Hurricane Ike tripled in size in the central Gulf of Mexico as it churned on a weekend collision course with the 5.6 million residents of the Houston area. The system's strongest winds extend as far as 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the eye.
Ike's wind field is now larger than that of Katrina. The total amount of energy is more powerful than Katrina, so we could be seeing a storm surge that could rival Katrina. The storm is so large ``the location doesn't matter much; it is going to inundate a huge part of the Texas coast.''
Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order today,the coast may see a storm surge of as much as 20 feet (6 meters). Ike is following a track similar to the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 8,000 people.
Ike's central pressure is more like that associated with a Category 3 or 4 storm, the storm is moving west-northwest at 10 mph, with landfall south of Galveston on Sept. 13. Because of its size, Ike will be felt along the Texas coast long before its eye makes landfall.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment