Hurricane Ike Impact Felt In Space

Hurricane Ike Impact Felt In Space

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2008) — Hurricane Ike has delayed the scheduled Friday arrival of a Russian Progress cargo ship at the International Space Station 220 miles above Earth.

The Progress docking was postponed when the space station's control room at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was closed Thursday because of the approaching storm.

Control of the space station was handed to flight controllers at backup facilities near Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Ala. Because the Mission Control Center in Houston is responsible for commanding many of the station's systems, U.S. and Russian officials agreed to delay the docking.

Russian flight controllers will execute a maneuver to place the Progress spacecraft into a safe orbit away from the station until docking, which is planned for Wednesday, Sept. 17. If Johnson's control center is not restored to full capability for docking, one of the backup facilities may be used to command the station's systems.

Station Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Greg Chamitoff are awaiting the arrival of the cargo ship. The spacecraft is carrying more than 2 tons of supplies, including food and fuel.

Hurricane Ike Spurs 2,000 Rescues; Thousands More Await

When Hurricane Ike blasted the U.S. Gulf Coast on Saturday, an estimated 140,000 Texas residents refused to evacuate when ordered to do so.

Now 1,984 of these people have been rescued so far in Texas, including 394 by air, authorities said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. A door-to-door search continues in Galveston, where Ike came ashore early Saturday.

(See Hurricane Ike photos.)

Officials are urging all residents of Galveston to stay away from the barrier island, telling them there is no way to live there right now. It could take up to a month to restore power, and roads are still flooded. (VIDEO: Hurricane Ike Devastation.)

Crews navigated debris-strewn streets to reach people still stuck in some of the thousands of homes flooded by the hurricane. Authorities imposed a curfew in Houston and warned it would be weeks before the nation's fourth largest city is fully back up and running.

Heavy morning rains hampered rescue efforts in the hardest-hit areas of the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Meanwhile, residents who had evacuated and tried to return to the Houston area found interstates and streets blocked by flooding and debris.

Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans from another night amid the destruction. Eight deaths have been blamed on the storm, and authorities are worried the toll could rise.

"I'm worried about my mother's medical condition. We haven't been able to get to anyone at the clinic on the phone," said Zee Ellis, whose mother, 80-year-old Ruth Willis, fled Houston with her family ahead of the storm.

As they waited out a downpour along Interstate 10 on Sunday morning, Ellis said her mother's cancer treatments had been interrupted as they had moved from place to place, looking for shelter and electricity.

U.S. President George W. Bush planned to travel to Texas on Tuesday to express sympathy and lend support to the storm's victims. He asked people who evacuated before the hurricane to listen to local authorities before trying to return home.

In Houston a weeklong curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. has been imposed, because most of the city is still without power. Highways, darkened streetlights, and pooled water make it difficult to drive.

"In the interest of safety, we're asking people to not be out in the streets in their vehicles or on foot," the Houston police chief, Harold Hurtt, said.

In Hackberry, Louisiana, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the coast, workers moved a large shrimp boat out of the highway with a bulldozer. But the team had to stop because of strong currents in the floodwaters and difficulty in seeing the roadway.

"You can't see the sides of the road, and if you left the road, you'd just be swept away," National Guard spokesperson Sgt. Rebekah Malone said. About 20 people have been evacuated by boat in Hackberry.

Residents of the tiny community of Seabrook, Texas, near NASA's Johnson Space Center, were met by a roadblock as they tried to return home, and police officers standing in the rain turned them away. At times the line was 6 to 12 cars deep.

"It's going to be a while," an officer shouted to one man as he made a U-turn. "Just listen to the news."

"Seabrook is a disaster area: no sewer, no infrastructure. It really isn't safe," said officer Charlie Skinner. "It's making residents pretty upset. I understand, but … There's an order signed by the mayor. We can't let anybody in."

Overnight, a team of paramedics, rescue dogs, and structural engineers fanned out under a nearly full moon on a finger of land in Galveston Bay. To the northeast, Coast Guard crews also worked into early Sunday morning, pulling a half dozen people out of Bridge City before rescue missions were suspended for the night.

Five-year-old Jack King escaped serious injury when a rush of storm-surge water washed out the first floor of his family's Galveston home just two blocks from the bay.

"I falled in the attic," the boy told paramedic Stanley Hempstead of his ten-foot (three-meter) tumble through the attic and onto the garage floor.

Jack and his family rode out the storm with blankets and other supplies. As the Texas Task Force 1 Search and Rescue crew arrived, Jack gazed at a TV aglow with The Simpsons, a Band-Aid covering a gash on his head.

"We just didn't think it was going to come up like this," said the boy's father, Lee King. "I'm from New Orleans, I know better. I just didn't think it was going to happen."

On one side of the Galveston peninsula, two barges had broken loose and smashed into homes. Everything from red vinyl barstools to clay roof tiles litters the landscape.

The second floors of some homes sit where the first floors were before Ike's surge washed them out, and only frames remain below the roofs of others, opening a clear view from front yard to back.

Eight deaths have been blamed on the storm—five in Texas, two in Louisiana and one in Arkansas. Authorities said Sunday three people have been found dead in Galveston, including one person found in a submerged vehicle near the airport. Another person died in Arkansas when a tree fell on his mobile home as the remnants swept through.

Texas Governor Rick Perry's office said 940 people had been saved by nightfall Saturday but that thousands had made distress calls the night before. Another 600 have been rescued from flooding in Louisiana.

In Orange, Texas, Mayor Brown Claybar estimated about a third of the city of 19,000 people was flooded, from 6 inches (15 centimeters) of water to 6 feet (183 centimeters). He said about 375 people who stayed behind during the storm had begun to emerge, some needing food, water, and medical care.

"These people got out with the wet shirts on their back," Claybar said. He said he did not know how many were still stranded. He didn't know exactly how long it would take to pump water out of the city.

Hurricane Ike was the first major storm to directly hit a major U.S. metro area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Ike weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday morning but was still packing winds up to 35 miles (56 kilometers) as it dumped rain over Arkansas and traveled across Missouri. Tornado-warning sirens sounded Saturday in parts of Arkansas, and the storm downed trees and knocked out power to thousands there.

More than three million people were without power in Texas at the height of the storm, and it could be weeks before electric service is fully restored. Utilities had made some progress by late Saturday, and lights had returned to parts of Houston.

In Louisiana, battered by both Ike and Labor Day's Hurricane Gustav, 180,000 homes and businesses were in the dark.

Those residents who did leave were glad they had heeded orders, despite the inconvenience. Retired nurse Ida Mayfield said that, because Gustav hit Louisiana and not Beaumont two weeks ago, many people had decided not to evacuate ahead of Ike. She was warm and dry at a church-turned-shelter in Tyler, along with thousands of her neighbors.

"Two o'clock this morning made a believer out of all of them," said the 52-year-old Mayfield, adding that she spoke to a friend Saturday who was on a roof waiting for help after calling 911. "They're scared now."

