JPL says: FORGET LA NINA: OSCILLATION RULES AS THE PACIFIC COOLS

JPL says: FORGET LA NINA: OSCILLATION RULES AS THE PACIFIC COOLS

PASADENA, Calif. — The latest image of sea-surface height measurements from the U.S./French Jason-1 oceanography satellite shows the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a strong, cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a large, long-lived pattern of climate variability in the Pacific associated with a general cooling of Pacific waters. The image also confirms that El Niño and La Niña remain absent from the tropical Pacific.
he image is based on the average of 10 days of data centered on Nov. 15, 2008, compared to the long-term average of observations from 1993 through 2008. In the image, places where the Pacific sea-surface height is higher (warmer) than normal are yellow and red, and places where the sea surface is lower (cooler) than normal are blue and purple. Green shows where conditions are near normal. Sea-surface height is an indicator of the heat content of the upper ocean.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a long-term fluctuation of the Pacific Ocean that waxes and wanes between cool and warm phases approximately every five to 20 years. In the present cool phase, higher-than-normal sea-surface heights caused by warm water form a horseshoe pattern that connects the north, west and southern Pacific. This is in contrast to a cool wedge of lower-than-normal sea-surface heights spreading from the Americas into the eastern equatorial Pacific. During most of the 1980s and 1990s, the Pacific was locked in the oscillation’s warm phase, during which these warm and cool regions are reversed. For an explanation of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and its present state, see: http://jisao.washington.edu/pdo/ and http://www.esr.org/pdo_index.html

Sea-surface temperature satellite data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mirror Jason sea-surface height measurements, clearly showing a cool Pacific Decadal Oscillation pattern, as seen at: http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/map/images/sst/sst.anom.gif

“This multi-year Pacific Decadal Oscillation ‘cool’ trend can cause La Niña-like impacts around the Pacific basin,” said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “The present cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation will have significant implications for shifts in marine ecosystems, and for land temperature and rainfall patterns around the Pacific basin.”

According to Nathan Mantua of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, Seattle, whose research contributed to the early understanding of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, “Even with the strong La Niña event fading in the tropics last spring, the North Pacific’s sea surface temperature anomaly pattern has remained strongly negative since last fall. This cool phase will likely persist this winter and, perhaps, beyond. Historically, this situation has been associated with favorable ocean conditions for the return of U.S. west coast Coho and Chinook salmon, but it translates to low odds for abundant winter/spring precipitation in the southwest (including Southern California).”

Jason’s follow-on mission, the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2, was successfully launched this past June and will extend to two decades the continuous data record of sea surface heights begun by Topex/Poseidon in 1992. The new mission has produced excellent data, which have recently been certified for operational use. Fully calibrated and validated data for science use will be released next spring.

JPL manages the U.S. portion of the Jason-1 mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

WEATHER NOTE

New hurricane chief restores the calm after in-house storm

Bill Read didn't ride into town with both guns blazing. But in his own quiet way, he did restore order.

For much of last year, the National Hurricane Center was in turmoil, following a staff revolt against then-director Bill Proenza. Congress feared the discord might hurt forecasts, and the normally staid institution was thrust into controversy.

Today, that episode has all but subsided, and the center has refocused on tracking tropical systems. Insiders credit Read, the new director, with soothing frayed nerves and rebuilding chemistry.

"Bill knows it's not all about one man, it's not all about the director," said Max Mayfield, the popular former director of the center. "In that way, he's very much like me."

Senior hurricane specialist Lixion Avila described the atmosphere inside the hurricane center these days as "very nice."

"The most important thing is that every time we make a decision, we make it together as a team," Avila said. "He listens to the specialists, and we listen to him."

Intimidation and warning

Read, 59, a National Weather Service veteran forecaster and manager, was recruited to be the center's acting deputy director in August 2007.

That was after Proenza alienated the staff, both by intimidating employees and warning that the demise of a weather satellite would hurt storm predictions, according to an independent report.

Top management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the hurricane center, removed him as director in July 2007. Proenza was returned to his former job as director of the Southern Region of the National Weather Service.

NOAA officials named Read as the hurricane center's director in January.

