[MMike]

While hurricanes of any sort are of course nasty business, is Ike really fixin' to screw things up?

And I mean relative to Katrina.

I mean New Orleans is essentially a town that should never have been built. It should be the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
So Katrina, a category 5 swamped a place that is below sea level. Mass devastation.

So now Ike a, category 3 hurricane, (and the "category" scale is logarithmic, so it's not just "2" smaller), is going to hit Texas, with no geographic anomalies like NOLA (are there?). Wind will blow, power will be knocked out. Carpet will get wet. But there shouldn't be the devastation like Katrina, right?

I guess my point (which is weak at best): Are "they" over-playing the fear? They've already done it once last month, and nothing happened. If they play it up again, will people stop paying attention... crying wolf and all of that?

Or am I missing something and armageddon is coming to Texas?

 

[Samirol]

It will be a Category 2, which basically means a lot of rain, minor flooding, and some wind. A lot of people are not being evacuated (like those that work on the oil rigs) since it is just hype and not really anything too worrisome.

Katrina was a Category 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale

The reason that New Orleans was hit so hard was the bowl shape as well as sub-par levees.

 

[MMike]

Also from wikipedia:

Katrina again rapidly intensified, attaining Category 5 status on the morning of August 28 and reached its peak strength at 1:00 p.m. CDT that day, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 902 mbar. The pressure measurement made Katrina the fourth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be surpassed by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma later in the season; it was also the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico at the time (a record also later broken by Rita).[3]

 

[RenegadeRick]

Also from wikipedia:

stop confusing the matter with those pesky facts...

 

[X3pilot]

I have a beach (probably soon to be had) house on Bolivar Penisula (Glaveston) and I also lived in New Orleans for 10 years, so I have a pretty good perspective.

New Orleans suffered minor damage from the actual hurricane, it was the failed levees that couldn't hold back the storm surge and flooding, it wasn't minor.
The actual hurricane damage (wind/storm surge) destroyed Biloxi/Gulfport, MS area.

Ike will damage Houston worse due to the size of this hurricane (width and area, not strength) because it has pushed water ahead of it for so long (3 days) and the surge could be 15-25 feet across the coastal area.

 

[ridiculous]

Katrina was a cat 5. Katrina was the wake up call, and 3 years later its wake still has peoples attention. The most powerful storm this year? Katrina.

 

[Samirol]

at landfall, it was a category 4

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/stormcenter/2005-08-31-Katrina-intensity_x.htm

 

[$tinkle]

Katrina was a cat 5. Katrina was the wake up call, and 3 years later its wake still has peoples attention. The most powerful storm this year? Katrina.

you been hangin out w/ mr peabody & sherman?

 

[ridiculous]

nah, just the 6th graders that write for USA Today.

 

[$tinkle]

X3: reading reports now that your house will be underwater tonight

what next?

 

[MMike]

X3: reading reports now that your house will be underwater tonight

what next?

That story says "IF Ike becomes a cat 4...".is it SUPPOSED to be a cat 4? I only see stuff for MAYBE a cat 3?

 

[skinny mike]

Also from wikipedia:

katrina hit a section of very warm, shallow water not far from shore, which essentially supercharged the storm.

 

[Spero]

You also have to realize that most of of the Texas coast is lined with barrier islands that are inhabited. Port Aransas is pretty far South of the center but is already being hit by the surge (http://portanow.com/webcam2/beachcam.htm - notice the pilings sticking out of the water...those are usually about 100'+ from the water). As far as loss of life goes, you won't see anything remotely near Katrina scale. Damage to property? Probably pretty nasty.

Here's a link to a few Galveston cams - http://www.galveston.com/webcams/

 

[stevew]

katrina hit a section of very warm, shallow water not far from shore, which essentially supercharged the storm.

Are you a meteorologist or did you sleep at a holiday inn express last night?

 

[BurlyShirley]

I have a beach (probably soon to be had) house on Bolivar Penisula (Glaveston)

I hope you locked up your Heineken.

 

[ridetoofast]

you filthy rascists
http://www.snopes.com/katrina/humor/heineken.asp

 

[X3pilot]

X3: reading reports now that your house will be underwater tonight

what next?

Gone.

Luckily, it's just a vacation home, my in laws and rest of my family there are safe, all though they had bad damage in Lufkin (2 hours north of Houston) as it passed as a Cat 1.

 

[valve bouncer]

Gone.

Luckily, it's just a vacation home, my in laws and rest of my family there are safe, all though they had bad damage in Lufkin (2 hours north of Houston) as it passed as a Cat 1.

Sorry to hear about your house mate, vacation place or not it still must be a kick in the guts to lose it.

 

[X3pilot]

Thanks, VB. All alive and well, the rest is just stuff.

 

[$tinkle]

wow, that sucks.
bounce back soon, mang