Ike and Kemah Boardwalk

Hurricane Ike is a real threat to this area- even though the current forecast takes the storm in farther down the TX coast, a slight shift north would devastate this area. Lets hope it hits in the more unpopulated areas further south.

BB is built strong, and Ike weakened considerably by meandering directly across the mainland of Cuba instead of staying more over water. I'd worry more about the potential flooding of the oil-refinery areas in/around Houston moreso than the direct wind-effects on Bullet.

rollergator said:
BB is built strong, and Ike weakened considerably by meandering directly across the mainland of Cuba instead of staying more over water. I'd worry more about the potential flooding of the oil-refinery areas in/around Houston moreso than the direct wind-effects on Bullet.

yes, but it is forecast to re-strengthen to a cat 3 by landfall- How close is the Bullet to the water? storm surge and waves could be pretty big, and if it is a cat-3 the wind will be a lot stronger than it is now....

Bullet sits right at the edge of the seawall.
http://www.aceonline.org/census/PhotoDetail.aspx?ID=4312

Storm surge is definitely a reasonably concern, esp. if it lands nearby and synched with a high tide. Wish I hadn't been forced to become knowledgeable about hurricanes (other than DBH's).

A rollercoaster is on the bottom of my list.

^ 100% agreed. I understand that it's our hobby, and it's always going to suck if something you like gets destroyed, but it's the least important thing in the world when you're dealing with lives and homes.

Apparently, an oil refinery, too - cause gas went up 40 cents a gallon here! yay! :-D.... sigh...

Future models show Hurricane Ike strengthening in the gulf to a possible Cat 4 at landfall. Each model keeps wanting to push the forecast model farther north towards the Galveston area. Only time will tell.

Jeffrey Seifert said:
Bullet sits right at the edge of the seawall.
http://www.aceonline.org/census/PhotoDetail.aspx?ID=4312

Wow, if that area takes a direct hit, you can kiss that wooden coaster goodbye.

Probably not a direct hit, but we should hope for the best for Houston: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/110845.shtml
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5day?large#contents

As of this morning, even though Ike is a a Cat 2 storm, Ike has a very large area of hurricane force winds, and a very large area of tropical storm force winds. Having such large areas of strong winds make Ike a storm capable of lots of damage.

I agree with janfredrick. Our prayers right now should be going out to those in Houston who look to be getting a direct hit from this monster of a storm. We'll worry about the wood coaster after all these people's lives are back in order...

^If you were referring to my statement, I never intended it to say I care more for a coaster over peoples homes, businesses, and lives.

I just responded to the picture Jeffrey posted which has this wooden coaster right on the shore basically. Kind of surprised they would construct a wooden coaster with wooden supports instead of steel.

I hope homes, businesses and lives in terms of damage are kept to a minimum. Screw this coaster when it comes to that.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that a wood coaster is more important than a few million lives, but this is a coaster site and right now a coaster stands in the way of a potentially-dangerous storm. It's not unreasonable for us to be talking about the "what ifs" and it certainly doesn't paint anyone as callous and heartless.

^It does if it makes me feel morally superior! Seriously though, hope everyone stays safe, and has plenty of gas in their tanks. Thankfully Ike hasn't grown much stronger in terms of wind-speeds, but the area affected is going to be enormous.

I think most people thought when they built this coaster it wasnt a matter of IF but WHEN it would get pummeled. Odds are against it based on location solely. I think the large waves might do it in rather than the surge. they are saying 25+ waves. Its inland but has an almost direct route to the gulf.

Korey Kiepert told us the coaster was built to withstand hurricane force winds. As to the waves, Kemah is on Galveston Bay, which itself is very shallow and there is a relatively small opening to the Gulf of Mexico. I don't think the waves will be that bad, but I do suspect the area will probably be under water from the storm surge. That is something they have anticipated and something they have dealt with before.

Schlitterbahn Galveston is probably going to be a lot worse off, as they are right on Galveston Island. I also asked about Hurricanes there, and they said once they remove all the fabric from the shade structures and folded up their movable roof, it is "supposed" to be hurricane proof, though I suspect there will be a lot of cleanup.

I guess it depends on how wide that normally narrow opening will get during the storm. its at least 1 mile wide at normal tide.

my mom lives right off clear lake and they are anticipating 20+ surge in her area.

An hour ago I was watching a live webcast from Kemah Boardwalk on KHOU and waves of water were already coming up through the planks of the boardwalk. Some of the planks were already loose as well. The storm is still about 12 hours from landfall. Godspeed to all of you down in the area.

Don't know how much will be left after seeing this.

http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/ike-pc-slides/Ike-Governors-Brief-1100-1_17.jpg

http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/ike-pc-slides/Ike-Governors-Brief-1100-1_15.jpg