As a result of the Proenza ordeal, the center still is making adjustments, Read said. The management structure is being organized and consultants are working with employees to address lingering morale problems.

"That was a pretty traumatic event for the folks who worked here," Read said. "I don't think everyone's totally moved on from that event."

For the most part, he added, operations have returned to normal and forecasts were never compromised. That was evident over the course of the 2008 season, when specialists generated several on-target storm predictions, for instance with Hurricane Gustav, which hit near New Orleans.

"I'm happy with where we're at," Read said of his forecasting team's performance. "I'm very satisfied with the work ethic and the attention to detail."

Noting that his management style is rather low key, Read said he doesn't intend to make any major changes in the way the hurricane center does business. Rather, he is trying to restore a sense of calm at the center in southwest Miami-Dade County.

"More and more I'm going to be working on inputting my management style, which tends to be a calming influence," he said.

Boosting morale

In the past season, whenever storms emerged, Read made a point of watching over the shoulders of his forecasters as they worked up tropical predictions. He did so to learn the intricacies of hurricane forecasting as well as to boost the morale of his specialists.

"That way I know what's going on," he said. "They know I'm interested in what they're doing."

The ultimate goal, he said, is to improve forecast accuracy, particularly with intensity predictions, an area where the center has struggled. Considering no hurricanes pulled any major surprises, he said his first season as the hurricane center's director was a good one.

"We didn't have one of those Mother Nature gotcha moments, where the storm threw a curve at us in close," he said. "I got a good break-in year."

MARTIME NOTE

Cruisegoing: A scientist talks about "freaque" waves

Back in 2005, the Norwegian Dawn was cruising off the coast of Georgia when it was hit with a shock. A 70-foot wave crashed into the bow of the ship, flooding about 60 cabins and injuring about four passengers. The damage "was not extensive and the ship was quickly repaired," according to Wikipedia. Five years earlier, a 70-foot wave slammed into the cruise ship Oriana, destroying windows.

Dangerous waves like those aren't common, thankfully. A study of radar data from oil platforms estimated that merely 10 waves more than 75-feet-high appeared around the globe during one recent three-week period.

The bad news is that there's almost nothing that a cruise ship captain can do to either predict or avoid these waves, which rise up to five times as high as the waves around them. These rogue, or freak, waves appear to come from an angle that's out of sync with the wind and other sea waves. You'll occasionally find these waves out in the sea but also in near-beach areas, both in sandy and rocky shores. Lots of tragedies occur yearly all around the world.

To learn more about these waves, I did an e-mail interview with Paul C. Liu, who retired last year from his post as research physical oceanographer for NOAA and who blogs at Freaque Waves.

What should cruise passengers know about the frequency of dangerous waves, and exactly what type of waves are likely on the open seas?
I guess all kinds of waves are likely on the open seas, including freaque waves. They are not always happening. Most of the time they are not! But we just cannot rule out the fact that freaque waves can happen at any time and at any place. Cruise passengers should just be mindful that the possibility is there and continue to enjoy the cruise. Even if an encounter does happen, the damage will likely to be not extensive. The kind of fiction as shown in the movie Poseidon will not ever happen in real life!

What is a "freaque wave", what is its most typical origin or cause, and why do you use that nomenclature of "freaque" instead of using the term "rogue" or something more scientific sounding?
Freaque is a portmanteau word formed by the two frequently and synonymously used words of rogue and freak in describing the kind of unexpected and unpredictable waves. Many people in the scientific literature are fond of using the expression "freak or rogue waves." I choose to use "freaque waves" instead.

Are there any particular waters in particular regions that are known to be prone to freaque waves?
The short answer is no. Because of the conjecture that when ocean waves propagating into oncoming strong ocean current field might lead to the forming of large waves, regions along the Gulf stream in the North Atlantic, along the Agulhas currents in South Indian Ocean, and along the Kuroshio in Northwest Pacific, are thought to be prone of freaque waves. But areas that don't have strong ocean currents, such as the North Sea, can also have frequent freaque waves. So the talk of regional proneness is at most covering a part of the story.

