Ike's Eye is CONTRACTING!! I said this might happen...

[ddeclue]

When it does the winds will SPEED UP!! They are up to 110mph now according to KHOU.

The eye has shrunk to half of it's previous size.

[WillyT]

1. Is It A No-Bid Contract ???

Sorry...

:spank:

[Sebastian Doyle]

45. The "reconstruction" of Texas sure as Hell will be.

Cheney's counting the dollars in his Halliburton account already.

[WolverineDG]

2. oh f----

just like Celia, it's going to strengthen before it hits shore. :scared:

dg

[Sequoia]

3. I just noticed that too. Really getting tight.

[kestrel91316]

4. Do those 23,000 people still on Galveston Island realize they are going to die?

Seriously. The warnings went out and they were DIRE, and that many people laughed it off and stayed??? WTF???

[anigbrowl]

8. Some of them have been goofing about on the seawall

I feel bad for anyone who has difficulty leaving or was nervous of doing so, but there's a number of strong contenders for a Darwin award down there too.

[alfredo]

32. Their possessions are more important than their lives. They are

guarding their home from looters.

[RollWithIt]

50. Sadly, I have to agree.... just pure ignorance of the power of nature....

Even the networks are promoting the madness. I just saw on MSNBC a CAR driving along the sea wall. That's just madness.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. They probably do now. I imagine that the ones on Surfside Beach who didn't evacuate know they are

going to die.

[SweetieD]

20. I think ppl laughed because the local media kept emphasizing it was "only" going to be a Cat 2

I think a lot of people thought since they rode out Rita and other storms, this storm would be like that. The media imo is still underestimating the strength of this storm. I saw the other thread about the dogs. I felt for the dogs. But honestly at this point, anyone who tried to rescue them will also be dead. The entire island is going to be submerged by early morning, with only the tallest structures peaking through. The devastation will be absolutely tremendous. I'm not religious but I pray for those people on that island now.

[fed_up_mother]

26. I disagree. I've been watching the local media, and they've been "hyping"

the dangers of this hurricane just as much as all the others. And by early this morning, it was clear that this was a dangerous storm, and that folks should take heed and get out.

If anything, people have hurricane fatigue.

[SweetieD]

21. dupe

[HeeBGBz]

30. Death wishers and those who can't imagine the ferocity coming

Or those hoping to catch the best video.

The Dark Side of the Force is about to make itself known. Be safe as you can people.

[MiniMe]

43. We are witnessing evolution

Natural selection

[Two Americas]

48. awful

That remark is so callous and mean-spirited, and so contrary to every principle and ideal of the party that I find it stunning that you would post it.

As I said on another thread on response to other members lacking in compassion -

There are many people who do not trust what the authorities say, and with good reason. There are many people who are alone, confused and frightened. One example - immigrants are in a tough spot in these situations. Leaving could almost certainly lead to abuse, arrest and detention. The weak, the isolated, the hearing or sight impaired, the elderly, the poor...

For people without money, credit cards, cars, where do you go, what do you do? There is a risk in staying, but hardship, suffering and danger are certain if you leave. Do you want to be herded onto some bus by the police, taken who knows where for who knows how long? Look at how refugees of Katrina were treated - like criminals.

We saw after Katrina that not only were the authorities not helpful, they were hostile and dangerous.

Some would rather take their chances even if it means dying with dignity or having to struggle with real dangers than they would take the advice or "help" of government and the media - who already sold them down the river along time ago - and suffer certain humiliation and hardship.

[MiniMe]

52. I feel for those people, but they haven't been paying any attention

the words imminent death has been used for 2 days in the forecasts. And for people to expose their children to this is crazy.

Like this guy



Steve Owen, right, and his son Austin Owen, 13, are swamped by a wave in Galveston.


I really wish they had all gotten out. But after Katrina, there is no excuse. And to tell you the truth, I partly blame the media for giving them their moments of fame. But it was suicidal to stay. I hope to God that all these people are OK, but if they aren't, who's fault is it? They are taking a risk, but it is their own risk.

[Two Americas]

57. I agree

There is no excuse for talking about "evolution' and "gene pools" and "culling the herd" - especially after Katrina. No excuse.

[MichaelHarris]

5. Ike

has cataracts? Man that is a bad disease.

[FedUpWithIt All]

7. ...

:wtf:

Really let's save the humor while people still have loved ones in danger.

[shadowknows69]

14. No shit

Aren't we better than a gallows humor site here people?

[MichaelHarris]

15. Gimmie a break

my entire family lives there and I was raised there. Humor is not what they're in danger from.

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Really?

