We are quite far from Ike but the gas stations here are all up $0.25 since last night. I filled my car last night, the wife filled hers this morning, and I looked at both receipts (same station). Hmmm.

I think that the gas stations are allowed to recoup increased transportation costs to bring the gasoline in, but no more than that. If it gets worse, keep records and report them to the Consumer Affairs department after the storm.

Yeah, that can happen when diminishing supply hits a greater demand. The refineries were shut down in the last two days, so with the unknown prospect of when they might open again, it's going to be a seller's market for awhile.

Not sayin' it's right in a situation like this, but without the government stepping in and freezing gasoline prices, the free market economy will tend to take over. Fortunately, being well-versed in this, I suggested to the wife that we both fill our tanks yesterday when everybody started moving north from the coast. It was still the same price as last weekend when we did.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

We're a little closer to the GOM than MSO. The discount stations look to be jumping 10 cents/gallon as they get new product......from $2.45 to $2.55/gal.

Almost 20% of US refining capacity has been shut down, and crack spread has been quite low this year.

Accordign to the mayor of Galveston, ~40% of Galveston residents have decided to stay and ride it out. This same mayor is already in CYA mode, saying that Ike wasn't forecast to their area and "took a turn" to surprise them. :eek:

We may have thousands dead again, ala Katrina.

Wow. There's approximately 60,000 people who live in Galveston proper and another 190,000 that live in Galveston county. If we just count those living in Galveston, that's 24,000 people riding out the storm, which is potentially four times as many as were killed in the 1900 storm that hit the island.

Oh well. I guess you can't save people from their own stupidity. There was plenty of warning this time.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Ugh... I was wondering why my nose has been bleeding for almost 24 hours.

Winds look to be picking up here... its hot and the barometric pressure is giving me a nasty headache.

Weather in scenic Plano is mild, light breeze, partly cloudy, and very warm. Very nice evening to grill out some steaks and have some red wine.

You meant $3.45 to $3.55, right?

??? I live on the other side of the world and have been hearing warnings for residents of Galveston to evacuate for at least 24 hours.

If thousands of stupid people living on a low-lying barrier island decide to ride out the storm on their own, how is it the mayor's fault? He just opened himself up to being called a doofus...and from the sound of things, probably is one.

The weather service stated very clearly - if you stay on the island, you're going to die. How much more clear do they need to be? Are those people really that dumb?

I'm assuming the state or county provided adequate transportation services for those who could not evacuate on their own - so there would be no excuse that anyone should stay home and ride this out. This storm could push a 50' wall of water right over the island....are these people planning on treading water until they beach on the shoreline?

They've been talking about evacuation for two days.

The mayor is trying to avoid looking like Mayor Nagin, because two days ago she told everyone to stay because there wasn't time to evacuate.

To make matters worse, the mayor opened a high school as a shelter of last resort. The high school in question sits in a low-lying area and has no provisions for survival. Sound familiar? Like the Superdome, but deadly.

Yup....my bad.

Interesting pics. Crazy to see so few cars on an interstate. I hope folks are faring okay. This certainly doesn't look or sound good.

Great cams. ^ The IH 45 Gulf at 61 W shows 2 of the 6 lanes already under water, and solid water on both sides of the road. You all got 12 more hours to go? It scares me to look at this shot. :(

add: amazing. I am watching cam and a car just showed up at IH 45 Gulf at 61 W heading EAST! Someone notify the Darwin Awards Committee.

add2: Oh well, nice while it lasted, watching in real time. 5:30 CDT. All nine cams south of TCT Railroad just went dead. Must be the weather.

From the picture on Wikipedia, he school seems to be 3 stories high, with lots of windows. On top of the surge, there will be heavy waves. It's likely better to be there than in a one story wood frame house down the block, but maybe not by too much. This is worrisome.

It will get a lot worse. The wholesale price of gas in the Gulf Coast has increased in the past few days by about $1 as seen in this article. The increased prices have not yet reached the retail level, but they will if the refineries are shut down for an extended time.

Speaking of news reporters broadcasting live from the beach, I saw a screen capture a few hours ago that had... someone walking around in a bear costume.

The prices have increased here in South Florida...some of the more crooked station owners raised pump prices by as much as 30c/g on fuel already in their tanks. Others raised prices by 10-15c/g - also on fuel already in their tanks.

Then then wonder why everyone hates them.

One station here in Jupiter dropped them yesterday from $3.79 to $3.73, now is up to $3.99. :rolleyes:

Why the gas prices are very expensive for that. I think this is reasonable gas price will be dropped in between $3.00 or $2.95 per-gallons. Its should be getting better in the future. I won't worry about the Hurricanes in Texas or Florida. I didn't like it in Florida at all.

