[with a z] ...

something weird about ike

satellite image of hurricane ike as it approaches texas coast

hurricane ike

i live north of houston. we had a hurricane sweep though here early saturday [9/13] morning. i love hurricanes. i plot them. i am amazed at their sheer power and strength. i find the wind beautiful and inspiring. don’t get me wrong. i am in no way implying that i welcome the devastation and destruction that so often accompanies them. in fact, i abhor it.

i was not in a voluntary or mandatory evacuation zone. in fact, we were told to shelter in place [meaning not to leave the house] and to ‘hunker down’.  we stocked up on supplies, medication, filled up the car with gas, taped the windows, secured everything and still had damage, but thankfully, survived the worst of it.

however, the reason i wanted to blog about this is not because of any of that. there are, i am sure, thousands of blogs posted across the web where you can read different accounts of the storm, see pictures, videos, and even historical comparisons of ike with past storms.

the reason i am writing is that i find some circumstances surrounding ike very unusual.

• the path of ike was unusually unpredictable
• the storm seems to mimic the “galveston hurricane” of 1900 [09/08/00] in many ways including direct hit, storm surge, and tide
• there was very little rain and what rain there was appeared extremely fine and misty [observation, talking to others in the area, local news updates, and report from HPD officer located downtown houston during storm] in fact, on 09.08.08 during passage over cuba, the rain rate remained at under 10 millimeters per hour
• there was no thunder heard [observation & talking to others in the area]
• there was no lightning seen [observation & talking to others in the area]
• the storm encompassed over 600 miles and had an eye of over 60 miles accross at one point
• it did not weaken quickly over land
• although area residents had ample warning and federal disaster aid was set up before the storm even hit, it somehow was delayed for approximately 3 days
• the storm surge was equal to that of a category 4 or 5 storm, causing extensive damage some 10 hours or more before the storm [weather channel live reports]
• the storm was reported to maintain 100 mph winds [for hours] even though the pressure was dropping and the storm was moving over the warm waters of the gulf [observation, live news feed]
• although winds were reported to be at about a sustained 110 mph, more damage was done than is/was listed as a possibility with winds of that force or category
  
• the president did not tour the area until 3 days after the storm
• photos of galveston island have been limited and repetitious, in fact, up until 3 days after the storm, the news was showing the same 4-5 photos on all networks and surprisingly, differing photos could hardly be found on the web  [observation, internet search results, fox news, cnn, msnbc]
• 3 days after the storm, residents are finally being allowed on the island in a “look and leave” manner, with an escort and a limited time to survey damage to their own property
• ike was one of a series of storms that developed within a matter of days; each which took a different path and had a different outcome, not so unusual, but it seemed as if several were triggered at once until one got it right. although stacked storms are not unusual, especially at the peak of hurricane season, these all seemed to originate at or about the same area, which is unusual
  
• downtown houston never did lose power and sustained very little damage although the storm went right through there, including the eye and eye walls. [HPD patrol report downtown houston]. the media reported severe damage. in contrast, areas to the n, s, e and w did have substantial damage
• reportedly, the army corps is not allowing fema onto the island [yet to be confirmed]
• the mayor of galveston stated she would not evacuate the island [this on wed/thur] because it was too late and an evacuation was not possible. she evacuated the island on friday.
• the galveston mayor also said they would not attempt rescues of persons remaining, but thankfully, they did
• supposedly the chief of police for hpd stated that 12 hour shifts could stop 3 days after the storm. the mayor demanded they continue and the area put out a national plea to other police officers to come and help. but not until 3 days after the storm.
• the media has been moved away from the storm operations center in galveston.  check out this blog for more information about the lack of information coming out of galveston
• no coverage or official announcement has been given about the condition or damage of/to NASA besides a general closing announcement and some damage reports. ??? isn’t this kind of an important place?
• curfews are in effect not only in blackout areas but in operational areas as well
• almost all of the houston-area refineries are down shooting the cost of fuel up throughout the nation
• the stock market fell 500 pts by friday
• even youtube images of the island are limited to one official flyover video which is very blurry
• today the mayor of galveston told the residents that would participate in the look and leave program that they would not see the coastal devastation that they had seen on the news because it had been cleaned up. cleaned up? already? wait. the mayor has cancelled the “look and leave” program because of traffic congestion and has announced that it will not be tried again. seems this would have been expected and provisions made to deal with it before the program was initiated, that is, if the plans were formulated to be successful in the first place.
• it appears that marshal law is in effect in galveston although the mayor denies it. however, channel 13 local news announced that marshal law is in effect on what is left of boliver peninsula
• nearly 65,000 people live on galveston island. reportedly, over 33% decided to ignore mandatory evacuation orders. to date, the death toll, estimates of people rescued, sheltered, evacuated do not even begin to add up to 65,000.
• all of this fell very close to the seventh anniversary of 09.11
• we haven’t heard a word of campaigning or even had a visit from either of the presidential candidates. they seem to be keeping their distance [all i could find searching were sympathy-related statements; granted, obama is helping to solicit donations by linking to the red cross on his website and through emails, but you would think they [obama and mccain] would want to be here in person

please don’t get me wrong. this blog is not meant to complain. we were lucky and my heart goes out to those whose fate is yet to be determined.  it is simply my try at putting words this vague yet pervasive feeling that something is just not natural in this whole ordeal.

what became of the 140,000 people who faced certain death from hurricane ike?

media coverage limited on hurricane ike

wordpress blogs on hurricane ike