Associated Press Writers Pauline Arrillaga in Houston, Jay Root and Kelley Shannon in Austin, Doug Simpson in Baton Rouge, April Castro, Mark Williams and Andre Coe in College Station, Allen G. Breed in Surfside Beach, Juan Lozano in Orange, Elizabeth White in San Antonio and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.

HURRICANE BASICS

IKE AND CHICAGO!

KLOT - September 13^th to 14^th Flooding Event

A tropical air mass set up across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana which led to a large portion of the region ending up with substantial flooding. The heaviest rain began early on Saturday the 13^th and lasted through most of the day, with a brief period in the evening where rain finally ceased. Rainfall amounts were generally in the 4 to 8 inch range across the hardest hit areas, which spans across most of northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana. Numerous streets and highways have shut down because of the heavy rain along with basement flooding. The large swath of heavy rain has also caused most rivers in the region to climb into flood stage, with major to record flooding forecast on some rivers. Additionally, the 6.64 inches of rain that fell at O’Hare International Airport on the 13^th established a new all time record calendar day rainfall for Chicago, where records date back to 1871. The previous record was on August 14, 1987 when 6.49 inches fell. The following is a map plotting out all of the Flood or Flash Flood reports received by the National Weather Service in Romeoville from Saturday morning through Saturday evening as well as the radar estimate of the event from Friday evening (when rainfall was light) through Sunday morning.

Flood reports from September 13^th to 14^th

NWS Chicago Doppler radar estimate of rainfall from Friday evening into Sunday morning. Green shading indicates 1 to 2.5 inches, yellow shading indicates 2.5 to 5 inches, while red shading indicates 5 to 10 inches of rain.

Unfortunately, the rainfall is not over. The tropical remnants of what was Hurricane Ike are moving northeastward into the region and combined with a cold front trying to push through has led to the redevelopment of light to moderate rainfall. As the remnants of Ike reach the Chicago area later this morning, the rainfall is expected to intensify with additional amounts of 1 to 2 inches with locally higher amounts of 4 inches by this evening. With most areas still having standing water and rivers stressed to their limits, any additional rainfall is going to make conditions worse.

Residents of northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana are asked to take caution and beware of flooded roadways. With the amount of roads that have been closed due to flooding, some municipalities have run out of signs to mark roadways that are flooded. Take particular caution if you are driving at night as a flooded roadway may not be noticeable until you are upon it. As always, it is very difficult to judge how deep the standing or flowing water over a roadway may be, so turn around and don’t drown!

Here are a few helpful links to monitor the flooding…

AHPS/River Info

Latest Text Flood Warnings/Statements

Latest Storm Reports

HPC Day 1: 24 Hour Quantitative Precipitation Forecast

HPC Excessive Rainfall Forecast

Additional information can always be found on NWS Chicago’s website at weather.gov/chicago

Rainfall Totals From the Storm September 12-14 2008!

Here are the storm total precipitation amounts from our Cooperative Observers as well as our CoCoRaHs observers across Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana. It covers the period from 7 am Friday, September 12 through 7 am Monday, September 15, 2008. The table below is listed from highest to lowest amounts. If you would like to see the list by county, click here.

Thank you to all our volunteers who reported during this rain event!

Station ID	Name	3 day total
IN-PT-64	VALPARAISO 1.4 ENE	11.02
IN-PT-32	PORTAGE 0.9 ESE	10.74
IN-PT-69	PORTER 0.6 S	10.69
IN-PT-34	CHESTERTON 1.7 WSW	10.59
IL-DP-53	WHEATON 1.7 N	10.53
ELBI2	ELBURN	10.51
IL-KN-30	ELBURN 0.4 NW	10.51
IN-PT-60	LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS	10.41
IN-PT-8	VALPARAISO 0.6 SE	10.33
IL-CK-107	EVANSTON 1.4 N	10.20
IN-PT-27	KOUTS 2.8 N	10.16
IN-PT-62	VALPARAISO 7.4 WSW	10.09
IL-CK-69	PARK FOREST 0.8 NNE	10.01
IN-LK-6	CROWN POINT 6.6 ESE	9.94
IN-PT-1	VALPARAISO 3.9 NNW	9.87
IN-LP-14	MICHIGAN CITY 1.3 SSW	9.79
IL-CK-84	BARTLETT 1.2 NE	9.78
IN-PT-13	VALPARAISO 6.2 WSW	9.74
IN-PT-30	VALPARAISO 5.8 WSW	9.67
IN-LK-31	MERRILLVILLE 0.8 NNW	9.37
IL-CK-46	DES PLAINES 0.5 NW	9.36
IN-PT-19	VALPARAISO 5.9 NW	9.22
SCKI2	ST CHARLES 7 NW	9.18
PAWI2	PAW PAW	9.16
IL-KN-8	GENEVA 3.3 WSW	9.15
IL-KN-58	LILY LAKE 2.1 E	9.13
IN-PT-43	CHESTERTON 2.3 ESE	9.13
SCHI2	ST CHARLES	9.10
IL-KN-68	GENEVA 0.9 N	9.09
IN-PT-12	VALPARAISO 4.3 SW	9.09
IL-KN-64	ST CHARLES 0.1 E	9.08
IN-LK-26	CROWN POINT 1.1 N	9.04
IL-KN-66	GENEVA 1.0 E	9.03
IL-DP-34	WEST CHICAGO 2.7 N	9.02
IL-CK-75	ELK GROVE VILLAGE 2.2 WSW	8.95
IN-LK-8	HAMMOND 3.0 SW	8.95
IN-PT-44	CROWN POINT 7.6 ESE	8.90
IL-CK-64	HOMEWOOD 0.1 ESE	8.89
IL-KN-31	ST CHARLES 1.6 SW	8.83
IN-PT-14	CHESTERTON 3.0 ESE	8.77
IL-CK-76	FLOSSMOOR 1.1 ESE	8.76
IN-PT-25	VALPARAISO 5.1 WSW	8.76
IL-CK-63	ELK GROVE VILLAGE 0.6 ESE	8.74
IL-DP-61	ROSELLE 0.5 S	8.61
STAI2	STREATOR	8.55
IL-WL-25	CRETE 2.6 E	8.55
IN-LK-24	CROWN POINT 2.0 WSW	8.55
IL-KN-63	GENEVA 1.7 WSW	8.54
IL-KN-1	GENEVA 1.6 ENE	8.52
IL-DP-42	CAROL STREAM 0.3 SSE	8.51
IL-CK-18	SKOKIE 1.0 NNE	8.47
IL-DP-11	CAROL STREAM 0.7 WNW	8.45
IN-PT-18	HEBRON 3.7 NE	8.31
IL-KN-33	NORTH AURORA 1.5 NE	8.27
IL-KN-10	ELGIN 0.9 WSW	8.26
IL-KN-23	BATAVIA 1.5 WNW	8.23
IL-KN-57	GENEVA 1.9 W	8.21

Continue Reading

MARITIME NOTE

A Sri Lanka Rice Cargo Ship Sinks Near Chittagong Harbor – 16 Crew Men Rescued, One Missing Thu, 2008-08-21 14:31

By Walter Jayawardhana

A Sri Lankan cargo vessel carrying 3609 tons of rice was sunk off Banglades’s Chiitagong harbor after colliding with a Panamanian empty tanker , the harbor authorities said.

