Hurricane Ike

I just wanted to do a quick pre-storm post about Hurricane Ike.

It's supposed to hit us tonight and I'm a little nervous - being a home owner and all.

Sorry this is a small picture, but it shows why I'm a little nervous! That is one BIG storm! Here's my Uncle Darrell's latest update on the storm:

Overnight the projected landfall did not continue to move east as it has
the past couple of days. It is still forecast to come ashore on Galveston
island and then hit downtown Houston headon and move up I-45 towards
Dallas before it makes a right turn and goes east. It is currently a high
category 2 hurricance which means winds in excess of 100mph. It is possible
it may be a category 3 when it reaches landfall (110+ mph).

For our zip code (about 80 miles from Galveston as the crow flies), they
are forecasting sustained winds of 65-85 mph for a period of close to 12
hours. We should feel tropical storm winds this afternoon and hurricane
force winds tonight. Supposedly, these types of winds will topple trees but
don't cause structural damage to homes like ours. Rainfall is expected to
be 4-8 inches in our area. That will not cause any flooding. Three years
ago when Rita hit just east of us, we got sustained winds of about 50 miles
per hour. That toppled enough trees that we were out of power for 3 days.
Hopefully, we don't go longer than that this time.

What you will hear on the news is lots talk about flooding in Galveston and
the low lying areas on the south side of Houston. They are predicting
Galveston may have a 12-15' surge (wall of water) hit with this storm and
then the waves are on top of that. The sea wall protecting most of the
ocean side of Galveston is 16'. However, once the water gets pushed up into
Galveston Bay, the surge may rise to 20' and thus it will flood the low
lying areas of south Houston. Also, there is no seawall protecting the
backside of Galveston so there will extensive flooding from that direction,
especially as the water recedes from the bay. Most of the Galveston island
is expecting to be flooded. How deep the floodwaters get is the big
question.

Here's another shot from space for you.
Jobs today:
1. Hurricane proof the house and yard.
2. Do the yard work before there's a bunch of debris all over.
3. Take before shots so I'll have a great post later on.
4. Enjoy the calm before the storm on my day off!
To track Ike, click here. Please keep us in your prayers!