OT: Hurricane IKE

[Spawnomite]

Looks like it's gonna hit the upper TX coast. It will probably come onshore as a Cat 2, maybe Cat 3 Hurricane. Galveston and Houston are really gonna be hit hard. Some of my wifes relatives had to evacuate Houston. Luckily San Antonio will be spared the worst of it.


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT09/refresh/AL0908W+gif/090240W_sm.gif

[Spawnomite]

Curent info from the National Hurricane Center.
000
WTUS84 KHGX 121233 CCA
HLSHGX

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
HURRICANE IKE LOCAL STATEMENT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
731 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2008

...HURRICANE IKE APPROACHING THE UPPER TEXAS COAST...

AT 700 AM CDT THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 26.9 NORTH LONGITUDE 92.2 WEST OR ABOUT 230 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF GALVESTON TEXAS.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH. A TURN
TOWARD THE NORTHWEST IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY...WITH A TURN TOWARD
THE NORTH EXPECTED ON SATURDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK... THE
CENTER OF IKE WILL BE VERY NEAR THE UPPER TEXAS COAST BY LATE
TODAY OR EARLY SATURDAY. HOWEVER...BECAUSE IKE IS A VERY LARGE
TROPICAL CYCLONE...WEATHER WILL DETERIORATE ALONG THE COASTLINE
TODAY...LONG BEFORE THE CENTER REACHES THE COAST.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 105 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS.
IKE IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR- SIMPSON SCALE.
SOME ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS...AND IKE IS FORECAST TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE BEFORE
THE CENTER REACHES THE COAST.

IKE REMAINS A VERY LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS
EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 120 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL
STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 275 MILES. AN OIL PLATFORM
IN THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO RECENTLY REPORTED SUSTAINED
WINDS OF 109 MPH AT AN ELEVATION OF 400 FEET.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 956 MB...28.23 INCHES.

[NIGHTCRAWLER]

Yeah, I live on the south end of Houston near Friendswood. I think we are going to get hit really hard. I still have some last mintue things to do around the house. The Tropical Storm winds are to be here around 3:00 pm and then the hurricane winds later this evening.

[Spawnomite]

Where are you going to evacuate to NIGHTCRAWLER?

[Sumner]

GET OUT, GET OUT NOW

[NIGHTCRAWLER]

I'm not evacuating. I hope I'm not making a decision I'll regret come tomorrow. I've bought the usual hurricane supplies and moved my patio furniture, grill, etc. into the garage. Wish me luck guys!

[lowerleftmandible]

I'm not evacuating either. I live on the Texas Louisiana border, right on the very edge of the projected path of the hurricane. No storm here yet :). Stay safe guys.

[Spawnomite]

Good luck NIGHTCRAWLER & lowerleftmandible. I hope you both stay safe.

[moviemaniac4]

We got so much water from Gustav, Hanna and then Ike.....I have no dry underwear !!!!

Finally we started to get some sun yesterday.....

[impalerprince]

I might catch the Western edge of Ike, but probably only end up with some nasty winds.

[mikedanger]

we're expecting heavy wind and rain in dallas this weekend. should make moving out of our house rather interesting...

[RaoulOD]

Crap... looks like it's going to pass over Tulsa... should be much weaker by then, I hope.

[Spawnomite]

S.A. will prob get upwards of 4" of rain and wind gusts of 25 mph.

[85bengals]

Good luck to all of you affected!

[SSJ4Vegeta]

im not leaving either. im gonna rough it out at my aunts house in humble. im only an hour away from there.

[McCheif]

It looks like North Houston is only going to get a lot of rain and maybe some wind. Luckily, I live in a fairly new neighborhood and we don't have any tall trees, so not a lot to fear. It is looking pretty bad in Galveston and Kema, though. They are arleady flooding just from the storm surge.

[Spawnomite]

Current satellite image. This sucka is huge.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t4/rgb-l.jpg

[mikedanger]

now they're backing off on what dallas could get...probably some rain saturday evening.