Radio Controller of Chittagong Port Authoritiy,Wahidur Rahman said, “After receiving an SOS from the vessel rescue boats of the harbor authorities saved 16 Sri Lankan and Myanmar crew men but one Myanmar man was still missing.”

The rice laden Sri Lankan vessel, “Badulu Valley” collided with the unloaded Panamanian oil Tanker, Hung Geu in the rough weather August 20 at 11.45 Chittagon time and capsized by the rough sea.

The port authorities said the Chief Engineer of the vessel, Aung kian, a Myanmar national is believed to be trapped inside engine room of the sunken cargo ship.

The accident is believed to have occurred near the outer anchorage of the Chittagon Harbor. The rice laden ship was believed to be moving towards the jetty while the unloaded oil tanker was anchored about one nautical mile away from the coast when the accident happened.

When captain of the sinking Sri Lankan ship radioed an SOS three rescue vessels rushed to the spot and rescued the 16 crewmen.

The sunken vessel sailed from Kakinada port in Orrisa, India on August 17 and was scheduled to berth at Chittagong port Wednesday, said Chief of Operation of the local agent of the vessel- CLA.

Though the oil tanker suffered physical damage following the collision, it fortunately did not catch fire as its hatch was empty, a local newspaper reported.

An official of the local agent of the sunken vessel Continental Liner Agencies (CLA) Saiful Ahmed said that the rescued crew was Myanmar and Sri Lankan nationals.
The search work for the missing engineer started by marking the place of accident.

Sources closed to the rescue workers said that the possibility of finding the missing person is bleak.

However, Radio control room suspected that the missing man might have been trapped in the engine room and the body could be found after recovery of the wreckage.

A two-member probe body comprising - Captain Jashim Uddin and Assistant Harbour Master Rahmat Ullah - has been formed to look into the incident, secretary of the CPA Farhad Syed Uddin Ahmed said.

The probe team has been asked to submit its report within seven days.

10:00AM 16 September 2008 =WebCast

Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Oil Spill in New Orleans in July 2008 and Safety on the Inland River System

* 2167 Rayburn House Office Building

Full Summary of Subject Matter

RS

Food Safety Tips during Ike and other hurricanes, tornadoes

Food Safety Tips during Ike and other hurricanes, tornadoes

Sept. 11, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing recommendations to those in the projected track of Hurricane Ike, which could produce severe storms and tornadoes in Texas, as well as other Gulf coast states. USDA is hopeful this information will help minimize the potential for foodborne illnesses due to power outages and other problems that are often associated with severe weather events.

“Power outages can occur at any time of the year and it often takes from a few hours to several days for electricity to be restored to residential areas,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond. “Without electricity or a cold source, foods stored in refrigerators and freezers can become unsafe. Bacteria in food grow rapidly at temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, and if these foods are consumed, people can become very sick.”

Steps to follow to prepare for a possible weather emergency:

–Keep an appliance thermometer in the refrigerator and freezer. An appliance thermometer will indicate the temperature in the refrigerator and freezer in case of a power outage and help determine the safety of the food.

–Make sure the freezer is at 0 °F or below and the refrigerator is at 40 °F or below.–Freeze containers of water for ice to help keep food cold in the freezer, refrigerator or coolers after the power is out.

–Freeze refrigerated items such as leftovers, milk and fresh meat and poultry that you may not need immediately — this helps keep them at a safe temperature longer.

–Plan ahead and know where dry ice and block ice can be purchased.

–Store food on shelves that will be safely out of the way of contaminated water in case of flooding.

–Have coolers on hand to keep refrigerator food cold if the power will be out for more than 4 hours. Purchase or make ice cubes and store in the freezer for use in the refrigerator or in a cooler. Freeze gel packs ahead of time for use in coolers.

–Group food together in the freezer — this helps the food stay cold longer.

Steps to follow after the weather emergency:

–Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.

The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

–Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, soft cheeses, milk, eggs, leftovers and deli items after 4 hours without power.

–Food may be safely refrozen if it still contains ice crystals or is at 40 °F or below when checked with a food thermomete..

–Never taste a food to determine its safety!

–Obtain dry or block ice to keep your refrigerator and freezer as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time. Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic-foot full freezer for 2 days.

–If the power has been out for several days, check the temperature of the freezer with an appliance thermometer. If the appliance thermometer reads 40 °F or below, the food is safe to refreeze.

–If a thermometer has not been kept in the freezer, check each package of food to determine its safety. If the food still contains ice crystals, the food is safe.

–Drink only bottled water if flooding has occurred.

–Discard any food that is not in a waterproof container if there is any chance that it has come into contact with flood water. Discard wooden cutting boards, plastic utensils, baby bottle nipples and pacifiers.

Undamaged, commercially prepared foods in all-metal cans and retort pouches (for example, flexible, shelf-stable juice or seafood pouches) can be saved. Follow the Steps to Salvage All-Metal Cans and Retort Pouches in the publication “Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency”

–Thoroughly wash all metal pans, ceramic dishes and utensils that came in contact with flood water with hot soapy water and sanitize by boiling them in clean water or by immersing them for 15 minutes in a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water.

–When in Doubt, Throw it Out!

You all be careful out there…

Weather Eye: Galveston prepared for Hurricane Ike

Paul Simons

Hurricane Ike struck the coast of Texas on Saturday and battered the island of Galveston with a 3.7m (12ft) storm surge. But far worse has hit this region before.

In 1900 Galveston was one of the wealthiest cities in the US and the nation’s biggest cotton port. Despite its vulnerable position on the Gulf of Mexico coast, the local weather forecaster Isaac Cline declared that it could never be seriously damaged by a hurricane. “An absurd delusion,” he called it. His opinion helped to sway Galveston’s decision to reject a proposal to build a protective sea wall.

On September 8, 1900, an exceptionally powerful hurricane struck the Texas coast. Barometer readings plunged and telegraph reports came in of violent seas in the Caribbean heading northwards. Galveston was full of tourists and residents, but fewer than half of them heeded the warnings; some sightseers even came from the mainland to watch the sea crash in.

The hurricane hit in the evening with winds so powerful they lifted a train full of evacuees off the tracks as it was leaving Galveston. A 4.6m (15ft) storm surge burst through the town, tearing buildings from their foundations. “Massive buildings were crushed like eggshells, great timbers were carried through the air as though they were of no weight, and the winds and the waves swept everything before them,” wrote one eyewitness.

