Are you planning on staying or going? What part of Houston do you live? I used to live over off of 290 & 1960 area.

I'm right in the middle of the city- just south of I-10 about 5 miles east of the 610 loop/Galleria. There should be no issue with storm surge here and only a minimal issue with flooding, so I'm going to stay. I'll leave the roadways to people who really need to get away from low-lying areas. All in all, it's going to be a very interesting 48 hours starting at midnight tonight.

NT

Good Luck Texans......

Ike is a very, very bad storm, imminent landfall now unless it makes a weird turn into us. It's so big, comparing it to Katrina in size but hopefully and fortunately not in strength. Lets hope it stays that way. I truly can say that I really feel for you....hard times coming...:(

We are in tropical storm warning right now, getting ugly out there and I can hear the wind screaming. NOLA just had 50 mph winds, already surging in the low-lying parishes.

They are saying on Weather channel, cnn and local here that they are only evac'ing storm surge and flooding areas, the rest of the citizens are being advised to stay put.

For those staying put I hope you have your supplies. We don't flood here so we don't leave, but as I said in Gustav 100 gals of gas, tons of food, parish water and a well if we need to power it in case parish water goes out..oh and a frig that makes ice..(I have to make myself not buy ice and water before the storm)we have smokers and outdoor cooking stoves, and an emergency plan. ANd CASH, LOTS AND LOTS OF CASH, learned that in Katrina.
We find the main problem is after with the shortage of GAS and supplies due to the lack of power. I really hope you are ready. It's going to be bad!

Nascar...if you read this..unless you are essential personal or first responder...if you area is mandatory evac they can't make you stay. But you do have until tomorrow morning early afternoon.

Laura..I really hope you have more than bread and ham for this one....:) It's going to be bad.

Ntamm and Santana...stay safe!

pgarden I hope it doesn't reach you...and you are very right about the poor people just a double whammy for them...geez Gustav cost me about a 1,000.00. And the churches really a lifelines, it's amazing, they function better than red cross sometimes....well most of the time.

Danzig, hope you don't get the turn of the storm. Yeah not too much worse for the wear, just exhausting and stressed out, especially not knowing where Ike was going. Gustav was really bad, had about as much damage as Katrina, but Katrina...due to the aftermath well that was just absolutely scary when all the remaining rats and cockroaches came out of NOLA and invaded us. Geez we had a riot, and a shoot out in my little 6 red light town...and a car jacking on my tiny little road. But hey we stay locked and loaded here, plus we have all those blue-eyed Catahoula dogs that don't like strangers. Got to get past my dogs to get to me and by then I have a gun at your head!!!!
OH YEAH...definitley need to change your sig...no one likes Ike right now....:p

Once again Texans good luck....check in when you can.

Thanks for the advice Beth :) . I went to Kroger this a.m and got what I could. The place was a zoo!! Trying to find gas still right now..Most places are already closed or out. I do have almost 1/2 tank, but would feel better with a full tank.
As of now I am still planing on riding it out here. Justin and I will most likey head out to the barn tomorrow night and stay with my boss and his wife. They will have generators etc.
I am glad to see that the storm hasn't strengthed any since last night. Still at 100mph so thats good I guess.

I'll stay in touch as long as I have power and access to a computer. :)

Stay safe.......

Good luck...prayers up for you guys! Timm

tempting fate?
ntamm above says you haven't had a storm in 25 years...i remember when a storm hit galveston years ago, people had hurricane parties and rode out the storm. one house full of folks partying it up got swept out to sea, no survivors.
if you can get to safer, higher ground, i'd suggest it.

The hurricane that hit Galveston back 1900 was and still is the worst natural disaster on record.. 8,000 people died. One out of every 6 lost their life. This is why they have the Seawall there now.
Here's the link: http://www.qsl.net/w5www/hurricane.html

C

Lets see what the next update is. I have a feeling this will not be that bad.

I think there's a good chance you're right. It's starting to tick toward the east, which is a good sign for Houstonians. It's horrible for residents of east Houston and the Beaumont area. We'll see what happens with the 7 PM updates.

NT

Forcasting it to come in at 120mph...If it comes any closer to the east, I will only be about 70 miles from the eye :(

I have see other parts of Houston flood many times over the years....am i saying never ? NO.....but i seriuosly doubt it.
My next door nieghbor is packing up as i type, he is going to Austin....his wife says he is a big baby....
Now if i was south of here.....i would be outa here.
Galveston verey well might be UNDER water...
good luck all!

The news stations are overblowing it here.

Worry Houston and Beaumont.
And almost all the tracks have it going through Arkansas
again so Z get ready for more rain Sunday and later.

Tracks 36 hrs away can be off 90 nautical miles so
we most likely get missed again. Very lucky.

No 11 inches again in 3 hrs.

There are also some things that might prevent significant strengthening according to the weather geeks on crown-weather.
These guys are usually really good if you can decipher the stuff.
Hope these weakening factors play out for you guys in Houston and
Beaumont.

yeah, it's gonna be fuuuuun. but at least the tree that was seriously listing (resting on its neighbor like a drunk at a football game) towards my office got cut down today. luckily the smaller tree was there, or that big oak would have been draped all over the building.
now if all the others stay up. but we have a lot of mushy ground already, and too much standing water, rivers are already near record highs.....not gonna be good at all. i crossed one section of the Saline today, i swear it's only 3 feet under the bridge, and well over it's banks. one guy has no yard at all, he has a shallow-water lake. i've been in this area for 14 years, have never seen it like this.
the Arkansas river is way up as well, and is really flowing-as anyone who lives in little rock can attest to.

