Texans ok?

[Rudi]

Hope our Texan members are all safe.Just heard on the news a bad storms heading their way and some are being evacuated.

[Butch50]

Those that live on the Gulf Coast can't act surprised that hurricanes come along. I wish them safety and good health, but they choose where they live.

Check this out: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gifs/hur5005.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Uncle Jesse]

No time for heroes, get yourself and your family to safe ground.

Wishing all the best for all our Texas folks.

[junkyard dawg]

CNN makes it sound like the end of the world is near... I'm still a couple hundred miles from the coast and you can tell something is up already. The outer bands of high clouds are here and it smells like the sea outside. Coming home last night the highway from the coast was jammed with people evacuating. Pretty exciting times... I hope for the best for everyone on the coast. A nine hundred mile wide storm is nothing to sneer at...

[HookLine]

It certainly isn't. Been through a few biggies myself over the decades. (We call them cyclones in Australia.)

All the best to those in its path.

[theholymackerel]

We have dark clouds and cool weather all the way out here in New Mexico!

[junkyard dawg]

current satellite photo,

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/ECIR4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

and already there is flooding on the coast. Its just pushing water up into normally dry areas.

this is the storm surge prediction.

http://www.noaawatch.gov/2008/i45_gl2_EOHW.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

20 feet or more of water on the coast is going to devastate the area. I can hardly imagine how much land 20 foot tides will flood.

[HookLine]

Is the Gulf coast region pretty flat country?

[theholymackerel]

Is the Gulf coast region pretty flat country?

My Gawd is it flat. Flat, hot and humid. 95 degrees and 95% humidity is a way of life there. At nighttime when the streetlights kick on you will see "halos" around the light from the 95 or 100% humidity.

I grew up in the mountains in the West. When I lived in TX I used to get a kick outta all the small communities named after a hill or a mountain. I'd ask a local where the hill or mountain was, and they'd point at some lil bump on the ground that's 30 feet higher than the surroundin' area.

Heh.

[HookLine]

Flaaaaaaaaaaaat. Gotcha.

Gets damn humid and hot here too. Can sit in high 30s C (around 100F), humidity rarely below 75-80%, blistering tropical sun, without any real rain, for months. That season is about to start actually, just enjoying the last of the cool weather right now. Worst time here is around late Sept-October up to when the rains break, which is usually mid-late December. Temps will stay well over 30 with high humidity till about late April-May.

[Butch50]

in 1900 Galveston got hit by a massive hurricane, way stronger than this one. The death toll was somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000. Some estimates go as high as 20,000.

One of my ancestors was a GGG Aunt that lived in Galveston and survived. She wrote a series of letters to her sister who lived inland. Those handwritten letters, giving a first hand account of the storm and it's aftermath are beyond compelling. The disaster was on a scale never seen before, or since in our history. Of course they had no clue it was coming until it was on top of them.

One wind speed report stated that at about 200mph the windspeed device finally disintegrated.

In my GGG Aunts account, many of the deaths were caused by slate roofing tiles flying off and cutting people to pieces. She also reported coffins floating all over the bay and deposited all over the city. They popped out of the ground during the storm surge and floated around then were deposited wherever they happened to be as the water receded.

Catclysmic is too weak of a word for the 1900 storm. This storm is going to wreak some serious havoc, but it is a baby in comparison. I am in the North Texas area and we are already seeing the edge of the cloud band -could see some decent winds and rain over the weekend, but nothing like the coast is going to get. The smart ones are already out of there.

[Uncle Jesse]

One of my ancestors was a GGG Aunt that lived in Galveston and survived. She wrote a series of letters to her sister who lived inland. Those handwritten letters, giving a first hand account of the storm and it's aftermath are beyond compelling. The disaster was on a scale never seen before, or since in our history. Of course they had no clue it was coming until it was on top of them.

As a genealogy geek, I wonder why you don't transcribe those and put them on the net somewhere?

[Butch50]

I probably should, I will ask my cousin, the keeper of the letters, about copying them next week.

[Uncle Jesse]

http://www.chron.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

has some good coverage

[OldManP]

guess i chose a bad week to visit the family back in tx!!

[Uncle Jesse]

hope everyone and their property are OK this morning!

nothing like a storm surge and high tide at the same time

[Hawke]

Those that stayed, then called to be rescued, need to be billed for the full cost.

[Uncle Jesse]

damn, the Balinese was destroyed.

http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/2008/ ... n_ike.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
Everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese...

[Hawke]

Yep, Balinese, Hooter's and anything else that was built out over the bay. Saw the start of it on the news last night. The waves where tearing the floors out. Not even any pilings left this AM.

[junkyard dawg]

Looks like the flagship hotel went down too. My wifes parents got married there, and we went there last summer. It seems like the storm was a lot less dangerous than was predicted, but it sure made a mess down there...

[Butch50]

Those that stayed, then called to be rescued, need to be billed for the full cost.

I agree - those physically able should have to pay it back with 100 hours of community service of supervised cleaning up the storm debris, 200 hours if rescued by helicopter. Those that aren't physically able should pay cash. Assuming they were in a mandatory evac zone.

[Corn]

I live in a subdivision about 15 miles from the coast and we got donkey stompped. I chose to stay in my house because its very sturdy and had access to multiple generators. we planned on the electricity going out but as far as damage goes to my area, it was minimal. all the old pecan and oak trees fell down and ive spent the majority of the past 4-5 days cleaning up the area with my truck. Its just amazing how little the state and county is willing to help cleanup, theres been no trash pickup or debris pickup either. Our HOA marked off a part of our subdivision for a huge burn pile.

[Burning Man]

We have dark clouds and cool weather all the way out here in New Mexico!

Sante Fe?

[Uncle Jesse]

I live in a subdivision about 15 miles from the coast and we got donkey stompped. I chose to stay in my house because its very sturdy and had access to multiple generators. we planned on the electricity going out but as far as damage goes to my area, it was minimal. all the old pecan and oak trees fell down and ive spent the majority of the past 4-5 days cleaning up the area with my truck. Its just amazing how little the state and county is willing to help cleanup, theres been no trash pickup or debris pickup either. Our HOA marked off a part of our subdivision for a huge burn pile.

that's one thing I noticed during the recent fires, the community really pulled together to do their part.

[theholymackerel]

We have dark clouds and cool weather all the way out here in New Mexico!

Sante Fe?

Ya couldn't pay me enough to live in Fanta Se.

[Burning Man]

Taos then?

[Uncle Jesse]

Just glad our users seem to be OK after such a devastating storm.