I knows your folks will be alright during Hurricanes Ike in Texas. Its will be coming tonight around 11pm in Central Standard Time. I knows my cousin who lives in Houston for few years before she moving to Georgia but, she has been accepted new job at ER. She becoming the doctor at Emergency Room. She will have her schedules are very hectic at work.

Guys,

I hope everyone in the affected area is safe and well. I will remind people that we are no longer in OMNI in this thread, but in Cbuzz, so conversation has to live by the Cbuzz rules now, not the OMNI rules. Please stay on topic - and if you are in the area affected, please let us know that you are safe when you can :)

Jenbel
Co-moderator, Communitybuzz!

Any reports from Galveston area? Media is still "data sparse".

Hot, humid and dark in North Texas. We still have power, but I just got an email from TXU saying that outages are expected.

CNN and MSNC are starting to report more from Galveston now

Electric comes and goes. Light rain and light winds west of DFW airport. Cellphones working fine.

Computer network is up and running, but we are being careful with it.

I heard the weather channels that don't you mentioned remember what happened hurricanes Alicia. It was 25 years ago but, the hurricanes Alicia were hit in Houston, TX. It was lot of damaged at entire building. I am already knows what happened the hurricanes Alicia in Houston, TX. I knows it was lot of flooded on the streets.

Hopefully if you can find out more new information about Hurricanes Ike lately. I won't worry about the weather in Houston, TX. I am already knows all flights has been cancelled due to hurricanes Ike. How much longer when the water will be gone away for next couple days later. I will not feels confident for me at all. Its absolutely is not good timer for me at all. Its has too much hurricanes in Florida. I didn't like it at all. its terrible for us in South Florida.

I remember the Hurricanes Andrew were hit in South Florida. It was lot of house has been damaged due to Hurricanes Andrew. We don't have electricity around the neighorhood. Its was shutdown is almost 12 hours. I won't go back to South Florida for rest of the life. I will keep touch some of those my friends & relatives, too.

Ike could be a funny one I think.
From headlines that went round the world from FEMA saying anyone who stays puts faces " certain death " to very few casualties and lots of flooding.
This could prove disastrous for when the next really serious one comes along although I donlt blame anyone - predicting damage from hurricanes must be an extraordinarily difficult job.

The storm did prove to be less than predicted which is a GOOD thing. As far as the casualties, let's hope it stays low.

Saw photos. OMG.

"Apollo 13, we have a problem."

We had steady rain all day with moderate winds. Ike is now heading north and likely will cause misery along the way. Areas that don't need more rain.

Well, I never made it to ATL. Instead I am stranded in Chicago. I thought I was being clever by switching my flights to connect in ORD instead of DFW. But my flight from ORD to ATL got cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago, and they can't get me to ATL until tomorrow morning. :mad:

So I'm kickin back at the ORD Hilton tonight.

The good news is that I was able to watch the BYU and Oregon games at a local sports bar--I was originally scheduled to be in the air during the games. Silver lining. ^

Ike arrives in STL tomorrow/Sunday...with more rain.

Yeah, my friend who lives just outside of STL said 3 to 6" of rain were predicted...

Then again, I'll trade someone for a few inches of rain. It's supposed to be mid-80's tomorrow here in the PDX area. But we need a good, soaking rain.

I've been waiting to see how those idiots "patrons" from the Poop Deck (quite the name) made it through the storm, but haven't seen anything as of yet. I remember seeing them before the storm and just shaking my head.

The thing that scares me about that is the dire warning given. Yet there they were, chugging away and having a grand time. If they survived, it's because the surge didn't hit as big and right there. So in the future other folks will think it's safe to stay, too.

It doesn't take a Cat 4 storm like Andrew to cause major disruptions - in Broward County, 2005's Cat 2 Wilma caused consioderable more disrpution (though less property damage) then Andrew. Our house in DT Ft. Lauderdale had no damage (except for one big tree branch down) but our power was out for eleven days.

Ike's rains are here in DTW. We needed rain, but not the amount we've received so far! Some minor flooding is occuring and for some reason (there was no wind...) there were alot of power outages near me last night.

Friends in Houston who were not in an evac zone departed Houston this morning and are in a hotel off I-35. They report that they had cell phone adapters to use and charge their cell phones in their cars.

The house they left was starting to mildew and mold. They do not have insurance for that. Clean up will be very expensive.

Numerous streets were blocked off in a neighborhood near mine in St. Louis because of flooding...nothing like what they're dealing w/ in Texas, but thought-provoking that it's rain from the same storm, there, in the Carribean, here, DTW, and on and on.