After being just missed by Rita in '05, a couple of quiet years, and then having several storms bowled at us without major impact this year, Hurricane Ike finally looks like it may be the real deal for the Houston-Galveston metroplex. Just had a look at the National Hurricane Center’s 11PM EDT update, and the storm now appears set to arrive as a Cat 3 or Cat 4, and to be aligned almost perfectly to have maximum impact on the area.
I’m in a northern suburb about 65 miles from the nearest coastal point, and am well provisioned, so I’m going to ride this one out. I’m seriously concerned, however, over the decision not to call for a mandatory evacuation as yet of Galveston and points around the bay; although one may be called for tomorrow morning, leaving it this late seems likely to set up another chaotic situation on the highways, as happened with Rita.
Area Dopers, feel free to check in and maybe post on your local conditions as Ike moves in.
Im worried about my parents; their house flooded in Allison a few years back. Since then there has been even more development and not enough done for drainage along the bayous. We’re all keeping an eye on Ike.
I’m inside the 610 Loop, my complex doesn’t flood (I’m on the second floor anyhow), and I’m well-supplied with hurricane supplies, so I’m planning to ride this out as well.
I’m anticipating my school will announce the school closing tomorrow; I’m conflicted about that as a have a huge presentation on Friday (as in preparing full-time for it for the past three weeks).
The site that I follow for local storm information is Eric Berger’s (the Chronicle’s science writer) blog. He updates it frequently when a storm is approaching. According to him and hurricane experts that he cites (he is not a meteorologist), a storm coming ashore at Freeport is pretty much the worst-case scenario for Houston and Galveston as that would lead to the maximum atorm surge and winds.
Other cities are evacuating to mine (in what sense it is mine, as I’ve lived here for all of nine months and change), so I know we won’t be hit the hardest.
As of yesterday afternoon (it’s still dark here, so I don’t know about now), there were plenty of clouds overhead, but no rain yet.
If the high-pressure system stays in place, we’re fine. If not, we’re gonna get hit hard, but not as hard as will Corpus Christi, which is looking increasingly as though it is going to get shellacked, new-definition style.
I’m on the west side of Houston. I’ve lived here almost 20 years, and we’ve never flooded. The back yard can pond with standing water, though. Hopefully the earth will be able to absorb a lot of water, as we’ve had a drought for quite a while.
We have all our supplies, and Hubby bought a small generator yesterday. It won’t run the A/C, but it will run the refrigerator and chest freezer. I need to go fill up my gas tank today.
It’s stupid, but I’m excited, in a trepidatious way.
This site is predicting sustained winds of about 85 MPH for my work location (just south of Greenspoint. We’re prepping this morning and shutting down at noon today.
A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Galveston and the Bay area, starting at noon. Haven’t hear whether contraflow will be put in effect yet.
Outside the storm surge area, flooding shouldn’t be a problem. This storm is moving faster, so it isn’t likely to stall out over the city like Allison. It’s the high winds that will be a problem – knocking out power, blocking roads with downed trees and power lines, etc.
I live in the Copperfield area, so hopefully it won’t be too bad for us. I have MS which makes heat unbearable, so if our AC goes out I’m in trouble.
My employers have decided we’re all working tomorrow though – we’re allowed to take the day off, but it’s not a paid day off like we had during Rita. We distribute drugs and medical supplies to pharmacies, so we need to keep shipping orders out if we can. That will change if FedEx suspends Houston operations – we can’t do business if we can’t ship packages. Still, it should be a day off for non-essential personnel (like me!) that way it is on Christmas Eve and the day after Thanksgiving. I live almost 20 miles from work, and i don’t really want to sit in traffic for four hours going home tomorrow.
We’re in zone B, so have been issued evacuation orders. We’re about as prepared as we can be after purchasing supplies earlier in the week and having secured the ouside and lifted things up on the inside.
DH is taking the kids north and I’m reporting in to the hospital in the morning and planning to stay there for 3 days.
I expect the house will get wet inside and hope we don’t have any trees or large branches land on the roof as DH trimmed the trees this week.
And a little ‘shout out’ to Fiesta grocery per my sister- she said they had all hurricane stuff well stocked, on sale, and with signs directing shoppers to the next supply they probably forgot they needed.