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If the site is offline tomorrow for awhile don't be surprised. May even be off line for a few days. This sites dedicated server is located in Houston and they are expected to get blasted by Ike tomorrow. They are a large server company with many backup plans in place (generators that can run for weeks etc..) but as we saw with katrina, you just never know. Just giving you guys a heads up, I don't expect the site to go down but there is a possibility.
Hurricane Ike threatens Texas with wall of water
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike moved on Friday within 24 hours of striking the densely populated Texas coast near Houston with a possible 20-foot (6-meter) wall of water in what may be the worst storm to hit Texas in nearly 50 years.
Ike was a Category 2 storm with 105 mph (168 kph) winds and likely will come ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday as a dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-step intensity scale with winds of more than 111 mph (178 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
The National Weather Service warned that persons not heeding evacuation orders "may face certain death" and many homes of average construction on the coast will be destroyed.
Hundreds of thousands fled the island city of Galveston and low-lying counties under mandatory evacuation orders and authorities urged holdouts to move before Ike's winds started to make car travel dangerous.
"If you think you want to ride out the storm, and you're looking at a 20-foot wall of water coming at you, you better think again," said Houston Mayor Bill White, whose sprawling city of 2 million encompasses low areas in extreme danger.
In Galveston -- site of a 1900 hurricane that was the deadliest weather disaster in U.S. history -- residents nervously eyed the surf pounding the sea wall and splashing over the coast road early Friday.
"I've never seen it like that before. I'm scared, I'm leaving," said motel manager Roy Patel. He had boarded up the office of the Economy Motel on the sea front and was headed out to the mainland by car.
In central Houston, the administrative hub of the nation's oil industry around 50 miles inland from Galveston, businesses closed and boarded up windows Thursday night in preparation for possible hurricane-force winds and flooding. But officials said most residents should "shelter in place" since the city is some 50 feet above sea level.
A slew of oil refineries located in Galveston Bay that account for around 12 percent of U.S. capacity were also in the storm's likely path. U.S. crude futures rose $0.50 to $101.38 a barrel.
Weather forecasters at Planalytics saw "major and long-term damage likely at the major refining cities."
'THIS IS SCARY'
Ike comes just 10 days after Hurricane Gustav pounded the Louisiana coast and sent 2 million people fleeing, but largely spared a New Orleans still struggling with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But in this active hurricane season that has had the Atlantic and Gulf coasts on high alert, Ike posed its own challenges because of its large scope, bigger than Katrina's. Hurricane-force winds could extend out up to 120 miles (195 km).
At 8 a.m. EDT on Friday, the hurricane center said in its latest advisory Ike was about 230 miles southeast of Galveston. It was moving west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).
Much to authorities' frustration, holdouts harked back to the bad experience of the last large-scale evacuation in Texas in 2005, when 2 million people fled Hurricane Rita, getting stranded on highways for hours and running out of gasoline. Rita largely skirted the Houston area.
"We have pets, we can't travel," said Monette Baugh, clutching her poodle as she walked the Galveston sea wall. "We stayed for Rita, and we are staying this time. You listen to the TV and you are petrified. They have a tendency to exaggerate. But yes, this is scary."
Local television said Ike looked to pose the biggest threat to the Texas coast since Hurricane Carla in 1961, which struck as a Category 4 storm and caused over $2 billion in damage and 43 deaths.
Hurricane Ike threatens Texas with wall of water | Reuters
Hurricane Ike threatens Texas with wall of water
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike moved on Friday within 24 hours of striking the densely populated Texas coast near Houston with a possible 20-foot (6-meter) wall of water in what may be the worst storm to hit Texas in nearly 50 years.
Ike was a Category 2 storm with 105 mph (168 kph) winds and likely will come ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday as a dangerous Category 3 storm on the five-step intensity scale with winds of more than 111 mph (178 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
The National Weather Service warned that persons not heeding evacuation orders "may face certain death" and many homes of average construction on the coast will be destroyed.
Hundreds of thousands fled the island city of Galveston and low-lying counties under mandatory evacuation orders and authorities urged holdouts to move before Ike's winds started to make car travel dangerous.
"If you think you want to ride out the storm, and you're looking at a 20-foot wall of water coming at you, you better think again," said Houston Mayor Bill White, whose sprawling city of 2 million encompasses low areas in extreme danger.
In Galveston -- site of a 1900 hurricane that was the deadliest weather disaster in U.S. history -- residents nervously eyed the surf pounding the sea wall and splashing over the coast road early Friday.
"I've never seen it like that before. I'm scared, I'm leaving," said motel manager Roy Patel. He had boarded up the office of the Economy Motel on the sea front and was headed out to the mainland by car.
In central Houston, the administrative hub of the nation's oil industry around 50 miles inland from Galveston, businesses closed and boarded up windows Thursday night in preparation for possible hurricane-force winds and flooding. But officials said most residents should "shelter in place" since the city is some 50 feet above sea level.
A slew of oil refineries located in Galveston Bay that account for around 12 percent of U.S. capacity were also in the storm's likely path. U.S. crude futures rose $0.50 to $101.38 a barrel.
Weather forecasters at Planalytics saw "major and long-term damage likely at the major refining cities."
'THIS IS SCARY'
Ike comes just 10 days after Hurricane Gustav pounded the Louisiana coast and sent 2 million people fleeing, but largely spared a New Orleans still struggling with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But in this active hurricane season that has had the Atlantic and Gulf coasts on high alert, Ike posed its own challenges because of its large scope, bigger than Katrina's. Hurricane-force winds could extend out up to 120 miles (195 km).
At 8 a.m. EDT on Friday, the hurricane center said in its latest advisory Ike was about 230 miles southeast of Galveston. It was moving west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).
Much to authorities' frustration, holdouts harked back to the bad experience of the last large-scale evacuation in Texas in 2005, when 2 million people fled Hurricane Rita, getting stranded on highways for hours and running out of gasoline. Rita largely skirted the Houston area.
"We have pets, we can't travel," said Monette Baugh, clutching her poodle as she walked the Galveston sea wall. "We stayed for Rita, and we are staying this time. You listen to the TV and you are petrified. They have a tendency to exaggerate. But yes, this is scary."
Local television said Ike looked to pose the biggest threat to the Texas coast since Hurricane Carla in 1961, which struck as a Category 4 storm and caused over $2 billion in damage and 43 deaths.
Hurricane Ike threatens Texas with wall of water | Reuters
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