downtown to coast is about 40-45 miles. that is a bit decieving since Galveston Bay is betwen the two.
You guy keep posting. Never post lies or conjecture. I am going to use this bbs as an info source for the radio so please post links and sources when possible.
Well Jeff, I am glad to know your house is at least flood-safe. Understood the sentimental values of your personal belongings (like Tdogg said). For what we see, the preparation/evacuation has been much better carried out in Houston than in New Orleans. This could ultimately be a deciding factor which minimizes the kind of devastation we witnessed in New Orleans. In any case, be safe and good luck. Oh BTW, I remember you had your roof redone this summer. IIRC in the pictures you posted, there are quite a few trees surrounding your house. You may want to consider cutting some down if they are too close to your house?
I haven't felt this way about a storm in 20 years, if ever. This storm is beyond comprehension. This d*mn hurricane essentially is the biggest freakin' F3 tornado ever. And FWIW, the gusts are 213... F4! Category F0: Gale tornado (40-72 mph); light damage. Some damage to chimneys; break branches off trees; push over shallow-rooted trees; damage to sign boards. Category F1: Moderate tornado (73-112 mph); moderate damage. The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peel surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads. Category F2: Significant tornado (113-157 mph); considerable damage. roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees snapped or uprooted; light-object missiles generated. Category F3: Severe tornado (158-206 mph); Severe damage. Roofs and some walls torn off well-constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forest uprooted; heavy cars lifted off ground and thrown. Category F4: Devastating tornado (207-260 mph); Devastating damage. Well-constructed houses leveled; structure with weak foundation blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated. Category F5: Incredible tornado (261-318 mph); Incredible damage. Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distance to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 yards; trees debarked; incredible phenomena will occur.
Yeah, nothing I can do about the trees now. There is one close enough to do damage to the front corner of the house, but it could just as easily take out my neighbor's carport, especially given the direction of the winds. The rest in the back are far enough away that I don't see them causing trouble for the house. Now, they could pose problems for my office, which is where a detached garage would normally be. But, if that gets smashed, oh well. I can rebuild that and I have insurance just for it in fact. Many of my neighbors are staying put, so I'll be collecting numbers tomorrow to get updates in the hood while I'm gone. If it does, as projected, make landfall with 130-140mph winds, especially if it hits Galveston, that means downtown will get 115-120mph and north of town (Spring/Woodlands) would feel 90mph or so. Obviously, it is survivable and I think my house can and will manage. I just hate thinking about the what if's.
There have been a few recorded in Tornado Alley up in north Texas and Oklahoma. They are very rare, but they have happened. And not just here...
Correct. It only has about another 12 hours in the very warm water spot in the Gulf. It will weaken like Katrina did as it goes north. Katrina was at 184 MPH but slowed to like 135 MPH at landfall.
It's projected intensity at landfall according to the NHC is 133 mph. This is somewhere between the higher projections of around 150mph and the lower projections of 120mph. This is why hurricanes are considered so unpredictable. Things can change in a matter of hours and you just don't know what to expect until it happens.
The dude on 2 Houston thinks that the shift towards Houston MIGHT just be the beginning of an even larger overall shift to the East side of Houston towards the Texas/Louisiana border. He also said that the wobbling affect from the High starting to disintigrate and slight jump North is earlier than predicted so tomorrow morning, we'll probably see more models move East when they take that into account. We might actually be on the "clean" side of this storm before its all said and done.