Boy oh boy this is a sly storm...the tracks are so crazy.

Hopefully it will stay downgraded to a Cat 1 or 2 but it's such a huge storm there will be lots of problems with it. Trust me Cat 1 here took out the power for 7+ days some still don't have power. Course it still could make a weird turn and land here.

Lots of flooding here in the low-lying areas today..but most are use to it cept a few idiots of course, most of the houses are raised prior to Katrina.
Going to be a lot of flooding when it makes landfall. Crossing my fingers it moves fast.

Hope those staying have generators. Good luck!!!!!

O.k.. I am heading out this a.m to Shreveport Louisanna..Got a room up there for tonight at least..I'll try to check in when the power comes back on during the week..
Be safe to all on here in this ones path.

good luck to everyone in the path, i hope you're out of the way of this thing. hoping for the best for all in the area!

be careful on the road.

Hang out at LaD, listen to our guy Travis Stone call some races, and take your mind off of things... when we get our once a year big snowstorm you know what we do?


DRINK BEER!!!!

She may need straight Vodka.
The storm surge is already close to 8 feet in Galveston.
That is not good. I think she said she was on higher ground
in Beaumont. Flooding is going to be awful most likely.
The storm is very big, the winds are thankfully staying down.
May miss the triple whammy
1. Wind
2. Storm surge
3. Rain

Forecasters said the wall of water being pushed onshore by the mammoth storm could cause floods of 15 to 22 feet above sea level in Galveston, enough to cover many houses on the island, where a hurricane killed more than 8,000 people in 1900.

“Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death,” the National Weather Service said in a local bulletin.

The weather service can get a bit dramatic, but I have never seen them say something like this.

Well this is obviously a HUGE disaster.i already have one friend that has his house under water, and i am sure many more to come.
I live inland in Houston, just a matter of time till the light go out. They were flickering, and the gusts are only about 30 miles p hr so far......
Will Galveston ever be able to rebuild?
What A mf THIS IS.......

Ron Paul's little town of Surfside is now under two feet of water
and rising.
But they dont need government help.

They have rescued 65 people in the Galveston area already.
Apparently quite a few people decided to stay and they
are stopping the rescues.

They will not find all these people that stayed.
RIP.

Can you imagine. Surfside residents did not want to
leave. Channel 11 in Surfside told them to write their
names on their arms with Sharpie's so they could ID them later.

Geraldo is the most entertaining guy on television tonight. Must see TV.

We can only hope he is smacked upside the head by debri
and lost at sea. Geraldo says people should not be out and about.
So he demonstrates by standing on a seawall that is washing out
at night.

His ego > Ike

i don't understand that one bit. all these weathermen rushing down there to stand out in the wind and rain, with debris flying over their heads.. for what?! trees snapping, power lines whipping....makes no sense to me that anyone thinks it's worth ratings to do that. besides, if they all do it, then what's the point? we know what the stuff looks like by now, it's worth risking life and limb?? how stupid!

When Hurricane Carla hit in 1961, there was only one unknown report who got out and covered the Hurricane. His name is Dan Rather. I guess these reporters are hoping history repeats itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather#Early_life

they just called out a tornado watch for much of the day, and into the evening here.
guess it's time to check the track.

of course that just shows the eyes path, the storm is the size of texas.

Just an update from Houston:

It was an absolutely wretched 12 hours from about 11:00 PM CDT through 11:00 AM CDT. Sustained wind gusts at 75 MPH and torrential rains were the norm throughout the night. I live about 8 miles northwest of Downtown Houston and a late move in the path of the eye made things much worse for our area as the eyewall passed right through downtown packing heavy rains and high winds. Luckily we came away with only roof problems, but no broken windows or injuries. We're very lucky. They're looking for 100,000 folks who did not heed evacuation warnings, which is just a terrible shame.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who did not make it through the storm or have been hit very hard. This is a serious event for the 4th largest city in America. Thanks to all of you who kept a good thought about the whole situation.

NT

Good to hear you are okay NT.

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Ike's path.

Seems like the worst is past for Texas?

just a quick note to let everyone know I am o.k.. I am in Shreveport at a hotel and going to try and go home tomorrow.. Won't have power for 3 weeks, but will be back on when I can.. Hope everyone is o.k. and I'll talk to ya'll soon I hope :)

that's good news! :tro:

You guys did get lucky. It was a very large storm,
but luckily it did not strengthen significantly before landfall.
Lots of roofs still on houses at least.

Dont know what to say about people in Surfside, Galveston
and other low areas that did not leave. Maybe they want
to brag about beating the storm...

but it's devolved to the point where i'll have to avoid "stormwatch 2009" when there's 1.5" of rain in l.a. next february.

there are news directors here that send reporter's out to stand next to storm drains for live updates during heavy mists.

it's like getting an urgent update that rollerdoc has posted after a big brown win.

where's mort?

You should have seen Geraldo on FOX.
They put him on the seawall in Galveston and he got
blown back inland, they tried to broadcast from this point,
but the satellite truck got blown around so bad the feed kept
blinking in and out.
So bottom line is he spent about 3 hours getting blown around,
things hitting him, for about 5 full minutes of "reporting" which
was consisted of cutup updates of Geraldo getting blown around.

Geraldo finally ends his reporting by reporting he is getting
blown around. Got me to watch. It was high comedy.