Wind and waves batter ghost towns in Texas and Louisiana

An estimated 6,000 to 10,000 people died, far more than in the San Francisco earthquake six years later. It was the greatest natural disaster in US history. Afterwards Galveston built huge storm surge defence walls, but these were not enough to keep out Hurricane Ike.

WEATHER NOTE
Fly Over South Eastern Texas Coastline (IKE)

Galveston Cleans Up After Ike



IKE UPDATE FROM BIG MEDICINE

Gulf Coast: Selected updates from Sept 13 - Hurricane Ike [Sep 14]--

NEMRC Alert - TX - Summary of reports 07.44

Special thanks to Vic Healey for monitoring multiple feeds overnight.

Warning no one needs to be out. Danger from live wires down in dark. ( Side note - from my experience in being sent to Miami area after a hurricane many serious traffic accidents from lack of traffic signals BE CAREFUL next several weeks)

Reporters from all channels expressing feeling that they will never do this again. Fearful experience to be out reporting on this storm. Trucks getting flat tires from debris in road. Continue Reading

HURRICANE IKE FROM THE DUNDEE TRACKING STATION

LATEST IKE IMAGE

• More quicklook images: Geostationary Archive / GOES East / 2008 / 9 / 14 / 1500

IKE SIMULATIONS BY STORM LABORATORY

Storm Laboratory

IKE TAKING A HIKE!

CHICAGO RAIN FALL TOTALS - IKE

Rainfall amounts for the last 24 hours!

Here are 24 hour rainfall reports from our Cooperative Observers and CoCoRaHs observers.

Thanks to all our observers for their reports and participation in the program!

MAXIMUM/MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL

1000 AM CDT SUN SEP 14 2008

TEMPERATURES AND 24 HOUR PRECIPITATION ENDING AT INDICATED TIME. THIS MORNING. LOCATIONS GROUPED BY CLIMATIC DIVISION. DATA PROVIDED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS.

Continue Reading

Storm update: Some evacuated as Chicago River crests on NW Side

September 14, 2008

Evacuations and sandbagging were under way in the Albany Park neighborhood on the city's Northwest Side Sunday morning as a section of the Chicago River crested.

The Chicago Fire Department evacuated some residents who live in the 5100 block of North Avers Avenue, south of West Foster Avenue, according to CLTV. The number of people being evacuated was not immediately known.

At the corner of Avers and West Carmen Avenue, water was up to 2-feet deep, and vehicles were moving slowly through the flooded area. The water had reached all the way up to nearby homes, mostly 2-story, brick townhouses. The entire area near Avers and Carmen had been closed off to anyone other than local residents. Police barriers were blocking streets.

Streets and Sanitation bulldozers were dropping sandbags along Avers, and Peoples Gas workers were turning off gas service due to the flooding.

From Tribune reporter Emily Achembaum.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning until 4:30 Sunday afternoon for large portions of northern Illinois, plus several counties of northwestern Indiana. The warning covers all or parts of the following Illinois counties: Ford, Iroquois, Boone, DeKalb, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle, Winnebago, Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will, plus the Indiana Counties of Jasper, Newton, Lake and Porter.

City officials scheduled a news conference at 9 a.m. at the Office of Emergency Services headquarters at 1411 W. Madison to provide a flooding update. CLTV will carry the news conference live.

Roadways: On the Bishop Ford Freeway, a flooded section near 130th Street was affecting traffic in both directions. Northbound at the steel bridge, the left lane was closed, and about a half mile south of the 130th Street exit the right lane was closed, pushing all the traffic into the center lane. Traffic was slowly passing through about 8 inches of water in the center lane, which was the shallowest lane. Southbound lanes were open, but vehicles were sending huge sprays of water into the air as they hit the flooded patch south of 130th.

IDOT's list of road closings due to flooding.

And more on chicagotribune.com's traffic report (right side of page).

The Greater Chicago Red Cross has opened four shelters for people displaced by flooding in the city and suburbs. The shelters are located at:
-- North Park College at 5801 N. Pulaski. The shelter was opened early Sunday to care for people who were evacuated from parts of the Albany Park neighborhood when the Chicago River crested.
-- The Des Plaines Park District at 515 E. Thacker in Des Plaines.
-- St. Stevens Lutheran Church at 14700 S. Kildare in Midlothian in the south suburbs.
-- Mt. Carmel School, 1101 N. 23rd Avenue in Melrose Park.

Cancellation: The fourth annual Lakeview East Festival of the Arts in the city's Lake View neighborhood canceled its second day of events Sunday due to the weather. Know of a canceled event? Send a notice to chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Saturday's rainfall, as measured at O'Hare International Airport, was at least 6.63 inches, breaking the city calendar-day record of 6.49 on Aug. 14, 1987. Records have been kept since 1871. (Read full coverage of Saturday's deluge).

Expect widespread rain Sunday morning, then scattered light showers in the afternoon. There could be an additional 2 to 3 inches of rain in some areas, the National Weather Service predicted. High temperatures will be in the 60s. There is a 30 percent chance of light showers Sunday night, with low temperatures in the 50s. The region should begin to dry out Monday. Cloudy skies are forecast but no new rainfall.

The storms claimed at least one victim. Divers recovered the body of Alan Byrd, 28, of Rolling Meadows, who tried to swim with a friend across a flooded retention pond near Kirchoff and South New Wilke Roads in Arlington Heights.

Towed vehicles: The city's Department of Streets and Sanitation said dozens of vehicles have been towed in flooded areas. Relocated vehicles that were south of the Chicago River are being taken to 4958 N. Springfield, the department said in a news release. Vehicles that were relocated from north of the river are being taken to the Northeastern Illinois University Parking Lot, Lot "L."

IT AIN'T JUST IKE
China's coastal provinces evacuate thousands in path of Typhoon Sinlaku




FUZHOU/HANGZHOU, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in east China evacuated about 230,000 people from low-lying coastal regions, as typhoon Sinlaku is approaching, after it pounded Taiwan early Sunday morning.

In Zhejiang alone, nearly 200,000 residents have been evacuated and 30,000 fishing boats have been recalled to harbor, according to the provincial headquarters for flood control.

The approaching of Sinlaku has led to winds of up to 126 km per hour off the coast of Zhejiang and brought about downpours in some areas.

"We must do the utmost to minimize the losses...and guard against flash floods and landslides," said Zhao Hongzhu, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The flood control headquarters in Zhejiang warned that Sinlaku could cause serious geological disasters on its possible course through Ningbo, Taizhou and Wenzhou cities as well as the Zhoushan Islands.

Local authorities in the province have also urged all coastal scenic spots to shut down business, and persuade tourists to stay in safe places or return home.

Sinlaku is the 13th tropical storm to hit the Chinese mainland this year. It landed at Taiwan's Yilan County early Sunday morning.

The eye of the typhoon was reported to be about 305 km to the southeast of Wenzhou in southeastern Zhejiang at 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to the local weather authorities, and it was moving northwestward to the area at a speed of 10 km per hour.

