a financial problem when you stack it up to all the graft that goes on in this state.
Common Sense
I live in Houston (Midtown, which is around 40 miles from the Gulf). I have moved my car to an indoor garage and have enough to survive for around a week. I’m on the second story of a small three story building, so I’m not too worried for myself. I’m prepared to lose power and stay at home. The biggest fear, one Chertoff called a nightmare scenario, may be coming to fruition. Ike may head up the Houston Ship Channel, creating a funneled targeted tsunami. In the immediate vicinity lies around a quarter of America’s refining capacity. My great aunt’s son in law works for Shell Oil and said there was no safeguard along the channel to prevent a storm surge, however Shell’s refineries are around 15 feet above the water line — nowhere close to enough to withstand Ike. The amount of chemical sludge going into the gulf would be an environmental catastrophe, and I can’t help but think that much water coming into a far more densely populated area (SE Houston wasn’t under mandatory evac)could really end up being tragic.
The aforementioned great aunt lives less than a mile from the channel. She wouldn’t evacuate because her zip code wasn’t mandatory and she didn’t want to tie up the roads. I’ve been in touch and she has moved everything that is critical to life to her attic. At this point all we can do is pray.
LiberalTarian
The Houston Chron has pictures up.
If you have enough money to have dogs, you have enough money to get them out of harm’s way with you when you evacuate. Did these folks leave their dogs in the backyard, fenced up, to take their chances? If they did, I hope these people get charged with animal cruelty. Pets are a responsibility, not a convenience.
Special Reports
Galveston Texas is being hit by Hurricane Ike as we write this. SpecialReport.com is located about 30 miles from Galveston, and we are showing pictures from HoustonHideFromtheWind.org because their servers are slow. http://specialreport.com/hurricane-ike-pictures-from-galveston-tx/
Epicanis
We’re almost 100 miles inland, but it looks like Ike’s path has shifted in the last day or so such that it’s predicted to go more or less right over the top of us…
I’m just hoping that the power outages will be minimal and there’ll be no serious wind (including tornado) related damage to our property here.
If it’s gentle enough with us and doesn’t leave me with a lot of cleaning up to do, I’m hoping I can get out and paddle around on Lake Conroe to check out the damages on Monday once things have settled down.
Betsy
They are estimating 37k have not evacuated and will need to be rescued.
From where? And what’s your source? I doubt that’s all from Galveston – that would be more than half the island’s population, and I think far fewer people than that have stayed. Certainly everyone I know, and everyone they know, have left. (I grew up there but don’t live there anymore.) It’s a very scary storm, and I hope not too many buildings are destroyed.
lee
Bullshit.
In Galveston they have been running evac buses for quite awhile now. They even had the city rolling thru the streets BEGGING people to leave (and offering them rides out) and they STILL stayed.
All that is left is the too stupid.
We should let Darwin take care of the rest.
Now if worst case does happen (see Common Sense in above post), then those people are screwed and it is very unfortunate.
Krista
My step-aunt and uncle are in Alvin (between Galveston and Houston), and have decided to ride it out. I hope that the God they believe in saves them from this.
joe from Lowell
How much you wanna bet the good folks down at GOP central will be cooking up bits to read on the Congressional floor about how everyone living on a hurricane-prone island is stupid and we should just let the city drown without a second thought to rebuilding?
According to the federal Census from 2000, Galveston Country, Texas is
White 73.9%
Black 12.4%
So, no thanks. I’m not going to take that bet.
Ike is on the same track as the hurricane of 1900. That one killed 6000 men, women and children. It’s eerily coincidental that the 1900 hurricane hit Galveston on September 8th In 1900, the low plains behind the island were empty. Now they’re full of subdivisions.
God have mercy.
joe from Lowell
How much you wanna bet the good folks down at GOP central will be cooking up bits to read on the Congressional floor about how everyone living on a hurricane-prone island is stupid and we should just let the city drown without a second thought to rebuilding?
According to the federal Census from 2000, Galveston Country, Texas is
White 73.9%
Black 12.4%
So, no thanks. I’m not going to take that bet.
Ike is on the same track as the hurricane of 1900. That one killed 6000 men, women and children. It’s eerily coincidental that the 1900 hurricane hit Galveston on September 8th In 1900, the low plains behind the island were empty. Now they’re full of subdivisions.
God have mercy.
lee
They listed the 37k as in the mandetory evacuation area.
So Galveston island and the SE part of Houston.
Person of Choler
Why do we have to wait for Obama to be inaugurated before he stops the rising of the sea? This would be a mighty fine time for him to show us his stuff.