Dimmitt ISD demo
December 17, 2008
Hurricane Ike blew into Texas today, throwing up storm waves that surged out of the Gulf of Mexico towards coastal communities as weather officials warned those residents who had stayed behind in vulnerable areas that they “face certain death”.
The 300-mile-wide storm sent a vanguard of destructive waves on to the resort island of Galveston, 40 miles south of Houston, 18 hours before Ike’s core had even made landfall. But as the water began crashing over the 17ft sea wall the residents had deserted the resort, mindful that Galveston Island was where between 6,000 and 12,000 people died in 1900, America’s worst hurricane disaster.
The storm waters churned across roads and rushed through residential areas with alarming force. Beachfront homes, hotels and restaurants were swamped and docks swept away.
The centre of Ike, which has already killed hundreds in the Caribbean, was expected to come ashore at about 2am local time today with winds of up to 115mph. By 2pm local time yesterday the US Coast Guard had made 16 helicopter rescues and had received 150 calls from residents begging for help as floodwaters lapped at their homes, or swept cars into the sea.
In an unusually stark warning the National Weather Service urged people in coastal and flood-prone areas to flee or they would die. Those who ignored evacuation orders could find themselves alone facing Ike’s wrath, including waves up to 50ft high, producing a 20ft surge of water that could race as much as 20 miles inland. Save for a last-minute change of course Galveston appeared to be facing total inundation, they said.
“Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family, one or two-storey homes will face certain death,” said Patrick Blood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “You can imagine what a 20ft wall of water can do to a community.”
Civic authorities ordered millions in Houston, America’s fourth-largest city, to stay put, reasoning that much of the city stands 50ft above sea level and would be safe, from the water at least. But they advised a million people in vulnerable areas along the coast and around Galveston Bay and Houston’s swampy bayous to evacuate. “If you wait for the storm surge to come, you won’t have a house,” said the Mayor of Houston, Bill White. “It’s going to be a scary 36 hours.”
“We are only evacuating areas subject to a storm surge,” said Judge Ed Emmett, the county’s chief executive. “Yes, we know you will lose electricity. But you’re not in danger of losing your life, so stay put.”
Ike was expected to swell into a Category 3 storm – the strongest is Category 5 – just before making landfall. Regardless of its strength, its size was considered potentially catastrophic because of the vast area of water it was driving ahead of it.
Ike was being touted as potentially the worst storm to hit a US metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina swept into New Orleans in 2005, and the most serious to strike Texas for 50 years. Serious damage was expected on oilrigs and platforms in the Gulf, and at refineries on the coast.
Helicopters, rescue boats, log-cutting gear, heavy-lifting equipment and thousands of emergency responders were being lined up at staging posts ready to move into the disaster zone after Ike passes through.