The observatory in Fujian gave yellow alert, or the second-degree disaster weather warning, to the storm on Sunday, forecasting winds close to hurricane force and heavy rains in the sea area of the Taiwan Straits from Sunday to Monday.

"The typhoon is moving to northern Fujian and Wenzhou. But it's still hard to predict whether it will make a landfall on the mainland or the specific location it will land at," said Chen Hui, vice mayor of Fuding in northern Fujian.

"Yet it will cause losses to the city even if the typhoon doesn't land at Fuding," he said, adding that all public servants in the city have been ordered to cancel their three-day Moon Festival holiday to prepare for combating the typhoon.

Few people were seen walking on the streets of Fuding's Shacheng Township Sunday afternoon and almost all shops had closed. Latest developments about Sinlaku could be heard via loudspeakers incessantly.

"I'll go nowhere tonight. Just stay at home. I have bad memories about typhoons," local resident Yao Rihua, while putting up reinforcement panels on his doors and windows. Continue Reading

LATEST IMAGE ON TYPHOON SINLAKU

• More quicklook images: Geostationary Archive / MTSAT / 2008 / 9 / 14 / 1500

MARITIME NOTE

Loose barge totals bridge

LYDIA — Hurricane Ike’s wrath has forced road blockades and added law enforcement to flood-devastated parts of the Teche Area, but hasn’t stopped residents from staying for the aftermath of a surge that could bring Rita-like destruction. The devastation included a rogue barge that destroyed the Warehouse Bayou bridge on Louisiana 83.

State police officers and Louisiana National Guard soldiers continuously turned away vehicles and residents trying to get to their homes at Patoutville Road and Louisiana 83 in Lydia because of high water.

An officer at the blockade said he received reports of a man driving an airboat through the flooded areas, creating dangerous waves for residents who stayed in their homes.

Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Wendell Raborn said deputies arrested the driver of the boat, Harold Dauterive, 49, for curfew violation and trespassing.

There is a 24-hour curfew in effect for flooded areas of the parish, and Sheriff Louis Ackal set a bond of $50,000 for curfew violators.

A few blocks past the blockade, Dwayne and Connie Eskind and their niece Layla Fargo waded through the rising water in their yard to check the flood levels in their home.

“We have water coming into one side of our home right now,” Eskind said at midday Saturday. “But not as much as Rita yet. The water from Rita came all at once.”

A CLECO employee trying to rescue his dogs from his home near the blockade in Lydia said the electric company planned to shut off all power to flooded areas to prevent house fires.

CLECO reported at 4 p.m. Saturday that 866 homes in Iberia were without power.

A few miles south of the blockade, the bridge over Warehouse Bayou was destroyed by an unattended barge that crashed into it Saturday morning during the storm.

Robert Freeman, an environmental science manager with the state Department of Environmental Quality, said the barge appeared to have broken loose and wiped out the bridge.

Half of the barge was stuck against the bridge and the other half was sunken, Freeman said.

The crash also caused a small amount of old diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid to spill into the bayou. Freeman described the barge as a “keyway” barge used to put rigs on for drilling.

No injuries were reported.

Six campers from southeast Texas and a few from Delcambre sought refuge from Ike on Highway 89 near Lake Peigneur, where flood waters had already risen to nearly 6 feet on some areas along the lake’s banks.

Early Saturday morning, Jackie Delcambre of Orange, Texas, watched the white-capped waves on the lake smash around the roof of a flooded building where campers are typically parked.

“The water never crests like this,” said Lisa Broussard, who lives along Lake Peigneur. “The camping spots for RVs are underwater. There was grass there yesterday (Friday).”

Officials to begin surveying Texas waterways

Officials on Sunday were planning to survey Texas waterways in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

``Our goal is to get these waterways open as soon as possible,'' said Col. David C. Weston, commander for the Corps of Engineers Galveston District. ``We know how critical they are to our nation's economy and industry, and, weather permitting, we will begin today.''

Other agencies who will be taking part in the project are the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, pilots, and the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association and Terrasond, a contractor.

Officials plan to conduct hydrographic and side scan sonar surveys of the Houston/Galveston Bay complex and the Sabine Neches Waterway in the next two days.

Other waterways to be surveyed include Freeport, Matagorda, the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, the Victoria Barge Channel, and Chocolate Bayou.
Seventeen survey survey boats are being used.

The Houston/Galveston Bay complex includes the Port of Houston, Port of Galveston, Port of Texas City, Green's Bayou, Bayport and Barbers Terminals, and the Sabine Neches Waterway includes the Ports of Orange, Beaumont, and Port Arthur.

The Corps partners with the Coast Guard, NOAA, and the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association as part of the Texas Joint Hurricane Response Team during hurricanes to work to survey and open the coastal waterways.

RS

Ike Forces Shutdown of 19% of U.S. Refining Capacity

Ike Forces Shutdown of 19% of U.S. Refining Capacity

By Jordan Burke

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ike, which made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast today, caused more than 19 percent of the nation's refining capacity to close and may limit fuel deliveries across the country.

At least 13 refineries in Texas shut down as Ike approached. Gulf Coast refineries and ports are the source of about 50 percent of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the U.S. Plants operated by Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc were affected.

Gasoline shortages may occur across the southern U.S. up to Washington because of the closures caused by Hurricane Gustav and now Ike, Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy, said on a conference call yesterday.

``We expect to see constrained supplies of refined products,'' he said. ``The administration will utilize every tool at our disposal to lessen the likelihood of limited fuel supplies,'' including tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Ike smashed into the Texas coast as a category 2 storm with wind speeds of almost 110 miles per hour (175 kph), making landfall in Galveston at 2:10 a.m. local time today. Ike's path toward Houston makes it the first storm to hit a major U.S. metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Curving Northeast

With winds decreasing to about 100 mph, the center of the storm steered away from the Houston area as of 6 a.m. local time, its eye located 15 miles east-northeast of Houston Intercontinental Airport, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Ike is likely to remain a hurricane through the afternoon as it weakens on its inland path curving toward the northeast toward western Arkansas, the center said.

The storm idled about 98 percent of oil production and 94 percent of natural-gas output in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said yesterday. Gulf fields produce 1.3 million barrels oil a day, about a quarter of U.S. output, and 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas, 14 percent of the total, government data show.

``This is more of a refinery issue than an oil and gas issue,'' said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist at Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. ``A storm as massive as Ike has the capacity to generate massive storm surge.''

Gasoline for October delivery rose 2.08 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $2.7696 a gallon yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the refineries closed. Prices rose 3.1 percent this week.

Calls for Conservation

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company, urged U.S. consumers outside the Gulf Coast region to conserve gasoline and other fuels to help avert shortages.

The company, in a statement on its Web site, said it's concerned about ``the potential impact of Hurricane Ike and the additional pressure it could have on an already stressed petroleum-distribution system.''

Exxon Mobil shut down its Baytown, Texas, refinery, the biggest in the U.S, with processing capacity of 590,500 barrels of oil a day, and its Beaumont plant, which can process 363,100 barrels a day, according to the company's Web site. Exxon is the world's largest oil company.