[bigassbuzz]

Current satellite image. This sucka is huge.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t4/rgb-l.jpg


:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:




Please stay safe, Tex-folks.

[McCheif]

now they're backing off on what dallas could get...probably some rain saturday evening.

Yeah, Dallas will probably get the West side (weak side) of the storm. When the last hurricane came through east Texas, we got no rain and just a little wind in North Houston because we were on the west side.

[sSHADOWw]

:eek::eek::eek:
Anybody affected from this be careful and good luck

[Joerhyno]

I was worried cause my mom and grand ma live in San Antonio.. my Uncle lives in Houston, I think he's roughing it out too.. hope for the best guys!!!! They need to invent a hurricane stopper, lol

[Kabong30]

Yeah, Dallas will probably get the West side (weak side) of the storm. When the last hurricane came through east Texas, we got no rain and just a little wind in North Houston because we were on the west side.

Yeah, and I'm freaking pissed about it too! I wanted Ike to tear down my old ratty garage so I can get some monies and build a new one.

[mikedanger]

Yeah, and I'm freaking pissed about it too! I wanted Ike to tear down my old ratty garage so I can get some monies and build a new one.

maybe it still will. :D

*grabs hammer*

[homunculus]

Yeah, I imagine we'll just get some heavy wind and rain. I'll for damn sure be watching the weather reports, though.

[Kabong30]

maybe it still will. :D

*grabs hammer*

LMAO, thanks! :D

[Bulldozer36]

Yeah, and I'm freaking pissed about it too! I wanted Ike to tear down my old ratty garage so I can get some monies and build a new one.

Screw the hammer, I'll get a sledgehammer baby! Oh, and maybe we should all drink a 12-pack before and have drunken destruction! Woohoo, good times baby!

[magneto1138 Part Deux]

I live in Sulphur / Lake Charles, La. (Southwest La.), I'm staying this time. I'm staying at my friends house and we stocked up on Spagetti O's and beer, so we should be OK:D

[Kabong30]

Screw the hammer, I'll get a sledgehammer baby! Oh, and maybe we should all drink a 12-pack before and have drunken destruction! Woohoo, good times baby!

I'll just spray paint Tina Turner's name on the side and we can go nuts! It'll be just like that movie!

Which raises a good question: When are us Dallas boardies gonna go on a drunken toy hunting rampage?

[homunculus]

I live in Sulphur / Lake Charles, La., Southwest La., I'm staying this time. I'm staying at my friends house and we stocked up on Spagetti O's and beer, so we should be OK:D
That's all anybody ever really needs.

[VenomProject]

I don't think we're going to evacuate this time. Just gonna' try our luck and keep our heads down.

[mikedanger]

Which raises a good question: When are us Dallas boardies gonna go on a drunken toy hunting rampage?

that's every friday night for me...

not to hijack this thread, but did you see that bruce campbell is going to be at the next dallas sci fi show? www.scifiexpo.com

[Spartan 061]

I live in Katy (right beside Houston)

[Spawnomite]

I'm staying at my friends house and we stocked up on Spagetti O's and beer, so we should be OK:DLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

I got some Spagetti O's last night. Just need a case of beer now. :D

[Kabong30]

that's every friday night for me...

not to hijack this thread, but did you see that bruce campbell is going to be at the next dallas sci fi show? www.scifiexpo.com

And only $80 to get his Autograph?!?!? Screw that.

[mikedanger]

And only $80 to get his Autograph?!?!? Screw that.

2 sigs, a picture, priority seating for the Q&A and a screening of evil dead 2. i've wanted to meet him for the longest, so i'm going for it.

[kobayashi93]

Gonna suck, good luck to the guys that decided to stay.

[bigassbuzz]

maybe it still will. :D

*grabs hammer*


hammer has a new meaning since seeing the film OLDBOY

http://vicissitude.net/Images/Oldboy-HallwayHammer.gif

[Bulldozer36]

You guys wanna come drink at my place tonight? I have a big house, lots of booze, and extra bedrooms if anyone wants to crash at my place. I live about 10-15 mins north of Frisco on Preston Road. It can be a "Screw you Ike" party.

