Hurricane Ike

[x635 4,066]

Regardless of the path the storm takes, as it has been much debate, the Galveston area is going to get hit hard, and it's going to travel north with it's winds and rain towards Austin. We already have thousands of people evacuating to our area.....EMS calls are up tremendously from normal, and they are housing a large number of special needs evacuees at shelters throughout the area. We could use the rain up here, but I hope that the damage is minimal and no lives are lost.

Also, I was just in Galveston on Tuesday. It was a ghosttown. I thought the town was a ghetto, then I realized why all the windows were boarded up, lol!!

[jack10562 414]

It looks like Galveston and Houston are right in the path of this one. It's no Katrina, but a strong Cat 2 storm is almost as damaging as a weak Cat 3.

In addition to the 110 MPH winds, the flooding storm surge of nearly 20 feet of seawater is going to wreak havoc on the coastal area at landfall.

This is a very significant petroleum refinery area in Texas.

I hope that everyone got out already.

[rfdu39 89]

Seth stay safe and I hope that the damage is not as bad as they say it will be.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I was flipping through the channels earlier and on Fox News there was video of some people drinking on a patio bar in the rain in Galveston, who wanted to wait the storm out... Some people you just can't reach... Darwin Award.

[SpartanML 0]

Good luck Seth and stay safe! And also best of luck to all the people who (foolishly IMO) decided to ride this nightmare out.

[RescueKujo 130]

Seth,

Good luck, buddy. I expect we won't hear from you starting sometime Saturday. If you need to pass messages, you have my cell number.

As an aside, AMR deployed assets that have not evacuated Houston are now "sheltering in place" at Reliant Stadium, home of the Texans. May God watch over all during the storm.

Duane

[27east 19]

CNN was reporting 911 calls of people who stayed and are trapped in their homes.

[Bnechis 3,961]

CNN was reporting 911 calls of people who stayed and are trapped in their homes.

"You have reached 9-1-1, I am sorry but all of our responders are unavalable do to hurricane Ike. We told you a 10 to 20 high wall of water will wash over the city and to get out and you decided that you are smarter than the average bear (right boo boo?) and stayed. Please leave your name, any identifying marks, next of kin and your current GPS location (cause your street number, and street, house, etc. will be gone) and we will be searching for you when its over.

In the animal kingdom this is refered to as thining the heard and survival of the fitest (in this case the smartest).

Edited September 13, 2008 by Bnechis