Valero, the largest U.S. refiner, closed three Texas oil refineries with a combined capacity of 589,000 barrels a day. They are the 294,000-barrel-a-day Port Arthur refinery, a Texas City plant with a capacity of 210,000 barrels and a Houston facility that can process 85,000 barrels, spokesman Bill Day said in an e-mail.

Port Arthur

The company closed 64 company-operated retail stores out of almost 200 in the Houston region, Day said.

Motiva Enterprises LLC, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabia's state oil company, started shutting down its 300,000-barrel-a-day plant in Port Arthur yesterday, Shell said on its Web site. Shell is also closing its Deer Park plant, which can process 340,000 barrels per day.

Motiva's Beaumont, Pasadena and North Houston terminals are also closed and refined product supplies at those terminals remain at ``safety levels,'' Shell said in a statement. Tank drivers earlier picked up their last loads and are making final deliveries in the region to refuel Shell-branded stations before Hurricane Ike makes landfall.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., owned by Venezuela's state oil company, declined to comment on the status of its refineries in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

``We do not comment on operations,'' spokeswoman Shawn Trahan said in an e-mail.

Memories of Alicia

Planalytics' Rouiller said Ike is similar to Hurricane Alicia in 1983.

``It took them over a year to get their feet on the ground again,'' he said. ``The refineries were down for months. Basically, the whole infrastructure around the Houston metropolitan area was devastated.''

Gasoline supplies across the southern and eastern U.S. may be disrupted by the storm, Rouiller said.

``We could have this capability lost for a long period of time,'' he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard closed the port of Houston, the nation's largest petroleum port. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the biggest U.S. oil-import terminal, stopped unloading vessels.

Texas City, Pasadena

BP is closing its 475,000-barrel-a-day Texas City, Texas, refinery. ConocoPhillips, the second-largest U.S. refiner, said its 260,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Sweeny, Texas, is closing. LyondellBasell Industries is shutting its 299,300-barrel-a-day Houston Refining LP plant.

Conoco's Pasadena, Texas, refined products terminal and Clifton Ridge Marine terminal near Lake Charles also closed earlier today, and all company-operated pipelines in the region are shut down.

LyondellBasell Industries is shutting its 299,300-barrel-a- day Houston Refining LP plant.

Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, began to shut its Texas City refinery, which can process about 81,500 barrels of oil a day.

Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, is shutting down its Port Arthur refinery, which can process about 240,000 barrels a day.

``Ike is headed into the heart of the refining industry,'' Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said in an interview. ``The damage is likely to come in flooding, a lack of power for an extended period of time.''

Hurricane Ike hits Texas causing floods, power outages

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hurricane Ike made landfall in southeast Texas around 2:10 a.m. local time Saturday near Galveston, packing winds of 110 miles per hour, just shy of Category 3 strength, shuttering essential oil facilities and threatening to devastate towns along the Gulf of Mexico. The storm was forecast to move northwest at 13 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Newswires reported thousands of homes and government buildings were flooded, roads made impassable by washouts, and widespread power outages affecting about 1.3 million customers. Authorities were reportedly concerned for the safety of an estimated 140,000 people in four counties near where the storm made landfall who had ignored mandatory evacuation orders and opted to stay in their homes. The weather agency warned coastal regions were still being battered by the back end of the storm, with hurricane-force winds and the threat of storm surge still activ

IKE TRACK!

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 3-Day Track Forecast Cone

Click image to zoom out – Turn track off – Download GIS data

Texas and surrounding areas

HURRICANE IKE LIVE VIDEO STREAMS...

LIVE IKE CHASE CAMS

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RS

IKE!

Hurricane Ike Aims at Houston; Evacuations Called

By Brian K. Sullivan

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ike tripled in size in the central Gulf of Mexico on a weekend collision course with the 5.6 million residents of the Houston area.

Traffic jammed highways as Texas coastal communities evacuated.

The system's strongest winds extend as far as 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the eye, up from 35 miles yesterday, the Miami- based National Hurricane Center said today. Ike's wind field is now larger than that of Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005, said Jeff Masters, the director of meteorology at private forecaster Weather Underground Inc.

``The total amount of energy is more powerful than Katrina, so we could be seeing a storm surge that could rival Katrina,'' Masters said. The storm is so large ``the location doesn't matter much; it is going to inundate a huge part of the Texas coast.''

Three houses away from Galveston Bay in LaPorte, Jamie and April Ybarra packed their two children, two dogs and cat into a Chevy sports utility vehicle and prepared to leave.

``I think the call for evacuation came a little late,'' Jamie Ybarra, a 32-year-old safety coordinator, said. ``You hear the roads are crowded; you hear people are losing their cool.''

This is the third time the family has evacuated in three years, April Ybarra said. And ``we may not be coming back here for awhile.''

Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order that started at noon today. Hurricane Ike is following a track similar to the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 8,000 people, the deadliest storm in U.S. history.

Felt Before Landfall

Ike was a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 100 mph, up from 80 mph yesterday, the center said in an advisory at 4 p.m. Houston time. Its central pressure is more like that associated with a Category 3 or 4 storm, Masters said.

``It is a massive storm; it is impacting in terms of its scope 40 percent of the Gulf,'' said Michael Chertoff, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, in a conference call from Washington. ``The most important message I can send is, do not take this storm lightly. This is not a storm to gamble with. It is large and powerful and carries a lot of water with it.''

The storm is 400 miles east-southeast of Galveston and moving west-northwest at 10 mph, with landfall south of Galveston forecast for early Sept. 13. Because of its size, Ike will be felt along the Texas coast long before its eye makes landfall.

Strengthening Likely

The center's forecasters said Ike may strengthen to at least a major hurricane with Category 3 intensity, meaning sustained winds of at least 111 mph, before landfall. Other forecasters predict Ike may become a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds from 131 to 155 mph.

The storm is forecast to sweep through the center of the Gulf, missing the offshore Louisiana oil and natural gas fields. The Gulf is home to about a quarter of U.S. oil production.

Even so, about 96 percent of all oil production in the Gulf has been shut in along with 73.1 percent of natural gas facilities, according to the Minerals Management Service, a bureau of the Interior Department. Some facilities have been closed since Hurricane Gustav struck Louisiana last week.

Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Baytown facility, 17 miles east of Houston, is the country's biggest, with a capacity of 586,000 barrels a day. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which is the largest U.S. oil-import terminal and handles 13 percent of imports, said it closed marine operations because of Ike.

Chemical Plants Closed

Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker, and competitors such as DuPont Co., LyondellBassell Industries and Texas Petrochemicals Inc. are closing plants in the Houston area. The Texas Gulf Coast produces two-thirds of the nation's ethylene, used in products from plastic bags to auto parts.

President George W. Bush declared an emergency for Texas, his home state, and Governor Rick Perry readied 1,350 buses to evacuate residents in preparation for Ike's landfall. As many as 7,500 Texas National Guard members are on standby.

