[Spridgets] Anyone flooded?

[Jim Johnson]

All,  (Rudy - could you repost to the Healey lists?)

Since so many of us have friends or family in the impact area, I thought I
would provide a meteorologists take on the situation with Hurricane Ike.

First of all, as a comparison, Ike *may* be as strong as the fabled 1900
Galveston Hurricane that took around 8,000 lives. This is a difficult
comparison to make because in 1900 there was no warning for those poor
people as the worst of the storm hit at night and we didn't have the
satellites and ocean buoys we do today. Forensic evidence holds that this
storm was a Category 4 (131-155mph sustained - 145-180mph gusts - Storm
Surge 13-18 feet) when it made landfall. You can see the eerie similarity to
Ike's path and strength here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Hurricane_of_1900

The current forecasts for Ike show the eye making landfall at around
midnight CST tonight just southwest of Galveston and continue north
northwest along a path just to the west of I-45 from Galveston to Houston.
It is forecast to be very close in strength to the 1900 storm at that time.
You can see the latest information on Ike storm at:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Compare the two. They are almost identical.  The storm surge going up into
Galveston Bay and the Houston ship channel is scary. Much will depend upon
how well the Galveston seawall holds up. It wasn't there in 1900.

If you are still in contact with anyone in the storm impact area, please
urge them again to leave while there is still time to get out. I just
got off the phone with Leo Speichinger in Baytown trying to convince him to
get out...  Baytown will be hit very hard.

Cheers!!
Jim

On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 10:13 AM, <CAWS52803 at aol.com> wrote:

> With all the news about Galveston Texas getting the brunt of the Hurricane
> Ike, I was just having some thoughts of our members there.  Having been to
> some
> Texas Roundups in the past, I have seen many beautiful Healeys, both big &
> Bugeye.
> Any word on our friends?
> Rudy Streng
> Lenoir, NC
> BN4 & AN5