[Kabong30]

You guys wanna come drink at my place tonight? I have a big house, lots of booze, and extra bedrooms if anyone wants to crash at my place. I live about 10-15 mins north of Frisco on Preston Road. It can be a "Screw you Ike" party.

Sounds like fun, but I already have plans :(

[Bulldozer36]

Sounds like fun, but I already have plans :(

Boo I say, boo!!!

[kobayashi93]

I think I'm going up to Frisco in an hour or so. I need to get out of the house.

[Bulldozer36]

I think I'm going up to Frisco in an hour or so. I need to get out of the house.

I'm still in Denton right now and probably won't be home till 4ish maybe something then.

[Addicted 2 Collecting]

INSIDE HURRICANE IKE - Amid the engines' roar, the Air Force Reserve pilots and navigator worked calmly as their huge plane neared the eyewall of Hurricane Ike.

ADVERTISEMENT

The gray cloud, looming 50,000 feet into the sky like a colossal concrete barrier was four miles thick, and the Lockheed WC-130J was hurtling into it.

"It's a big one, and it's going to get bigger," said Lt. Col. Mark Carter, 54, a pilot who has chased storms for 31 years. "It's off land now, and feeding on the warm water down there while it gets itself back together."

"Down there" is 10,000 feet below, where the swirling dark water and foaming waves of the Gulf of Mexico are only visible intermittently through the clouds.

Carter, and his fellow Hurricane Hunters of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, were finishing a fourth trip across Ike, during a 10-hour, 3,000-mile trek to monitor the storm taking aim at the Texas coast.

The aircraft carved a 210-mile giant "X" pattern through Ike and its eye, just off the western tip of Cuba.

"We're the only military aircraft that has permission to fly through Cuban airspace," said public information officer Maj. Chad Gibson. "We share the information we gather with them."

Using high tech equipment aboard the $72 million plane, the crew gathers data on wind speed, barometric pressure and other information for the National Hurricane Center.

"The plane makes two observations a second," said Maj. Deeann Lufkin, 35, a meteorologist who stood behind a bank of screens as she monitored the storm.

Lufkin, who has more than 50 hurricane flights behind her, took the jostling of the storm as easily as a New York City subway rider handles rush hour.

Like everyone on the crew, Lufkin, of Northfield, Minn., is an Air Force Reservist — a civilian who works summers with the Hurricane Hunters, based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.

"I love this job," said Lufkin, whose husband is also a Hurricane Hunter. "It is endlessly fascinating, and it is also extremely important. We provide information the satellites can't get. And we provide something satellites will never have — a human eye and brain."

The C-130 has been a workhorse of the U.S. military for nearly five decades, is a squat, broad aircraft, painted dull gray, with four black propellers curving over the wings like exotic flowers.

Inside, it resembles a high-tech auto mechanic's garage. Metal grids on the floor offer secure places to stash equipment, insulation covers most of the walls and ceilings, wires shake everywhere, red mesh behind the armless seats offer something to grab onto when the plane starts bucking and tilting in a storm.

Despite its plain looks, Tech. Sgt. Scott Blair, a big man with close-cropped gray hair and tattoos running up his arms, calls the aircraft his girlfriend.

"I've been married 21 years," said Blair, 38, who runs Fat Boy's BBQ restaurant in Picayune. Miss., when not flying into storms. "She's never had call to be jealous until I started flying on this plane. Now she calls it my mistress."

Flights can run as long as 15 hours, not counting preflight and post-flight briefings.

Once ordered into a storm, the 10 crews made up of six people each, fly on a rotating basis, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

The flights go into everything from developing tropical storms to Category 5 hurricanes. But they don't fly into a storm over land because of the danger of tornadoes.

Since the flights officially began in 1943, only four Hurricane Hunter planes have been lost in the bump and grind through the clouds — the last in 1974.

It doesn't take much to draw out stories of the storms that have tilted the plane at dangerous angles, sent shudders down its metal spine and through its human occupants, banging untethered people against the ceiling as ride-along journalists scramble for plastic bags amid lurching stomachs.