Houston's population is 2.2 million, making it the fourth- biggest U.S. city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and its metropolitan area, with a population of 5.6 million, is the sixth-largest in the U.S.

Officials in Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Matagorda and Galveston counties ordered about 564,063 people to leave homes that are now in Ike's path. Television news reports showed miles- long traffic jams in the area.

Governor Urges Prudence

``My message to Texans in the projected impact area is this: finish your preparations because Ike is dangerous and he's on his way,'' Perry said in a statement. ``If your local officials tell you to evacuate, follow their instructions.''

Jim Rouiller, a meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania, said he's particularly worried about storm surge damage around Galveston Bay, on the coast southeast of Houston, which may be in the top right quadrant of the storm field where rains and winds are most powerful.

Galveston's seawall is 17 feet high and the forecast storm surge is 20 feet high.

``If that's breached, a whole refinery complex goes under water,'' Rouiller said.

Some parts of the Texas-Louisiana coast may get as much as 15 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.

Ike could inflict between $5 billion and $15 billion of insured damage depending on how much it intensifies, said Steve Smith, atmospheric physicist for the Carvill reinsurance broker.

NASA Center Closed

NASA's Johnson Space Center heeded the evacuation order, preparing to shut its 1,600-acre facility in Houston that houses Mission Control and the training ground for astronauts.

In July, Hurricane Dolly, with winds of 100 mph, struck the Texas coast at South Padre Island, about 35 miles northeast of Brownsville.

Crude oil for October delivery fell $1.68, or 1.6 percent, to $100.90 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $100.10, the lowest since April 2. Prices are up 31 percent from a year ago.

Morphed Integrated Microwave Imagery at CIMSS (MIMIC)

IKE TRACK

Eastern Pacific Atlantic

WEATHER NOTE

NOAA Historical Hurricane Tracks Web Site Helps Users Prepare for Big Storms

As the U.S. coastal population continues to grow, so do the hazards when big storms approach. Now, an on-line tool, Historical Hurricane Tracks, helps users get a quick picture of coastal areas with the greatest frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms�and that historical "snapshot" can help community members and local emergency managers develop better plans for storm preparation and recovery.

NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks Web site, http://maps.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/, includes data on storm strikes through 2007. Current hurricane activity can be followed at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov.

"When you know the history of hurricane landfalls in your community, you are better prepared to protect yourself from these potentially devastating storms," says Margaret Davidson, director of the NOAA Coastal Services Center. "Historical Hurricane Tracks is part of a suite of products developed by the center to help coastal residents, planners, and emergency managers prepare for�and reduce�the affects of coastal storms."

The website allows users to generate customized maps showing the path of storms that have made landfall in the United States in years past. Users can search by U.S. ZIP code, state or county, latitude and longitude, or a storm's name or year. Searches can be narrowed to specific storm categories.

Developed by NOAA's Coastal Services Center in partnership with NOAA's National Hurricane Center, the site contains more than 150 years of Atlantic hurricane data and nearly 60 years of eastern north Pacific Ocean data, which may be downloaded for use in geographic information system applications. The site also links to detailed reports on the life history and effects of U.S. tropical cyclones since 1958.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit www.noaa.gov.

On the Web:

NOAA Coastal Services Center: http://www.csc.noaa.gov
NOAA National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Tornado Occurs on September 4 2008

During the afternoon hours of Thursday September 4, the remnants of what was once Hurricane Gustav continued to move northeast passing over far southern Lake Michigan during the evening hours on September 4th. Several bands of rain moved through northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana with one band eventually producing small areas of convective cells that moved through northern Jasper County Indiana.

One of these convective cells produced a tornado approximately 5 miles northwest of Wheatfield, IN near the Oak Heritage Estates. This torando caused structural damage to one mobile home, damage to multiple trees and corn fields. The damage track began southwest of the Heritage Estates near the intersection of north 450 West and Hawthorn Rd. where a 10 yard diameter wide area of corn stalks were completely flattened in a convergent manner. Damage continued northeast from there where a roof was lifted off a mobile home and thrown into the yard. Also at this residence were two large trees that were completely uprooted. These were two or four trees that were uprooted by this tornado, with many trees having branches from their tops sheared off. Also, there was other debris scattered about, including kids toys and trach bins.

The tornado was on the ground for approximately 1/4 mile wth a maximum path width of 20 yards. The maximum winds with this tornado were estimated to be around 90 mph, which is consistent with EF-1 damage on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Tornado Location

MARITIME NOTE

Crew error blamed for grounded ship

A report has blamed crew error and management principles for the grounding of a bulk carrier in Gladstone Harbour, off central Queensland, last year.

The Endeavour River ran aground at the entrance to Auckland Channel on December 7 last year while trying to berth at South Trees Wharf on a flood tide.

The master of the ship was battling a tail wind and even with the use of two attending tugs, was unable to counteract the tidal influence.

Five days later, the ship was eventually refloated and manoeuvred to the wharf by tugs.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report has stated bridge resource management principles were not practised by the bridge team and that no monitoring of the passage took place.

The report has also identified a number of safety issues which are being addressed by ASP Ship Management and Maritime Safety Queensland.

STAY SAFE

RS

Fewer buoys means less storm-tracking data

Fewer buoys means less storm-tracking data

As Tropical Storm Hanna menaces the Southeast, federal funding cuts mean fewer buoys and other instrument platforms are in place to track the storm’s strength and local impacts as it moves closer to shore.

Ground-zero for the reduction in marine observing assets is the nearly 250 miles of shoreline stretching from Sunset Beach to Hilton Head, S.C., – close to Hanna’s projected path, according to forecast late Wednesday from the National Hurricane Center.

Three of the program’s five buoys and all three water-level/weather stations operated by the Carolinas Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction System (Caro-COOPS) were pulled or decommissioned earlier this year because of “reductions in funding,” according to program’s Web site.

That list includes two buoys off Sunset Beach and a weather station at the end of the town’s pier.

The gap won’t keep forecasters from predicting the track and overall intensity of storms such as Hanna. But more precise information such as the magnitude of any storm surge and the heights of waves generated as it approaches or passes will be more difficult to come by.

“We get calls about it every day,” pier manager Marty Allen said of the now-departed weather station. “People want to know what happened to it or if it’s broken because they can’t find the readings.

“We even get calls from people who come down for the same week every year because they’re looking for it, wanting to known what conditions are like here before they set off from home.”

“An erosion of our funding”

So far near-shore monitoring systems in the Cape Fear Region have escaped the financial hatchet. But the disappearance of stations and buoys that monitored the near-shore ocean environment is rippling up and down the Southeast, including off the Outer Banks.

The decision to mothball some instruments and scrap others is largely due to a shift in how federal funding for the regional ocean-observation programs is doled out.

Gone are the earmarks by friendly politicians that funded most of the projects earlier this decades, replaced by a competitive grant program run by a new office in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Federal officials defend the move as a better, more focused way of spending limited financial resources to meet regional and national priorities.

Suzanne Skelley, chief of staff for the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), said centralizing the funding efforts also allows standardization of formats to make the enormous amounts of data generated by the different programs more accessible to researchers and the public.

But the result also has been a substantial cut in overall funding for the nation’s offshore observation programs.

“As this transition has occurred, the amount of money made available at this base-budget approach is not even close to keeping equal to what was provided by the earmarks,” said Rick DeVoe, director of S.C. Sea Grant and chairman of the board that represents programs stretching from Virginia through Florida. “So we have seen an erosion of our funding support during this transition period.”

According to NOAA officials, funding for the nation’s observation programs dropped from $26.3 million in 2006 – when the reduction in political earmarks was already under way – to $20.4 million this federal fiscal year.

For the 2009 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, The House has proposed $19.5 million for the IOOS program and the Senate $30 million.

The final amount will be split among 11 regional groups that monitor the waters around all U.S. states and territories ranging from Alaska and America’s Pacific Islands to the Florida Keys and New England.

The Coastal Ocean Research and Monitoring Program (CORMP) manages a series of buoys and pier stations in Southeastern North Carolina.

Based at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, CORMP received nearly $2.4 million in federal funding in 2004-05 as it expanded its programs and installed new buoys.

But this year ocean-observing programs from Virginia to Florida received a total of $3.25 million in competitive grant awards.

“We achieved pretty good coverage for a period of years, and now it looks like all of that is going to be lost,” said Harvey Seim, a marine scientist with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Lynn Leonard, a UNCW geologist, is director of CORMP. She said the program, one of the few to win federal funding this year, hasn’t had to decommission assets like many of its sister programs.

But unless something dramatic happens on the financial front, she’ll have to look at pulling some buoys or decommissioning pier stations next year.

“This year we’re treading water,” Leonard said. “But next year we’ll have to start cutting back. I don’t see any way to avoid that.”

Used by forecasters and fishermen

The buoys do more than help gauge storm impacts. The National Weather Service have found the proliferation of ocean-observing platforms useful in helping fine tune its maritime forecasts. The buoys fit in nicely between NOAA’s deep-sea buoys and shore-based monitoring stations and have helped improve rip-tide forecasting, storm tracking and storm surge modeling.

“As sparse as our marine observation platforms were, it was a big plus to have them out there,” said Steve Pfaff, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, ticking off their numerous uses, including validating and improving forecast model performance.

Surfers and fishermen also are regular users of the ocean-observing programs, many of which offer real-time weather conditions like CORMP’s buoys off Wrightsville Beach and Camp Lejeune.

“I check it all the time,” Bart Bradshaw said Tuesday on Wrightsville Beach as he prepared to head back into the surf churned up by Hanna. “It’s my marine ‘Weather Channel.’ ”

So far this year through July, the CORMP Web site had recorded nearly 2.5 million page views.

Officials locally and in Washington stressed that other agencies have monitoring instruments along the Carolina coast. Even so, they admitted, the removal of the marine platforms leaves a hole in the region’s observation coverage.

Finding ways to fill gap

Some states have stepped up to keep their observation programs going. Florida last fiscal year contributed $1.25 million to keep some systems operating.

But that was a one-time financial injection, something the cash-strapped state is unlikely to repeat.

“It’s a shame because we’re not holding the line,” said Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Florida Coastal Ocean Observing Systems consortium. “We’re going backwards.”

Like most Southern states, North Carolina historically hasn’t provided funding for ocean research or monitoring projects. A new multi-state initiative called the South Atlantic Alliance, however, could change that.

“These are shared problems and we really should look at developing shared solutions,” said Jim Leutze, former UNCW chancellor and a proponent of the new initiative.

But whether the alliance will produce any additional state dollars for ocean monitoring is still to be determined.

In the meantime, the region’s ocean-observing programs are treading water, looking at developing new partnerships and merging with each other to keep assets afloat.

“We’ll do our best,” said CORMP’s Leonard. “But it’s getting harder and harder.”

WEATHER NOTE

Storm chaser gives lecture at NIU

By GILES BRUCE

When tornado sirens begin to sound, most people seek shelter or go to a basement. But not Paul Sirvatka - he heads straight to the storm.

“I know this tornado really well because we drove through it,” Sirvatka said while pointing at a picture of a tornado. He gave a lecture entitled “Tornadogenesis and the Nature of Tornadoes”
Friday at Davis Hall.

Besides being a professor of meteorology at College of DuPage, Sirvatka is a storm chaser. When conditions are right for a tornado, he is off on the road finding out how tornadoes come to
be.

Among his conquests is the 1990 Plainfield tornado, the only F5 tornado to ever hit the Chicago area. The storm killed 29, injured 350 and caused $165 million in damage along a 16 mile path through Plainfield, Crest Hill and Joliet, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

“It was intense,” Sirvatka said. “It was intense to be in.”

He remembered 80 to 90 mph winds at the Aurora airport and driving through DeKalb, which was battered by hail as kids ran for shelter, to I-88, where he was forced to blow the toll.

“They didn’t have I-Pass then,” he joked.

One quote summed up a major theme of the lecture.

“I don’t know why there was a tornado in the first place,” he said of the Plainfield tornado.

The theme: There are still many unknowns surrounding tornadoes. To make this point, Sirvatka began his lecture with a famous quote from Donald Rumsfeld, former secretary of defense:

“[T]here are known knowns ... there are known unknowns ... there are also unknown unknowns,” Rumsfeld said at the time.

“Can we know the unknowable unknowns?” Sirvatka asked the group of about 45, consisting mainly of graduate students majoring in geography.

While pointing out that most tornado outbreaks are well-forecasted, Sirvatka criticized the “groupthink” used at many organizations, including the NWS.

“We need to be cynical about tornado reports,” he warned, which freshman meteorology major Robert Niesen heard loud and clear.

“I learned that you can’t always rely on the radar,” Niesen said, who is studying to be a weather forecaster at NWS.

Graduate biogeography major Matt Kwit was required to attend the lecture but enjoys the diversity in topics of these graduate lectures, which take place weekly, he said.

Storm chasing has really taken off in the 20 years since he started, Sirvatka said, but there is one thing he has that many of the newbies don’t: experience.

“I’ve done it so often, I can look at a storm and say, ‘This is what’s going to happen,’” he said.

NWS Media and Emerg Mgmt Workshops

Every fall the Seattle Office of the National Weather Service hosts briefings for the local news media and emergency managers.

This year's invitation provides the details and how to register. Please note that these are not open to the general public, but only professionals from the media and all levels of emergency management. I'm sure they would like to have private sector business continuity professionals also attend if you are interested.

I've attended in other years and it provides an opportunity to see what their projections are for the "wet season" here in the NW (it never ended this year in the NW), plus better understand their weather products.

IKE TRACK

Eastern Pacific Atlantic

DENVER DEM TWISTER



RS