Eye of Ike over Galveston

The first edge of the eye is over Galveston. Looks like the seawall is pretty much being destroyed by the minute. Here in Spring the rain is intensifying a bit and the power is mostly on but flashing on and off. The last flicker put our power down for about 3 minutes, the intervals are getting longer with each interruption.

So far we are hanging in there.

Going Ike Surfing...

taken by a local station almost 10 hours ago... can't imagine what Galveston looks like right now.

Batten Down the Hatches

Currently busting out flashlights, closing up the rest of the doors etc.

As this thing comes through I'm going to snap as many pics and videos as possible without endangering life and limb. I'll probably lose power but will be able to log in intermittently using a mobile nextel card and my laptop.

If you want to be on top of it bookmark the blog or snag the RSS feed, the posts will probably be coming in bursts the rest of the way in.

Rescues are going offline for Galveston soon, best of luck to everyone there.

135 miles to go...

the inner eyewall is currently 135 miles from Galveston, 200 miles from my house. the newest track puts the eye directly over my house in about 12 hours. Daybreak tomm could be very interesting....

Goodbye Surfside, No Help for the Crazies

image from Click 2 Houston

From all the live videos I'm seeing, Surfside (and island south of Galveston) is basically gone. The whole island is underwater and the one guy who refuses to leave has been told to write his name and social on his arm so they can identify his body..woah.

Galveston still has an estimated 40% of people who were too dumb to evacuate. The island already has water all over it from the shots I've seen and it will probably go higher.

The outer rain bands look like they are about 2-3 hours from Galveston. I think things are going to go downhill pretty quickly from here.

The Potential Galveston Death Toll

Jim Cantori finally made his first appearance a few minutes ago... on Galveston Island. Uh oh.

What's more disturbing is that the seawall is already being topped by waves an hour and a half after low tide and there's much more to come.

With that being said, best estimates have less than 50% of Galveston evacuated so far. I really hope that the people still on the island come to their senses and get out of dodge before it's too late. Sheltering above the storm surge is one thing but sheltering under it is another...

My Hurricane Experience and Background

Thought I'd provide a brief history of my hurricane experience etc. so if you think you are just reading ramblings from some yahoo I could maybe change that to 'informed' ramblings from some yahoo.

I went to school in New Orleans from 2001-2005 receiving a degree in engineering and toughed out many TS and light hurricanes that passed through such as Ivan, Isabelle, Lily, etc.

I was in the city of New Orleans 48 hours before Katrina hit and returned to visit less than 30 days after the storm.

I currently work for an environmental consulting company in Houston and specialize in Storm Water management and control as well as permitting.

I guess I'm a professional storm nut...

This blog is being written from my home in Spring, Tx right at mile marker 68 on I-45 north of houston. That means that Galveston island is just about 70 miles directly to the south of me.

I'm not evacuating and will be riding the storm out here and updating people as long as I can keep power going to my laptop.

Flooding starting in Galveston

Just showed a helicopter shot of Galveston (West End i think). Looks like there is already a few inches to a foot of water across the entire island.

Tiki Island can't be in good shape. Looking for some pics to post.

BTW, I'm planning on posting pics and videos from my home in North Houston (Spring) as the storm rolls through. If I get to posting a lot and you think you miss some pics or vids, I'll also be adding them to this static page on my story of Hurricane Ike.

Topped of the Morning

They just showed pictures of waves over topping the 17 ft. seawall that protects Galveston. The storm is still 20 hours out... That seawall is pretty much all the protection that the island has. This is not good...