Blair, who dozed in free in-flight moments with a copy of the book "Unholy War" spread across his stomach, was nonchalant about the Ike flight.

But he remembers others that were more eventful.

"Hurricane Charlie, what was that '03, '04?" Blair said. "That almost beat us to death. We made a pass through it as a Category 2, and 45 minutes later, when we went back through, it was a Cat 4. Every reporter on board had a bag up to his face."

The storms are most dangerous as they build or break apart, Blair said. That's when a potentially deadly microburst of wind and huge up-and downdrafts threaten the plane.

Dangerous or not, the flights, with their combination of boredom and adrenaline-pumping moments, appear to be addictive.

"I'm going to keep doing this until I get too old or my hearing goes," Blair said. "Then I'll just sit up in Picayune (Miss.) and drink beer and eat barbecue and dream about it."

[Kabong30]

The flights go into everything from developing tropical storms to Category 5 hurricanes. But they don't fly into a storm over land because of the danger of tornadoes.

*******

[mikedanger]

I'm still in Denton right now and probably won't be home till 4ish maybe something then.

everyone can come to my house in grand prairie...but bring a truck and be prepared to lift furniture. :D

[sSHADOWw]

:eek:

[kobayashi93]

I'm still in Denton right now and probably won't be home till 4ish maybe something then.

I'm taking off now.

[mikedanger]

um...HELLO? IDIOT!!

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/g-080912-cvr-ike-108p.grid-7x3.jpg

[DAHUNTERMANNY]

Galveston is going to be completely flooded. Low areas of South/East Houston are also going to be in GRAVE danger. If you live in any of those areas and you are reading this.....you are an IDIOT!!! Get to high grounds if you have family there or just get the hell out of town for the night.

[Muramasa]

Good luck to everyone getting hit by Ike. I thank Texas for taking our evacuees time and time again, although I haven't evacuated there before.

[Fake_Nick]

This global warming thing is getting me as worried as the Large Hadron Collider operations.

[Kabong30]

This global warming thing is getting me as worried as the Large Hadron Collider operations.

It's not Global Warming. It's Climate Change. Please adjust your buzzwords.

[Kabong30]

Good luck to everyone getting hit by Ike. I thank Texas for taking our evacuees time and time again, although I haven't evacuated there before.

I just need to know when I get my $2000.

[Fake_Nick]

It's not Global Warming. It's Climate Change. Please adjust your buzzwords.


Are you serious?

[Kabong30]

Are you serious?

Absolutely, it's Climate Change now. That way when we go into the global COOLING that appears to be coming on, Gore can still win the internets.

[Fake_Nick]

:eek:

[WhO Iz THiZ Iz]

hope y'all will be safe.

[ChinEsE F000D]

Chinese F000D reporting in from Fort Bend County! The power is just now starting to flicker... This is definitely going to be a wild night!

[Spawnomite]

Stay safe all.

[Joerhyno]

Spawn-o.. how's the SA weather? A little worried about my Mom and Grandma

[Ecmagee1984]

if yall are staying be safe and be careful

[RaoulOD]

God bless to everyone in Houston. Seriously. Stay safe, and post when you can.

[Bathrat]

I'm in Houston.

I think the local news said earlier that the storm will hit my part of town by 1:00am... so less from 30 minutes from now

[RaoulOD]

I'm in Houston.

I think the local news said earlier that the storm will hit my part of town by 1:00am... so less from 30 minutes from now
:(

Keep us posted as you can, dude. The damage estimations I'm reading right now are looking pretty bad.

[Bathrat]

The power's starting to flicker with greater frequency now. I've been listening to radio (since the TV went out hours ago), they say that every transformer that's been hit so far has been blown. I'm expecting power loss very soon.

[RaoulOD]

Stay safe, dude. See you on the other side.

[D2eux]

Looks like the hurricans hit big. Good luck to all in the area and stay safe

[kobayashi93]

Houston is about to get hit with what should be their hardest hit.. Local news showed a bunch of home less trying to sleep through it in downtown. That was depressing. 1.3 million with out power now. It's about to hit landfall in Galveston.

