Ike

Just taking a break and reading the news. Hopefully all of our readers residing in the storm's path have moved to higher ground. I have seen a few advisory warnings in my time, but none like the one issued for this storm:

"All neighborhoods ... and possibly entire coastal communities ... will be inundated during the period of peak storm tide," the advisory said. "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death."

I think they mean it.

You know things are bad when the size of the storm rivals that of New England and it almost doesn't fit in the Gulf of Mexico.

A few years ago, anticipating a much smaller storm, nearby communities were placed under mandatory evacuation. Those who refused to leave were told to write their social security number on their forearm with permanent marker - to facilitate identification of their corpse.

I hope folks in the path of Ike just get the hell out of Dodge, assuming they haven't already. We'll be thinking about them tonight....

waiting out Ike here in Spring, TX. We're 70 miles from Galveston and 60 feet above sea level, so we shouldn't have to worry about flooding. The beer is on ice and our gas range is prepped to cook the sausage tonight in the event of a power failure. I think we're prepared.

Good luck everyone. I always watch these storms go by with more than a twinge of guilt, because it's hard to know that your relief means someone else's misery. Yes, we'll be thinking about you guys tonight.

Margie

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone facing down this one.

For those of you in the Gulf area, Austin and the surrounding communities are prepped and ready for your arrival. All schools will be closed at noon in anticipation for any evacuees that need shelter. Come on up!!

If you're going elsewhere (and I hope you are at least going somewhere), be safe and careful.

-Rob

rob_lewis wrote: For those of you in the Gulf area, Austin and the surrounding communities are prepped and ready for your arrival. All schools will be closed at noon in anticipation for any evacuees that need shelter. Come on up!! -Rob

I've always liked that about Texas. It's not just a state—it's a club. Way to be a community!

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Good luck everyone. I always watch these storms go by with more than a twinge of guilt, because it's hard to know that your relief means someone else's misery. Yes, we'll be thinking about you guys tonight. Margie

+1, guys. Stay safe!

My step son is just south of Houston. He works at NASA (Johnson Space Center). He is not in a mandatory evac area and not prone to flooding in his subdivision, work is shut down and he is going to ride it out. Last I saw, Galveston is shut down/evacuated with water and power either off or scheduled to be turned off and Houston is "Ya'll sit tight and get the beer in a cooler."

Guess where I live? If you said "About 0630 Sunday" you'd be right on the money.

I work for an Insurance company (yeah, an Engineer) and was at corporate in Hartford, CT earlier this week. To say that employees have been mobilzed to head to TX is an understatement. I was both surprised and pleased with the action. Maybe one day people won't hate all insurance companies.

Stay safe and don't hesitate to get the heck out of dodge, if required.

jack

Yup, I'll take a tornado anyday.

Odds are a trillion to one you'll even see a tornado in your lifetime, much less be close enough to actually feel any direct impact or be hit, but a hurricane affects millions every time it comes around.

And let's don't even talk about earthquakes. When the ground isn't solid as it's supposed to be that just messes with my mind.

i felt an earthquake a couple of weeks ago. Was kinda cool.

I grew up in earthquake country. I remember the big one in '71 waking me up by moving my bed about 4 ft across the room.

carguy123, I think your odds are a bit off. I've seen them. I remember watching one on TV in Bryan, TX, then glancing outside where all my neighbors were standing in my front yard watching it. So that right there blows your trillion to one odds.

I would much rather deal with a hurricane than either a tornado or an earthquake. At least with a hurricane you have a week to 10 days to prepare or get away. Tornados and earthquakes give no warning.

Best of luck and stay safe to anyone that is in Ike's path. We'll all be thinking about you.

There is an Assistant to the Publisher?

Yep, I try to keep up with Tim. Not an easy task.

I picked this up on another forum. http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html

I have no idea how it works but it gives you all 4 Houston local news stations on one screen. You then have to adjust the volume seperately with the slider bar that is on-screen

jrw1621 wrote: I picked this up on another forum. http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html I have no idea how it works but it gives you all 4 Houston local news stations on one screen. You then have to adjust the volume seperately with the slider bar that is on-screen

Wow. That was very interesting, although only two of the stations were up. I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

hello from austin! we headed out at about 8:30 this morning with clear skies and light traffic. loaded up and brought both cars up to the g/f's parents. depending on what we see in the morning, i may head back down tomorrow to make sure everything is a-ok back at the ranch.

I live in Clear Lake near NASA. My folks live in Seabrook, right on the water. We've seen plenty of storms and hurricanes. We left Thursday morning. I'm in Dallas. They're in Baton Rouge. I hope to have a house to go home to when it's over.

East Texas here! Had some rain bands whip through with clear bright moonlight in between. Filled up with gas before the 35 cent gouge hit. Nearest big town if FULL of evacuees. I was delivering pizza and my 5 hour shift became a 12 hour shift until we literally ran out of food.

Trimmed my trees, hid my gas cans and battened down everything else.

Bruce

Atleast Colorado is safe

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/UPDATES01/80912021/1002/rss

Hurricane Ike expected to have little impact in Fort Collins; weather set to improve next week By Trevor Hughes • TrevorHughes@coloradoan.com • September 12, 2008

Buzz up! While devastating to Texas, Hurricane Ike will likely have little impact on Colorado in the coming days, which forecaster Don Day said will be increasingly be sunny and warm.

Chris_V wrote:

I like it,