:wtf: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/feature?section=news/local&id=6102015

[KitchenWitch]

37. dude, not helpful at all.

x(

[eShirl]

6. what effect, if any, might that have on the expected storm surge?

[ddeclue]

10. I suspect it will make them worse.

It will certainly cause more wind damage.

[BeFree]

12. No expert here, but

What happens is that near the center of the eye, in a circle say 10-20 miles wide, the decreased air pressure on the water within that circle will cause a rise of several more feet.

Now, if that circle goes right over Galveston Bay the extra feet above the maybe 10-20 foot surge caused by in-line winds may cause the Bay waters to flood even more area. At the top of the bay is the city of Houston.

Several 'canes have increased strength as they near land. My theory is that the warmer waters close to land give more energy to a storm. More heat equates to more energy.

[fed_up_mother]

27. True about the heat, but doesn't the more shallow water tend to

counteract that just a bit?

[goodgd_yall]

9. I just heard it's heading toward a Category 3. n/t

[Lakerstan]

16. 111 mph makes it a 3 - almost there... n/t

[Hoosier]

13. some folks can't leave...

like my brother...
he's a disaster coordinator at the UT hospital in Galveston.

I just raised a healthy glass of good bourbon and gave him a call.
That island is truly fucked. The entire island will be underwater before the big part of the storm hits.

Peace.

[Turbineguy]

23. At least

that hospital is a strong building and he can go up a few floors...

[Beausoir]

18. They have been forecasting a weak Cat. 3 landfall since last night.

[clear eye]

19. Local TV live streaming Ike news (URLs)

<http://www.khou.com/video/?nvid=178826&live=yes&noad=yes>
<http://www.click2houston.com/video/index.html>
<http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/livenow?id=6384042>

[chill_wind]

31. Thanks for links. n/t

[nichomachus]

22. How far apart are the contractions?

[screembloodymurder]

24. Don't worry. You've got time to get to AK.

Unless your water broke.

[Marnieworld]

25. Fuck

[geomon666]

28. The pressure has dropped also.

And it still hasn't made landfall yet. A few more hours to go.

[chill_wind]

29. Ike has the potential to become the costliest Texas hurricane on record.

"Ike is a massive storm, larger than Hurricane Katrina as it moved through the Gulf in 2005.

(...)

Ike has shut down Gulf oil and natural gas production and refinery operations just as rigs and platforms were coming back on line following the shut down for Hurricane Gustav. The U.S. Minerals Management Service reported Friday that one small unmanned platform was destroyed by Gustav."

http://www.accuweather.com/news-top-headline.asp?partner=forecastfox



http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/satellite.asp?anim=1&type=EI&large=1&basin=atlantic®ion=TXS

[tblue37]

39. My brother is an hour south of Houston--right in that red aea on your

damage map (he is in Angleton, TX). I tried calling, and so have all of our siblings. None of us can reach him. He is very hard-headed, and when he was persuaded to evacuate for Rita, he spent many, many hours trapped on the freeway. He has said he will never evacuate again.

I am hoping that the reason none of us can reach him is that he realized he had to get the heck out of the path of that storm after all.

Until I hear from him or from another siblign about him, I am going to be a nervous wreck.

[chill_wind]

41. tblue, my heart absolutely goes out to you in your anxiety-

it becomes impossible not to tear up the floor worrying, or to think of anything else until you hear.

I hope somewhere there are family locator message boards getting set up quickly for all these families in similar circumstances.

Keeping you and your loved ones in our thoughts, and that you get word of his safety very soon..

[tblue37]

49. Thanks, chill_wind. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

I just hope he had enough sense to run for the hills.

[tblue37]

60. My brother called this evening. He did evacuate, and all is well with him.

His house took no structural damage at all--though his shrubs were uprooted and his neighbors' tree limbs were all over his yard when he got back.

[JanusAscending]

53. They said on TV about an hour ago ...

that all power has been lost in Galvaston. Does he have a cell phone? I pray he is OK!

[tblue37]

58. I don't think he does--he is retired and doesn't need to be on call all the time.

His phone rang last night when we were trying to reach him, but he didn't answer. His voice mail picked up, though. I am hoping that means he evacuated, but I am afraid it might just mean he was outside watching the weather. Still, if he had stayed there, he would maybe see that we had called and call us back to let us know he was safe.

I am hoping he realizes we are all worried sick and that if he evacuated he will contact at least one of us so he or she can spread the word among the rest of the family that he is okay.

[MountainLaurel]

56. I'll be thinking of you

We went through the same thing with Katrina, with some older family members who had weathered out previous storms. When the storm surge hit the top of their front step and mullet were swimming in the front yard, they called someone to let them know they had decided to leave. We didn't hear from them for hours upon hours. They had driven through the night to their daughter's house and pretty much collapsed when they arrived, sleeping for several hours. Their daughter apparently didn't think to call anyone else to let them know her parents had arrived.

[tblue37]

59. I am hoping that is something like what has happened with my

brother. He tends not to think about the fact that we are worried about him. He takes things pretty nonchalantly, and seems unable to udnerstand that the rest of us might not.

[tblue37]

61. I just wanted to let you know my brother did evacuate and he is fine. Thanks for your well wishes. n

[undeterred]

33. For some reason I thought you said McCain's eye.

And this post was really weird.

[brettdale]

34. Oh dear

Mother Nature is not being kind, lets hope its takes a uturn and goes out to see and dies a natural death.

[entanglement]

35. It's a HUGE storm...absolutely HUGE (larger than Katrina)

[HeeBGBz]

36. It's just about on them with Houston in the right quadrant

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?zoommode=zoom&num=1&delay=15&rbscale=0.7608695652173913&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&ID=HGX&type=N0R&lat=0&lon=0&label=you&showstorms=0&map.x=454&map.y=302¢erx=400¢ery=240&lightning=0&smooth=0&showlabels=1&rainsnow=0

[Ilsa]

38. This hurricane doesn't have to be a cat 5 to kill people in Galveston. A cat 4

killed the 8,000 in 1900, but that was before the seawall, which isn't big enough or long enough to protect the city. Leaving Galveston Island would be the smart thing. I can understand if people don't want to leave Houston if they are on high enough ground.

[MiniMe]

44. Unfortunately, if they aren't already out, I don't think they can get out now.

[Odin2005]

40. This thing is a monster. The people still in Galveston have a death wish.

:cry:

[chill_wind]

42. National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (Fema) is inaccesible

can anyone open this link?


"Have you been displaced by a disaster?
Do you need to locate friends or family displaced by a disaster?
If you can answer yes to one of these questions, click here":

http://asd.fema.gov/inter/nefrls/home.htm

I was trying to see what they have in place for this hurricane so far for family locator assistance

I got their link from here:

http://www.wlox.com/global/category.asp?C=15602&nav=menu40_3_1

[chill_wind]

54. I just tried this link again-- it is stil timing out. What good is a resource like this

if it's unequipped to handle the bandwidth at the most crucial time of need?
It's not like an immense surge of traffic would be totally unanticipated.

[MindMatter]

46. Contractions in Texas? Quick, get on a 12-hour flight to Alaska.

[MindMatter]

47. Oh heck, Somebody beat me to that line.

[bluespeck]

51. It's tough

I have family in Texas City, 14 miles from Galveston right on Galveston Bay, and they told us yesterday they were evacuating. We called today and they were still home. My sister is a special needs person who is dependent on oxygen and can't walk. Did they call an ambulance or have her evacuated? No, because she refused. Finally at relatives' urging they drove to a motel in West Houston with her.

But last night the mayor of Texas City was telling residents not to evacuate, that the levee would hold and the pumps would stop flooding (Yeah, right). These folks were getting mixed signals. Fourteen miles away, "You will die if you stay," and where they were, naw, stay put. Also, they had the experience of being stuck in traffic for over 24 hours the last time they evacuated (Rita?).

There is no doubt at all that everyone from Galveston should have evacuated, but they are always some who stay no matter what. Those are the prepared ones. I ache for those who misjudged and badly underestimated what they were in for.

I am impressed by all the well wishes and help from all over.

But humor? Hey, you do have to smile even as you wait. No problem with that from me.

[chill_wind]

55. AP update- 600 miles across. Almost 90,000 who didn't get out

from 3 counties.

By JUAN A. LOZANO and PAULINE ARRILLAGA,
Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

GALVESTON, Texas

At 600 miles across, the storm was nearly as big as Texas itself, and threatened to give the state its worst pounding in a generation. It was on track to crash ashore early Saturday as possibly a 3 storm with winds topping 111 mph and a two-story storm surge near Galveston, the same site that suffered the nation's worst natural disaster when a storm struck without warning and killed 6,000 more than a century ago.

Officials were growing increasingly worried about the stalwarts, and many communities imposed curfews to discourage looters. Authorities in three counties alone said roughly 90,000 stayed behind, despite a warning from forecasters that many of those in one- or two-story homes on the coast faced "certain death."

(...)

Authorities instructed most of the city's 2 million residents to just hunker down to avoid highway gridlock. Residents prepared for a sleepless night.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ike