[ickzer1]

Dammit if it isnt one thing in Texas its another. I miss NY weather.

[Spawnomite]

Luckily S.A. was spared completely. No wind or rain in the metro area. Reports of up to 3 million people in the Houston and Galveston area are without power.

Current conditions.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT09/refresh/AL0908W+gif/145807W_sm.gif

[Spawnomite]

I just saw CNN video of downtown Houston and the tallest building had dozens of windows blown out!

[Kabong30]

OK here in DFW. I'm a little disappointed. Feel bad for those folks, though.

[Joerhyno]

My basement started flooding yestereday, We've had rain for like 24 hours(in Chicago) and I went down to make sure things were okay and sure enough, the front of the house had water, :( it was bad for awhile, it was coming through the cracks in the foundation, so I spent the whole day sucking up water with the Shop Vac, then emptying it, then reboxing up some stuff that got wet, then more sucking up water, then more reboxing.. over and over and over..

I thought it was gonna stop cause the rain stopped for a couple hours and it seemed to stop coming in, but I took a break and sure enough, it kept on coming.. so I drove to my friends to borrow a pump, and then hooked that baby up, and so far, it's good.. I've been up all night, with a couple naps here and there I took on the living room floor(lol, now my body aches, but I didn't want to nap on the couch or the bed cause then I'd probably sleep through everything).. anyway late last night, I was checking exactly when Ike would hit our area, checked the radar and had to save this screen shot.. I didn't edit, this in any way, just cropping all the website crap out.. but thought it was worth saving and sharing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/JoeRhyno/IKEnumnumnumCHICAGO.jpg

Looks like Ike's about to take a bite of Chicago, lol..

Anyway, sorry for the long post, didnt' really feel like starting a new thread since now.. technically Ike's here... :)

okay, back to boxing more crap up...

[homunculus]

OK here in DFW. I'm a little disappointed. Feel bad for those folks, though.
Yeah, we barely even got rain. We were pretty lucky.

[IxSL4Y4xI]

Yeah, we barely even got rain. We were pretty lucky.

Yeah you did! It has been raining by me for 3 days straight... now my basement is starting to flood... :mad:

[SteelSpartan]

I hate these hurricanes. I don't live anywhere near the coast, and I still feel them.

It was a cool 70's to lower 80's all week in Maryland. Then the storm makes its way over, and the temperatures hit 90+ degrees. Double-You-Tee-Eff? And gas... Oh boy... Gas shot up 20 cents per gallon from just yesterday at the local stations!

I hope everybody down south that's directly affected by the hurricanes is doing okay.

[SSJ4Vegeta]

Im back online. Power just came back on a few hrs ago. only thing is i cant leave my street. both ends are blocked by trees. my house is ok as is everyone else on my street. hope everyone else in houston is ok.

[Spawnomite]

Im back online. Power just came back on a few hrs ago. only thing is i cant leave my street. both ends are blocked by trees. my house is ok as is everyone else on my street. hope everyone else in houston is ok.Any damage to your place?

[kobayashi93]

It doesn't look like I will be going back to Galveston for at least a week. They cancelled school, and are in checking out the damage...they might transfer us to College Station.

[Spawnomite]

It doesn't look like I will be going back to Galveston for at least a week. They cancelled school, and are in checking out the damage...they might transfer us to College Station.Sorry to hear that. Where you staying at?

[kobayashi93]

I'm at home in Allen, 30 mins north of Dallas. Incredible weather here today...

[SSJ4Vegeta]

Any damage to your place?

Thankfully none. Just a tree thats now in our backyard which we'll work on remomving soon as the water is gone. It was a bit rough since i took my grandparents to my aunts the day of the storm. Then saturday grandma needed to see the house. Soon as we got to the street thats when the 2nd tree blocking the street came down. So we stayed without power till 9am this morning.