What's the essential dispute about freaque waves in the scientific community? And is there something that makes scientists groan when they read accounts of waves striking cruise ships because the statements are misleading or hyperbolic or inaccurate?
Because the study of freaque waves is still relatively new, I don't think there is as yet any "essential dispute" per se in the scientific community. Lack of general consensus, maybe! Different scientists may have different concept of what "rare" or "frequent" means or using relatively different definitions for freaque waves. And there are may be different approaches to the problem. Some treats freaque waves as a part of the study of extreme waves whereas some others do not. (Freaque waves are always extreme waves, but not all the extreme waves are freaque waves!)

What's the most typical misunderstanding of the freaque wave issue, as you've encountered it when reading media reports or talking with others?
Oh yes, the media! I don't have much respect for the present day, so called, "main-stream" media. Here's an example—a paragraph from a New York Times article about freaque waves a couple of years ago:

Enormous waves that sweep the ocean are traditionally called rogue waves, implying that they have a kind of freakish rarity. Over the decades, skeptical oceanographers have doubted their existence and tended to lump them together with sightings of mermaids and sea monsters.

Rogue waves are known to happen momentarily. They appear out of nowhere. A wave takes place, and then disappears like nothing has happened. Waves like that never, yes, never, "sweep" the ocean. There is no such thing as "traditionally called rogue waves." Rogue wave is a fairly recent term. The use of the term "freak wave" was started by U.K. scientist Laurence Draper in 1964. There was no firmly established term before 1964. The existence of unusually large, great waves was nevertheless very much on the minds of every seagoing oceanographer. I don't think anyone in their right mind would "lump them together with sightings of mermaids and sea monsters." I just hope your readers beware of this kind of irresponsibility.

3 More days til Christmas!

RS

Atlantic Hurricane Season Sets Records

Atlantic Hurricane Season Sets Records

November 26, 2008

The 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially comes to a close on Sunday, marking the end of a season that produced a record number of consecutive storms to strike the United States and ranks as one of the more active seasons in the 64 years since comprehensive records began.

A total of 16 named storms formed this season, based on an operational estimate by NOAA's National Hurricane Center. The storms included eight hurricanes, five of which were major hurricanes at Category 3 strength or higher. These numbers fall within the ranges predicted in NOAA’s pre- and mid-season outlooks issued in May and August. The August outlook called for 14 to 18 named storms, seven to 10 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes. An average season has 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

“This year’s hurricane season continues the current active hurricane era and is the tenth season to produce above-normal activity in the past 14 years,” said Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

Overall, the season is tied as the fourth most active in terms of named storms (16) and major hurricanes (five), and is tied as the fifth most active in terms of hurricanes (eight) since 1944, which was the first year aircraft missions flew into tropical storms and hurricanes.

For the first time on record, six consecutive tropical cyclones (Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) made landfall on the U.S. mainland and a record three major hurricanes (Gustav, Ike and Paloma) struck Cuba. This is also the first Atlantic season to have a major hurricane (Category 3) form in five consecutive months (July: Bertha, August: Gustav, September: Ike, October: Omar, November: Paloma).

Bell attributes this year’s above-normal season to conditions that include:

• An ongoing multi-decadal signal. This combination of ocean and atmospheric conditions has spawned increased hurricane activity since 1995.
• Lingering La Niña effects. Although the La Niña that began in the Fall of 2007 ended in June, its influence of light wind shear lingered.
• Warmer tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures. On average, the tropical Atlantic was about 1.0 degree Fahrenheit above normal during the peak of the season.

Download as Quicktime (Credit: NOAA)

NOAA's National Hurricane Center is conducting comprehensive post-event assessments of each named storm of the season. Some of the early noteworthy findings include:

• Bertha was a tropical cyclone for 17 days (July 3-20), making it the longest-lived July storm on record in the Atlantic Basin.
• Fay is the only storm on record to make landfall four times in the state of Florida, and to prompt tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings for the state’s entire coastline (at various times during its August lifespan).
• Paloma, reaching Category 4 status with top winds of 145 mph, is the second strongest November hurricane on record behind Lenny in 1999 with top winds of 155 mph).

Much of the storm-specific information is based on operational estimates and some changes could be made during the review process that is underway.

