My boss had the bright idea of having us visit the Houston market this week. We all arrived Wednesday afternoon with plans to leave Friday. After watching all the panic buying in the stores in The Woodlands, we decided to call our customer service people to make sure the stores would get replenished and decided to call it a week.

Lots of traffic NBD on I-45 at 11 am, stop-and-go until Willis and then again at Huntsville. I finally got home (near DFW) after taking a shortcut on US Hwy 287 around 5:30.

At the Houston Mayor's press conference this morning, he was asking employers to give all non-essential employees Friday off to keep the roads clear. He then listed what he thought were non-essential: medical, public safety, transport workers, grocery workers and gas station workers.

old news...at 10:00CT I was heading to IAH to get home and officials were advising commuters to avoid freeways to allow evacuees freer passage.

has the track changed so much from this morning that they were calling for only very selective parts of Harris County and it's gotten that much broader?

OMG, I haven't turned on the news for a few hours, and now they are describing Ike as a monstor storm and people who stay could face death.

Ike's a big bad boy. He's not an incredibly intense storm, "only" a cat 2 with about a 50-50 shot of making cat 3. But his incredible windfield size (larger than katrina) has built up a MASSIVE surge. They're forecasting 27-30 feet in parts of Houston.

We had 3-5 foot surges here yesterday, and Ike was halfway across the Gulf moving the other way. Large swaths of Pinellas County, which is extremely low-lying, were flooded. They recorded up to 10 feet of surge in Pensacola.

If Ike's forecast track doesn't jog to the right, Houston is screwed.

Reports I have been seeing quote Texas officials as saying that remaining in Galveston means "certain death."

I certainly hope all FTers anywhere in along the Gulf Coast in Texas -- and possibly as far East as Alabama -- have evacuated.

In Lubbock, we put out 1,000 cots in our old coliseum and civic center for coastal evacuees (we hosted Katrina and Rita guests, got a Cajun restaurant from some who didn't return). All to no avail, nobody will be evacuated to Lubbock. We had our own little weather situation.

Lubbock received 7.46" rain yesterday, beating the previous single-day record by more than 2 inches. And that's the official amount measured at the airport, some areas of the city received about 9". Some areas of town have received an additional 3" since midnight. All schools are closed, state of emergency declared, lots of street closures. Has absolutely nothing to do with the hurricane. BTW, Lubbock averages about 18" a year.

Back OT - Ike appears to be set for landfall about midnight or 1 AM just west of Galveston, and will pass directly through Houston, if current track continues. Surges will be high. Thankfully, Galveston rebuilt itself about 18' higher than in 1900 and has a very good seawall (surely NOLA could learn something here). Still, expect much damage. Although 1 million have evacuated, about 3 million will still remain within 30 miles of the coast within the projected path.

To all my fellow FTers who are in this storm's way with me - good luck and stay safe. Remember you CAN actually drink your own (or someone else's) urine if things get bad enough

We're hunkering down in Jersey Village...

At least one FTer is monitoring all sorts of sites from the comfort and safety of a surprisingly sunny Ireland.
Houston looks deserted from the traffic cams.
http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/c...&rd=IH-45_Gulf

As ever,good luck.

so far so good here out on the prairie. I spent a lot of time yesterday sorting out food and supplies. Breakfast is self serve. I need to get more orange juice.

I have not seen much talk about it, but watching the rain bands in the north side of Ike, it looks to me like folks perhaps around Schreveport? are going to get some rain that would make Noah happy. Somebody not even near the eye is going to get REAL WET.

Check out the NHS wind history chart.

Then ask yourself, is Houston just going to get screwed, or is it going to get pregnant, too?

Man this looks bad.

Here is an image of the SLOSH model for predicting peak storm surge. This one is based on Ike's current forecast track. The NHC's current forecast track is on the right side of model guidance, suggesting a new track about 20 miles west at the 11 AM update. Just picture this surge model with the surges just left of where they are. This is bad news folks.

Houston is the nations' 4th largest city, and around it are many of our refineries. This storm has the potential to make Katrina look like a thunderstorm, in terms of impact to the nation.

Ultimate Ike info overload site:

http://flhurricane.com/ikecoverage.html

(Thanks to Mackieman on the CO forum).

Galveston is already taking on water.

Even as early as yesterday, here in Alabama they were closing roads that had flooded due to Ike waaay out in the Gulf.

It sure seems very dire indeed for our Texas friends. Please be safe!!

I read today on CNN.com where someone that lives in Galveston is staying, and I thought of that warning that was given.

I'm worried about this one for you all.

There are numerous complete idiots driving around in Galveston, which is already starting to flood...check out this feed:

http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream2

Yes, there are people staying on Galveston.

We have fine weather this far north, but allergies are just awful. Something(s) nasty are blowing in from the south.

Thanks for the 'all talk at once' site referenced above. I do like to keep up with what is going on.

OP