Showing posts with label Hurricane Ike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hurricane Ike. Show all posts

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Freighter crew safe after riding out Hurricane Ike

Freighter crew safe after riding out Hurricane Ike
Story Highlights
Ship's crew of 22 endures night without power in Gulf of Mexico

Coast Guard, Air Force had to abandon rescue because of poor conditions

Authorities onshore find it too dangerous to respond to calls for help

(CNN) -- A freighter that had been adrift in the Gulf of Mexico made it through Hurricane Ike safely and was awaiting a tugboat to bring it to shore Saturday morning.

All 22 people aboard the Antalina, a Cypriot-flagged freighter, were safe, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Mike O'Berry said Saturday.

The freighter rode out the storm until the heaviest of winds died down Friday night, O'Berry said. It remained 170 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, waiting for a motor tugboat to bring it back to port, he said.

Aircraft from the Coast Guard and Air Force were sent Friday afternoon to try to rescue the crew of the freighter, which is loaded with petroleum coke, a petroleum byproduct.
But high winds forced the military to abort the rescue, O'Berry said.
The Coast Guard then instructed the freighter to contact it each hour. It also told told the crew to turn on the ship's emergency radio beacon so its position could be monitored, O'Berry said. Watch the Coast Guard conduct a rescue operation »
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/13/ike.rescue/index.html

Survivors beg for help as Ike ravages Texas

Survivors beg for help as Ike ravages Texas
About 250,000 refused to flee Category 2 hurricane.
NBC News and news services
updated 24 minutes ago
GALVESTON, Texas - Massive Hurricane Ike crashed into densely populated southeast Texas early Saturday, battering the coast with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts as residents who decided too late they should have heeded calls to evacuate made futile calls for rescue.

Though it would be daybreak before the storm's toll was clear, already, the damage was extensive. Thousands of homes had flooded, roads were washed out and several fires burned unabated as crews could not reach them. But the biggest fear was that the nearly 250,000 people who defied orders to flee would need rescue from submerged homes and neighborhoods.

The eye of the storm powered ashore at 3:10 a.m. ET at Galveston with 110 mph winds, a strong Category 2 storm.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Washington National Guard heads to Texas for Hurricane Ike

Washington National Guard in Texas to aid hurricane response
The Washington National Guard is contributing helicopters, flight crews and a communication team to the Texas response to Hurricane Ike, which is threatening the Gulf Coast with strong storm surges, heavy rains and high winds.

Too late for some to flee Hurricane Ike


Too late to flee Ike, Texas officials say
Water pushed ashore by the approaching Hurricane Ike has already flooded neighborhoods in Galveston, Texas. In nearby Houston, some 200,000 have fled ahead of the hurricane. Ike's storm surge could reach a deadly 22 feet, forecasters said. The center should make landfall early Saturday.
click above for more


More than 120 rescued from Ike's floods
Story Highlights
NEW: Coast Guard helicopters airlift stranded residents from Galveston area
NEW: Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on flooded roads
Coast Guard, Air Force unable to rescue 22 people stranded on freighter
Active-duty military has 42 search-and-rescue helicopters on standby
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Even with Hurricane Ike more than 100 miles away, authorities began rescue efforts Friday, picking up more than 120 people stranded by rising seas along the southeast Texas coast.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescues a person trapped in a car on Friday as Hurricane Ike hits Texas.

Most of the rescues occurred in Galveston County, where rising water and other effects of the storm began hours before expected landfall early Saturday.

Stranded residents have been airlifted from Crystal Beach, Bolivar Peninsula and other communities in the Galveston area. Many of those rescued were motorists stranded on flooded roads.

In Surfside Beach, police waded through chest-high rushing water to rescue five people trapped in their homes. One man refused to leave, said Surfside Beach police Chief Randy Smith. Watch rescuers save a motorist from floods »
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/12/ike.rescues/index.html
also

Kan. Guard members head to Texas for Ike helpThe Associated PressPosted : Friday Sep 12, 2008 16:15:37 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — Twenty-one Kansas National Guard soldiers and three helicopters are on their way to Texas to help with the response to Hurricane Ike.
They took off Friday. Their departure had been delayed a day by concerns about the weather and where Ike was headed.
Originally, the soldiers and helicopters, part of two Army National Guard aviation units, had planned to travel to Camp Robinson in Arkansas, outside Little Rock.
But the guard said they’ll travel instead to San Angelo, Texas.
About 600 guard members are in Louisiana, helping with hurricane relief efforts there, but some of them are supposed to come home this weekend.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_kansasguard_091208/