“The information we’ll gain by assessing the events from the 2008 hurricane season will help us do an even better job in the future,” said Bill Read, director of NOAA's National Hurricane Center. “With this season behind us, it’s time to prepare for the one that lies ahead.”

NOAA will issue its initial 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook in May, prior to the official start of the season on June 1.

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.

WEATHER NOTE

Mother nature on display

A DALYELLUP resident in the right place at the right time witnessed a marvel of Mother Nature on the weekend – a waterspout off Bunbury’s coast.

Jaco Bosman was driving past Dalyellup Beach on Saturday evening when the meteorological phenomenon caught his eye.

Mr Bosman pulled over and watched the water spout for about a minute or two before it disappeared out of sight.

“I just caught the last of the show,” he said.

“It is the kind of thing you see on the Discovery Channel.

“I didn’t expect to see it happen in real life.”

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud.

Waterspouts have long been recognised as serious marine hazards and history is filled with examples of ships being destroyed or damaged by them.

Meteorologist Joe Courtney said the waterspout formed due to unstable weather conditions on Saturday and rotating columns of air.

MARITIME NOTE

News from Holland and Knight

DOJ – tanker firm pays additional fine

The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas issued a news release stating that an oil tanker firm an additional $3 million fine after pleading guilty to additional charges relating to false entries in the oil record book of one of the company’s tankers. Prosecutors previously credited the company’s self-disclosures, cooperation, and compliance measures by proposing fewer charges and reduced criminal fines. (11/24/08).

IMO – SAR agreement between Australia & New Zealand

The IMO issued a circular forwarding an agreement between Australia and New Zealand on search and rescue (SAR) regions and coordination. SAR.6/Circ.31 (10/21/08).

THE REMAINS OF THE KURSK



The scrapping of the Kursk.
Special Thanks to Bud Shortridge
U.S. Naval Ship Research Hobbiest

The K-141 Kursk sank on August 12, 2000 in the Barents Sea with all hands. These photo's below are from the salavge of the K-141 (Kursk).

The bow of the Kursk was sawed off with a diamond rope while she sat on the bottom of the Arctic Sea. You can see the antiship missiles still in their launchers all foamed in. And there is a nuclear power plant in in the wreckage.

The K-141 Kursk was a Russian nuclear cruise missile submarine which was lost with all hands when it sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000. It was named after the Russian city Kursk, around which the largest tank battle in military history, the Battle of Kursk, took place in 1943.

The Kursk sailed out to sea to perform an exercise of firing dummy torpedoes at Pyotr Velikiy, a Kirov class battlecruiser. On August 12, 2000 at 11:28 local time , the missiles were fired, but an explosion occurred soon after on Kursk. The only credible report to-date is that this was due to the failure and explosion of one of Kursks new/developmental torpedoes.

The blast from the explosion registered 2.2 on the Richter scale. The submarine sank to a depth of 108 metres (354 feet), approximately 135km (85 miles) off Severomorsk. Severomorsk is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia and is located about 25 kilometers (16 mi) north of Murmansk along the Kola Bay. This is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet.Severomorsk has the largest dry dock in the Kola Peninsula.

A second explosion occured on the K-141, 135 seconds after the initial event and measured between 3.5 and 4.4 on the Richter scale, equivalent to 3-7 tons of TNT. Either this explosion or the earlier one propelled large pieces of debris far back through the submarine. The Kursk was eventually raised from her grave by the Dutch team, Smit International. using the barge Giant 4, and 115 of the 118 dead were recovered and laid to rest in Russia .

Russian officials have strenuously denied claims that the sub was carrying nuclear warheads. When the boat was raised by a salvage operation in 2001 there were considerable fears moving the wreck could trigger explosions.

The Salvage of the k-141 Kurst.

May her lost and brave souls rest in peace.
RS

Ike Underscores Foolishness of Building on Barrier Islands

Ike Underscores Foolishness of Building on Barrier Islands

As Hurricane Ike pummels the Texas coast, the only thing standing in the way is a thin stretch of land called Galveston.

Galveston is a barrier island, a narrow landmass made mostly of sand that extends along a coastline parallel to the land. These islands, common along the Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United States, are some of the most fragile and changing landforms on Earth. And they are particularly vulnerable to storms.

