I like the updates Toni, please keep us informed, those of us who can't get on the minute coverage.....Thank you for doing that.
What's left of the eye is passing by Glenda now. Gaylyn should be getting some heavy rain before long too. It's still a Cat 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph. We are supposed to get some sustained winds of 30-40 miles per hour and maybe up to 4 inches of rain before the remains of Ike take off northeast. http://www.wfaa.com/weather/radars/southtexas/animated/
I hope Glenda, Kevin and Gaylyn are alright. I can't stop worrying about them all. Thanks for all the updates Toni as we aren't get much news here at the moment. Glad to hear you managed to speak to Glenda Dooley but I'm still keeping everything tightly crossed for her and everyone else in Ikes path.
Is everyone okay? It seems the worst is over, is it not? So hope you have been safe and that your homes are intact. let us know. Gardengater
GG, the worst is over for Galveston and Houston but Ike has slowed down and is taking a long time to pass over Glenda and Gaylyn. We are just now getting the winds from the outer bands of Ike. Ike has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, winds at 60 mpg now. It is really huge. The outer bands still attached to the main body of Ike reach from the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico...roughly 325 miles.
Oh, wow. I hope they don't suffer from a lot of flooding. I saw how huge it is. I hope all come through without injury. Gardengater
Geeez that was some storm. What about that Galvestan Island, is that the same as what i keep hearing as the Bay. If so, dang that got hit hard.
Yea, Biita, same place. Galveston Bay is the strip of water between the Texas mainland and Galveston Island. There will be a lot of rescues taking place tomorrow, because several thousand people decided to stay on Galveston Island instead of leaving. At the height of the hurricane the emergency 911 system was flooded with calls from them wanting to be rescued but at that time there was no way help could get to them so they had to sit it out. So far I have only heard of 3 deaths but then officials can't get to some of the areas yet to see who is left. The insurance companies are estimating the damages just in the Galveston/Houston/Beaumont region to be around $18 million. And that isn't counting damages along Ike's path the rest of the way thru Texas. And the cost incurred by the Red Cross and local churches feeding and housing all the evacuees. The electric, water and gas companies are looking at almost a month before they have all services restored to everyone down there. Thankfully there is a cold front moving thru the state tomorrow so temps will be in the 60's nighttime and low 80's during the day and not having AC won't be such a problem.
I once stayed at the Holiday Inn there on Galveston Island. I'm sure glad Ike didn't come through at that time. I hope that the folks can be relocated off the island soon. Keep us posted.
I talked to Glenda a few minutes ago. The wind has died down and it was just raining. There are branches off of her cedar tree and flowers are flattened but she was going to try to stand them back up. She was tired from no sleep and pacing from window to window to door and poor Oreo was snoring away because he had tried to keep up with her. She has melting ice cream if anyone wants to help her eat it. No electric back as yet. She doesn't expect it will be back anytime soon. dooley
wow, this is the first chance I've had to check in here with you folks in the bad zone, I hadn't realized our garden angel was directly in the path. Gotta go check the thread on her, take care you guys, we're all thinking of you...
My word! Its morning here, and night there, but i watched a few news clips on yahoo, and all i can say is OMG. I seen the reports where they just can't get in, and fires burning and they can't get to them, and the yachts blocking the main road in and out of the island. I am so thankful that Glenda is way inland. And safe!! I'll have some melted ice creme. I have the strawberries to put on top too! (passing around the bowl of strawberries)
All I heard now is that there is alot of cleaned to do from blown out windows and wind damage. it'll be weeks before any electric is back on. Toni, is there any other updates on the island? What else will be happening in texas now, besides the clean up that I mentioned?
Ike may not have been exceptionally strong, he hit land as a strong Cat 2....sustained winds of 110 miles per hour, if he had strengthened to only 111 miles per hour he would have been a Cat 3. But for most of his life as a hurricane he was more than 500 miles in diameter. Yesterday I mentioned that he stretched from the Red River to the Gulf coast, but I couldn't see Oklahoma on the radar. He actually had outer bands that reached up to Oklahoma City. His girth is what made him so damaging. For the next few days it will be search and rescue. About 140,000 idiots decided not to leave their homes....'we've been thru hurricanes before and had no problems' attitude was rampant down there. Then starting about 6 a.m., only 3.5 hours after Ike made land, they started calling for help to come get them out of there. At that time all rescue personnel were hunkered down somewhere safe, the people were told they would have to wait until the storm passed. There were several Blackhawk helicopter rescues yesterday since the only road to the Island was closed down. The National Guard did get the road over to the island cleared enough to drive thru and have gone to start getting people out. But there is some concern about whether the causeway is safe because of some structural damage. It will be a day or two before they know if everyone survived and was gotten out or if they will have to start recovering bodies. The 1.2 million people who did evacuate will not be allowed to return for a while. No electricity, water or gas (for cooking and such) or gas for vehicles. There is basically no electricity in the whole area, maybe spots and some places have generators. It will probably a month before everyone has electricity back. Some water plants have been compromised, meaning they can not provide safe drinking/cooking/bathing water so anyone there will have to either boil the water before use or find bottled water. If you can get to this site you can find several articles and pictures about the aftermath. The site is really busy since it belongs to the major TV station in Houston. http://www.khou.com/
