Hurricane Ike

[nuke_girl]

Looks like hurricane Ike is lined up to take a direct hit to South Texas Project..im thinking it will make landfall right around matagorda bay

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1052451320080910

mandantory evacuations are underway in angleton and palacios..bay city is today i believe..

im glad my report date got pushed back to the 22nd

For all the techs headed that way already..do not drive through low water crossings..im from texas and im telling you ..the flash flood situation is going to be treacherous..Be careful out there ya'll

Kath

[justatech]

For all the techs headed that way already..do not drive through low water crossings..im from texas and im telling you ..the flash flood situation is going to be treacherous..

I wouldn't suggest driving at night while it is pouring / raining............... never know where the flash flood areas are at until your car is in it......it looks like concrete from a distance........ just a thought.... I learned that from the Tulsa Oklahoma flood in the 80's...

[Cathy]

Watch for snakes, alligators and other critters on the roadways -- they'll seek higher ground -- course if you live down there you know this one already.

Lets not forget the floating rafts of fire ants. Discovered this lovely phenomenon last year with the flooding we had in N. Central Texas. Look closely at the water if you are going to try to wade through it. Nothing gets your full attention faster than bumping into a flotilla of these monsters! DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS DOWN HERE!! We had a woman killed within a few miles from our house because she attempted to cross a bridge that had water flowing over the top. It was less than a foot deep and she was in a full size SUV, swept her right off.

[dinutt]

thanks for updating us on IKE nuke_girl we just had IKE leave us in FLORIDA and we were spared..... lots of rain and wind for days as it passed thur and thankful it didn't have a direct hit  here.. we are so  use to the putting up shutters taking them down and evacuating  and for work becoming storm riders in  the event of??  we  hope that all in South Texas and surrounding areas,LA,MS do everything they can to evacuate the area and make all precautions they can now to keep them safe  This  hurricane is a big one and it is almost as wide as the entire state of Texas.Please be safe out there and   pray for them as they go thru this storm....it looks like late tomorrow night for landfall?

Di

[nuke_girl]

Looks like landfall is projected in the early morning hours of Sat.  STP is going into outage right now and many techs i know have a report date of Mon. the 15th. Mine is the 22nd.
Im nervous about all the house techs there as that i consider them colleagues and peers as well as friends..also my fellow road techs that i hope to see soon.. If you are headed to STP..many of the hotels and campgrounds are evacuated..id call to make sure you have a place to arrive TO..and id load my car down with cases of fresh bottled water and supplies.

Di im glad to hear you are ok in Florida..Matagorda county is predicting an 18 foot storm surge and 20 to 25 foot waves on top of that. stay dry girl !

Kath

[nuke_girl]

a quick update ..the hurricane looks now like it will hit Galveston Island..and there are reports of the west side of galveston underwater already and waves rising over the seawall on the eastern side of the island.

here is the info for matagorda county this is from the national hurricane center


MATAGORDA COUNTY:

A MANDATORY EVACUATION HAS BEEN ORDERED FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTY.

PALACIOS SCHOOL DISTRICT WILL REMAIN CLOSED ON MONDAY SEPTEMBER
15TH.

...STORM SURGE AND STORM TIDE...

TIDE LEVELS REPORTED AT 1230 PM CDT:

HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL/BATTLESHIP TEXAS - 4.7 FEET
CLEAR LAKE ENTRANCE - 4.6 FEET
ROLLOVER PASS - 5.4 FEET
EAGLE POINT - 5.9 FEET
MORGANS POINT - 5.1 FEET
NORTH JETTY - 7.7 FEET
PIER 21 - 6.8 FEET
PLEASURE PIER - 8.9 FEET
FREEPORT - 7.4 FEET
PORT O'CONNOR - 3.6 FEET

WATER LEVELS WILL BEGIN RISING VERY RAPIDLY LATE THIS AFTERNOON
WITH WATER LEVELS PEAKING BETWEEN 11 PM AND 3 AM TONIGHT AS THE
STORM SURGE SPREADS ONTO THE COAST AND BAYSHORE AREAS. MAXIMUM
STORM TIDE LEVELS ARE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE TRACK OF THE STORM
AND VARIATIONS IN THE TRACK OF ONLY 15 MILES CAN MAKE DIFFERENCES
OF SEVERAL FEET MORE OR LESS FROM SOME OF THESE VALUES.

MAXIMUM WATER LEVELS FORECAST:

SHORELINE OF GALVESTON BAY...15 TO 22 FEET

BOLIVAR PENINSULA...17 TO 20 FEET

GALVESTON ISLAND......14 TO 17 FEET

GULF-FACING COASTLINE FROM SARGENT TO
SAN LUIS PASS...8 TO 14 FEET

GULF-FACING COASTLINE WEST OF SARGENT...4 TO 7 FEET

SHORELINE OF MATAGORDA BAY...3 TO 5 FEET

looks like STP will be spared a direct hit..but inland flooding a problem.

[Marvin]

Are they still operating?  I knew they were going to keep it going as long as there was grid.  Now, how many nuke plants would stay at power during a hurricane?  Not the pansy yankee plants.  (Of course not since hurricanes don't land up there)

Those are my buddies down there and they have big Texas sized #$@%^&* (edited for the children reading this blog).

[Nuclear Renaissance]

Are they still operating?  I knew they were going to keep it going as long as there was grid.  Now, how many nuke plants would stay at power during a hurricane?  Not the pansy yankee plants.  (Of course not since hurricanes don't land up there)

Those are my buddies down there and they have big Texas sized #$@%^&* (edited for the children reading this blog).

It doesn't matter how big your buddies' Texas-sized #$@%^&* are, if the winds are projected to reach Cat 1 speed (74 mph), the plant is shutting down.

[Marvin]

duh

[NJ]

Any news how STP people held up during the storm?

[nuke_girl]

i spoke to a few techs that rode the storm out in Bay City. They said no hurricane force winds there and the plant was operating normally..outage personnel due in on the 15th ( Mon.) as well as the 22nd. All evacuated personnel back to work on Mon business as usual.

Thanks to everyone for prayers for our friends down at STP

Kath

[HydroDave63]

Those are my buddies down there and they have big Texas sized #$@%^&* (edited for the children reading this blog).

Must have rode it out like this guy....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5999563.html

[nuke_girl]

Must have rode it out like this guy....

lolol im reading about the hurricane survivors

South of Galveston, authorities said 67-year-old Ray Wilkinson was the only resident who didn't evacuate from Surfside Beach, population 800. He was drunk and waving when authorities reached him on Saturday morning.

"He kinda drank his way through the night," Mayor Larry Davison said.   hahhahahhahahahha

[dinutt]

  Karma to you  Nuke_Girl for this update on this man who rode this hurricane out on his porch. Hopefully in the event anything like this happens , most of us (drinking or not) would not put ourselves out there like this. It is  a strange and funny story(sort of)  & not sure what he was thinking or  criticize him for what he did . He will have many stories to tell !!Best of luck to this man I am sure this isn't the end of it for him.....   

[nuke_girl]

Thanks for the Karma  ...

the man sounds to be a real character lolol i bet he has very interesting stories to tell

im just glad to hear everyone made it through the storms just fine