"Barrier islands are exposed to the open ocean, and the waves and storm surges generated by hurricanes," said Bob Morton, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. "As a storm makes landfall they're the ones that are going to receive the strongest winds and the highest wave actions."

National Hurricane Center officials have warned residents of Galveston to evacuate or else face "certain death," though several thousand are thought to be staying put.

Wisdom questioned

Barrier islands like Galveston are particularly vulnerable to storm damage because they are made of sand, as opposed to the hard bedrock that underlies larger islands and the mainland. They also tend to have very low elevations, making it easy for water to wash over and submerge the island.

Many have questioned the wisdom of choosing to build on and develop barrier islands, given their risks.

"Every year there's reporting on the foolishness of building on barrier islands, but people are going to do it anyway," Morton told LiveScience. "We don't learn from the past. If you look at the barrier islands on the Mississippi coast in particular, after both Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Katrina, what did they do? They rebuilt. It's a perfect example of a coastal area that did get hit as bad as it can get, and they just go back and rebuild."

Barrier islands tend to be even riskier places to live than coastal areas, because they bear the brunt of any approaching storm impact.

"If you think about their location, they're basically lonely sentinels that serve as barriers for the mainland," said Clark Alexander, a marine geologist at Georgia's Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. "Basically you're in a vulnerable spot, because you're located where you get the first effects of anything coming in off the ocean."

Setting up residence in these vulnerable spots is particularly perilous.

"From a safety standpoint, it's silly," Alexander said. "Because the lifespan of a typical house is something like 60 years. But if you live on a barrier island, you can't guarantee you'll have land under your house in 60 years. It's trying to put something permanent in a place that's very dynamic."

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, a number of barrier islands off the Mississippi coast were completely wiped off the map. Even when storms aren't enough to raze islands completely, barriers often suffer severe damage from storms.

The 1989 Hurricane Hugo wreaked massive havoc on Pawleys Island in South Carolina. Isles Dernieres off the coast of Louisiana was devastated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Often, after these storms, people move back and set themselves up for disaster again.

St. George Island on Apalachicola Bay off the Florida coast "has been washed away five or six or eight times and people just keep building back their houses," Alexander said.

For many people living on barrier islands, there is no amount of structural support that can ward off the worst.

"It's important to note that in the big storms, the category 4 or 5 hurricanes, it really doesn't matter how well-constructed your building is," said Orrin Pilkey, a professor emeritus of geology at Duke University, of homes on barrier islands. "And it doesn't matter whether you have a seawall or not. The chances are pretty good that if you have beachfront property, it's history."

Outlook for Galveston

Though Ike might not completely destroy Galveston Island, it could inflict major damage. Already Friday afternoon, the island was being pounded by high waves and flooding. How much depends on how the hurricane develops and what part of the island the eye of the storm passes over.

The eastern part of Galveston Island (also the more densely inhabited) has a strong 18-foot sea wall in place to deflect some of the incoming waves, so it should be more protected than the western half, depending on the extent to which the storm surge overtops the wall.

Galveston was hit hard by Hurricane Alicia in 1983, and was devastated by the "Great Storm" of 1900, when thousands died. After that disaster, a major effort went into fortifying the island against future storms.

"They went in and literally raised the city, propped up houses on stilts," Morton said. "They brought a huge dredge in from Europe and dredged up material and pumped it into the land to build it up. It was an amazing engineering feat for the time. No other place has done something like that." The city also erected a seawall.

Constantly changing

Other well-known U.S. barrier islands include the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the islands along the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and even New York's Long Island (though Long Island's northern position makes it less vulnerable to storms than barriers in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coast).

The ultimate fate of barrier islands varies, with many gradually retreating landward as eroded sand is pushed back to deposit in the lagoon behind it, and ultimately joining the coast. But some barrier islands with high dunes can avoid this fate.

Galveston is not yet migrating toward the coast, but is in what Morton calls a "narrowing stage," with sand on both sides of the island gradually eroding away. Many barrier islands wax and wane, with sand shifting around and sometimes reducing the land area, but most inhabited barriers are not at risk of being completely destroyed.

"Barrier islands are constantly changing," Morton said. "The barrier islands as a whole are some of the most dynamic landforms on the surface of the Earth."