[Joerhyno]

:(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/JoeRhyno/floodage002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/JoeRhyno/floodage001.jpg

Here's what I've been doing the last 2 days, with probably about 4 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours... besides cleaning up the water, opening stuff, cleaning stuff and reboxing stuff, lol.. lucky for me, besides some of the SW stuff, most of the stuff in the water damaged boxes were just fine, I just had to transplant them to new boxes.. but still, there's more stuff I have to box up... it's a never ending process, lol.. I'm just glad I cleaned a lot of that area up a little while ago, it used to have tons of toys on the floor where all the water was sitting.

[Spawnomite]

Is that all water damaged Joerhyno?

[homunculus]

Here's what I've been doing the last 2 days, with probably about 4 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours... besides cleaning up the water, opening stuff, cleaning stuff and reboxing stuff, lol.. lucky for me, besides some of the SW stuff, most of the stuff in the water damaged boxes were just fine, I just had to transplant them to new boxes.. but still, there's more stuff I have to box up... it's a never ending process, lol.. I'm just glad I cleaned a lot of that area up a little while ago, it used to have tons of toys on the floor where all the water was sitting.
Hey, that sucks, man. But I guess if some soggy boxes are the worst of it, you're good.

[Joerhyno]

yeppers, but I'm an opener.. just had to open some of them earlier than I wanted(waiting for new house)... There's others not pictured, the Ultimate battle packs, some models, a couple gunships, stuff like that, there's also some gallon size ziplock baggies that had loads of weapons in them.. lets just say they weren't airtight, lol... and my huge 3 foot tank.. I hope the gears and stuff aren't messed up on that, that'd suck.

[homunculus]

yeppers, but I'm an opener.. just had to open some of them earlier than I wanted(waiting for new house)... There's others not pictured, the Ultimate battle packs, some models, a couple gunships, stuff like that, there's also some gallon size ziplock baggies that had loads of weapons in them.. lets just say they weren't airtight, lol... and my huge 3 foot tank.. I hope the gears and stuff aren't messed up on that, that'd suck.
Well, you can go ahead and send me all your waterlogged stuff. I'll be sure to let you know what condition it's all in.

[Joerhyno]

Hey, that sucks, man. But I guess if some soggy boxes are the worst of it, you're good.

I whole heartily agree... My mom was telling me of stuff on the news were people are putting beds, washer and dryers, fridges, all sorts of stuff they "need" on their lawns to dry off, I feel for those people, mine's nothing compared to that.

[Spawnomite]

Story Highlights

NEW: 1.3 million without power in Ohio, Kentucky
NEW: Winds, floodwaters take toll in Midwest
2,000 rescued in Texas, official says
At least 15 dead in three states

GALVESTON, Texas (CNN) -- The remnants of Hurricane Ike moved into Canada early Monday after the storm left a trail of destruction from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes.

Hurricane-force winds from the storm, blamed for at least 15 deaths, were felt as far north as Kentucky and heavy rains flooded streets in Chicago.

On the Texas Gulf Coast, rescue crews continued to look for the estimated 20,000 residents who dismissed evacuation orders and tried to ride out the Category 2 hurricane's massive storm surge and 110-mph winds.

Among them were Paul and Kathi Norton, who overslept as Ike closed in on their home. They decided to tough it out because their evacuation route was flooded.

Though their Crystal Beach home, about 20 miles northeast of Galveston, was on 14-foot stilts, the couple was concerned, they told CNN affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston.

"My husband made me wear a life jacket inside our house," Kathi Norton said. "Thank God for that, or I couldn't be here."

They escaped floating on a staircase.

iReporter George Ramirez, of Seabrook, about 20 miles northwest of Galveston, said he will evacuate for the next hurricane after watching boats float down the middle of his apartment complex Saturday.

"It was 12-foot swells coming over a balcony," Ramirez said. "It was scary. I'll never do it again. It was really bad."

Nearly 2,000 people who did not evacuate for Hurricane Ike have been rescued along the southeastern Texas coast, said Steve McCraw, director of Texas Homeland Security.

On Sunday, a Galveston County sheriff's official said three bodies were pulled from storm wreckage in Port Bolivar, bringing to 10 the number of reported deaths in Texas linked to Ike.

