Ike

So if you look at the storm track for Ike, the predicted track runs really close to my parent’s house. It should make landfall tonight and really at this point it’s a matter of whether it hits the west or east side of Galveston as a cat 2 or 3. The Saffir Simpson Scale is honestly a complete pile of crap, because while the wind are only going to be barely a Cat 3, the storm surge is looking pretty tremendous.

So, even though there are other things I should be concentrating on at work today, like planning and printing for self-aggrandizing-fluff events, I think I’m going to spend my day posting hurricane stuff and thinking-quasi-positive thoughts about the storm track veering into High Island.

Live Feeds
Looks like Houston station’s have switched to 24-hour coverage, although they’re hitting some bandwidth issues…

KRTK-Houston | KHOU- Houston | KPRC-Houston

(Yes I excluded the Fox station)

Surfside
Surfside is the island beach community near my parents house. Sometimes home to not the smartest of folks. From the Chronicle…

Two holdouts, Max and Diane Hall, and their 9-year-old dog Sissy, awoke to find the ocean in their yard. They walked out to higher ground, carrying supplies and belongings on a boogie board, seeking to be evacuated.

Diane Hall joked, “we are not the poster children for successful evacuation by any means.”

and a bit more morbid…

Smith said he did his best to convince residents to climb aboard his high-riding Mack truck, but authorities believe about six people are riding out the storm.

“We asked them to write their Social Security number on their arm for us,” Smith said.

Galveston
Looks like Galveston is already flooding, with 4′ of water over the main west side highway. The general consensus, from the evcauees is the Galveston mayor pulled a Ray Nagin and waited to long to evacuate the island. The only non-coastal route to the mainland is the I-45 causeway bridge. I’m sure the delay in the evacuation order had nothing to do with the Cruise ship in the harbor.

KPRC is showing video of a wanna-be Dan Rather standing on the edge of the sea wall while the waves are ripping chunks of asphault out of the road. I really want to see this dude go for an involuntary swim.

Saffir Simpson is Dumb
So now the meteorologist guys are calling for Category 2 winds but Category 4 storm surge. Houston area authorities call evacuation based on wind speed. This scale system is ludicrous. They’re calling for a 20′ surge in Galveston Bay, plus 15″ of rain.

Central Market
The fish guys at Central Market gave my parents a half-pound of boiled shrimp and romelade sauce for free at the evacuee discount. Pretty awesome.