The Costs Associated with Hurricanes that You Don’t Hear About

When hurricanes and tropical storms like Gustav, Hanna and Ike barrel through coastal towns, the damage caused makes great footage for the evening news. Yet it’s the damage you don’t see, misrepresentation of assets on insurance claims following hurricanes, that can add up to be another huge expense. L&W Investigations, a private investigations firm specializing in insurance claims, has seen firsthand the abuses of insurance claims following a natural disaster.

These abuses stem largely from most people not carrying "Act of God" or natural disaster insurance. That means repairing damage caused by a hurricane comes out of their own pocket. To lessen the financial impact of the damage caused by a storm like Gustav, some unscrupulous homeowners will claim damage or missing items from their home by vandals, things that might be covered on a homeowner’s policy.

"There’s no question that things get damaged during hurricanes and there’s additional damage caused in the aftermath, like looting, vandalism and other illegal activity. But when somebody puts in a claim for five 48-inch plasma TVs and a treasure chest of Tiffany jewelry, you know something is a bit fishy and that’s usually where we come in," said Neal Lyons, chairman and CEO of L&W Investigations.

There are any number of red flags in a claim following a hurricane that can tip off insurance companies and their investigators of wrongdoing. Some of those include:

Policy date and date of the hurricane – if these dates are within a few days of each other, that’s a red flag.

Burglaries where little or no damage occurs to the house.

Economic factors – homeowner owes more on the house or property than it’s worth; location and neighborhood of the home.

While many insurance companies employ special investigations units to examine these claims, the volume of cases, particularly in the aftermath of a hurricane, requires the assistance of private investigations firms like L&W Investigations. L&W conducts site inspections, interviews with neighbors and takes limited and comprehensive scope statements (recorded, if necessary).

"A hurricane can wreak tremendous havoc on a home and you feel a certain degree of sympathy for people, particularly folks who have to rebuild their homes from scratch. Yet that in no way justifies insurance fraud. Especially when you consider the costs associated with it run in the billions," said Lyons. "Does that mean every homeowner impacted by hurricane will try and take advantage of the circumstances. No, far from it. But with a price tag in the billions, it behooves the insurance companies to know if it’s a legit claim or not."

L&W Investigations works exclusively on workers compensation, disability, liability, auto and property claims. With its network of investigations offices across the U.S. and Canada, Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands, L&W boasts a client roster of more than 100 clients, ranging from insurance companies to third-party administrators, self-insured companies to law firms and municipalities.

L&W employs seasoned investigators who specialize in investigating insurance cases and claims. All L&W investigators go through extensive training and have access to the most state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. Among L&W’s offerings are: surveillance; statements; activity/disability checks; asset/background investigations; and medical audits/clinic inspections.

Not Your Everyday Investigations Firm
L&W Investigations, Inc. specializes in investigating insurance cases and claims. In addition to providing nationwide coverage, L&W investigators are highly trained specialists equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance technologies and other advanced systems to provide second-to-none results and service. That includes online case status reports, video delivery by digital download or CD, DVD or VHS tape, rush services at no extra charge and much more.

L&W Investigations offices are located across the U.S. and the Hawaiian Islands as well as in Canada and Puerto Rico. Offices are still available and the company has set a manageable growth plan at 15 new offices per year.

Video - How a Surge Swamps Galveston

Animation shows the prediction of water level in Galveston, Texas, assuming a storm surge of up to 20 feet. The Water Level graph on the left indicates water level in feet, from 0 (normal sea level). Copyright 2005 3DNature.com.

WEATHER NOTE

CHICAGOLAND ALERT!! A Flood Warning is in effect for portions of the area. View all valid statements/warnings or choose a specific point or river to get the details for that location.

Weather Forecast Office Chicago, IL

Storm chasers gather information for National Hurricane Center

September 14, 2008

BY MARY FOSTER The Associated Press

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.

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," public information officer Maj. Chad Gibson said. "We share the information we gather with them."

Helpful hunting

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.

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 also is 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."

Working long and hard

The C-130, 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 on to when the plane starts bucking and tilting in a storm.

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."

RS

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

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

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