Another storm death was reported in Arkansas, where wind knocked down a tree, killing a man inside a trailer home.

Louisiana Chief Medical Officer Louis Cataldie confirmed four deaths as a result of the Ike -- two in Terrebonne Parish and two in Jefferson Davis Paris.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said rescue missions remained the top priority for his agency.

The storm had broken apart by Sunday evening into a low pressure area that delivered rain and high wind from Texas northward into the lower Ohio River Valley, according to the National Weather Service.

Wind gusts as high as 74 mph ripped the roof off a Delta Airlines hangar at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, according to an Associated Press report. The airport's control tower had to be evacuated during the worst of the storm, AP said.

Winds also felled a tree onto Interstate 71 in Louisville, Kentucky, backing up traffic for miles Sunday. Some drivers left their cars to walk around the obstacle, according to CNN affiliate WLKY-TV.

On Interstate 64 in Kentucky, Paul Bowman is lucky to be alive after a tree plowed right through the windshield of his car, shattering the glass, WLKY reported.

"I was just cruising down the interstate during a bunch of traffic and all of a sudden, I see this tree coming across the guardrail and it just headed right for my windshield," Bowman told the station.

More than 340,000 Louisville Gas and Electric customers were without power Monday morning, WLKY reported.

Across the region, more than 1.3 million people were without power, AP reported.

"Over 90 percent of our customers are without service," Kathy Meinke of Duke Energy, which serves southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky, told AP.

Chicago authorities asked Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to issue a disaster declaration after rainfall Saturday in the Windy City broke a single-day record that had stood for more than two decades.

The deluge flooded streets and stranded residents in their homes.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated because of flooding in Munster, Indiana, according an AP report.

"We've never had flooding like this," Tom DeGiulio was quoted as saying.

The storm managed to flood parts of suburban St. Louis, Missouri, including the Brentwood neighborhood. The weather service reported at least 4 inches of rain fell on the area.

The rain started early Sunday morning, and "It just poured, said iReporter Jackie Hartlage, a Brentwood resident.

Kishwaukee River waters were rising overnight in Sycamore, Illinois, forcing dozens of mobile home residents from their homes, CNN affiliate WIFR-TV reported.

But one resident said his troubles were minor compared to those on the Texas coast.

"Nobody came in with a helicopter to evac anybody so how bad do we have it? My carpet got wrecked, I'm gonna have to put some new floors in. Stuff can always be replaced. Pets, people, not so much," Vince Prew told WIFR.

An estimated 40,000 Texans were seeking refuge in 250 shelters across the state, according to the governor's office.

For those who were still in their homes, Perry said 15 points of distribution for food and water would open by midnight Sunday.

Ike's winds and flooding also left 2.6 million homes and businesses in Texas and Louisiana without power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Much of the Texas-Louisiana coast was declared a major disaster area.

President Bush said Sunday he will visit Texas on Tuesday, and he warned that it's "going to require time for people to recover."

Gas prices soared across the country amid fears the storm would disrupt fuel supplies. Ike hit a region that is home to about 25 percent of the United States' oil refining capacity, and the storm's progress across the Gulf of Mexico shut down crude oil collection from Gulf oil fields.

[magneto1138 Part Deux]

Hahaha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIyzcpR6oo

[VenomProject]

Hahaha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIyzcpR6oo

HA! That's great.

[Spawnomite]

Hahaha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIyzcpR6ooBear Suit Guy = Dumb Ass

[Kabong30]

Bear Suit Guy = Dumb Ass

And yet still hilarious.

[Spawnomite]

Anyone heard from cyberpyrot?

Last Activity: 09-07-2008 06:09 PM

[Sanghelli]

Anyone heard from cyberpyrot?

Last Activity: 09-07-2008 06:09 PM

I hope he's okay. I can't remember which part of Houston he's from. My dad lives just north of Houston (Woodlands area) and they just got power last night.

[mmevile]

Hahaha...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIyzcpR6ooOh, that's way too funny! :D