Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike was a long-lived, powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a similar track to the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The ninth tropical storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, Ike developed from a tropical wave west of Cape Verde on September 1 and strengthened to peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane over the open waters of the central Atlantic on September 4 as it tracked westward. Several fluctuations in strength occurred before Ike made landfall on eastern Cuba on September 8. The hurricane weakened prior to continuing into the Gulf of Mexico, but increased its intensity by the time of its final landfall in Galveston, Texas, on September 13 before becoming an extratropical storm on September 14. The remnants of Ike continued to track across the United States and into Canada, causing considerable damage inland, before dissipating on the next day.
Ike was blamed for at least 195 deaths. Of these deaths, 74 were in Haiti, which was already trying to recover from the impact of three storms that had made landfall the same year. Seven people were killed in Cuba. In the United States, 113 people were reported killed, directly or indirectly, and 16 were still missing as of August 2011. Due to its immense size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County region near Corpus Christi, Texas. In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida Panhandle. Damages from Ike in U.S. coastal and inland areas are estimated at $30 billion, with additional damage of $7.3 billion in Cuba, $200 million in the Bahamas, and $500 million in the Turks and Caicos, amounting to a total of at least $38 billion in damage. At the time, the hurricane was the second-costliest in United States history. The search-and-rescue operation after Ike was the largest search-and-rescue operation in Texas history.
Ike was the last hurricane to make landfall in the United States until Hurricane Irene three years later.
Meteorological history
The origins of Hurricane Ike can be traced back to a well-defined tropical wave, first identified by the National Hurricane Center just within the western coast of Africa on August 28. Despite the development of a low-pressure area associated with the wave and signs of organization within favorable conditions near the Cape Verde Islands, the system was only able to generate intermittent thunderstorm activity. The broad low-pressure continued to track westward and was considered to have become sufficiently organized to be classified as a tropical depression at 06:00 UTC on September 1. By this time the cyclone had tracked west of Cape Verde. Although post-analysis indicated that the depression reached tropical storm strength at 12:00 UTC that day, operationally the NHC began issuing advisories on Ike three hours later, by which time the system had already gained numerous curved rainbands and well-established outflow. Over the next few hours, Ike developed additional rainbands, but failed to develop a centralized area of convection due to the presence of dry air to the storm's south and its location in an area with only marginally favorable sea surface temperatures. These factors were also responsible for Ike's slow developmental trend that began after formation.Ike's gradual strengthening began to quicken early on September 3, with the strengthening of an intense rainband around the center of the storm. At roughly 15:00 UTC that day, microwave imaging indicated that a primordial eye was developing within the intensifying tropical storm. Tracking northwestward, the NHC upgraded Ike to hurricane status at 18:00 UTC based on objective satellite intensity estimates and the appearance of the eye on visible satellite imagery. During this time, Ike was centered east-northeast of the Leeward Islands and was tracking west-northwestward as a result of a weakened subtropical ridge to its northeast. Ike's placement in an area with virtually no wind shear allowed for the hurricane to undergo explosive intensification despite unfavorable upper-level winds to its north, reaching major hurricane strength six hours after its designation as a hurricane. At 06:00 UTC on September 4, Ike peaked with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum barometric pressure of, making the storm a Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. After peaking in strength, a ridge of high pressure to the storm's west strengthened, causing Ike to track towards the southwest—a path unusual for the time of year. However, this track also brought the storm into an area of strong wind shear, causing the storm to become asymmetric in structure late on September 4 and weaken, briefly dropping below major hurricane status on September 6 while east of Grand Turk Island. Although wind shear abated and allowed for reintensification, Ike would fluctuate in strength over the next few days. After passing near the Turks and Caicos Islands, Ike made its first landfall on Inagua in the Bahamas at 13:00 UTC on September 7 with winds of.
After passing over Inagua, the development of a double eyewall—a feature that usually denotes the beginning of an eyewall replacement cycle—slightly weakened Ike late on September 7. However, the hurricane was able to reintensify and reach Category 4 intensity for a final time before making landfall near Cabo Lucrecia on the coast of Holguín Province in Cuba by 00:00 UTC the next day. Although Ike remained well-defined for most of its crossing of eastern Cuba, the hurricane's core had become disrupted by the time it had reached the Caribbean Sea after spending a few hours over land. Over the next day, Ike tracked westward, paralleling the southern coast of Cuba without much intensification; at times the center of the hurricane was within of the island. At around 14:00 UTC on September 9, Ike made a second Cuban landfall, this time on Punta La Capitana in Pinar del Rio, with winds of. Roughly six hours later, the hurricane emerged into the Gulf of Mexico as a slightly weakened system.
Despite tracking back over water, Ike's prolonged interaction with Cuba had greatly disrupted the system's core, and instead of quickly strengthening and coalescing, the storm's wind field instead grew and only gradual intensification ensued. Due to the storm's comparatively small inner core and intensity of the outer rainbands, an eyewall replacement cycle took place, preventing Ike from rapidly intensifying. At around the same time, a high-pressure area strengthened to the hurricane's north, steering the cyclone further west than initially anticipated. Moving over the warm waters of the Loop Current, Ike reached a secondary minimum in barometric pressure on 00:00 UTC with an estimate of ; though winds would continue to strengthen afterward, the storm's pressure would rise. By late on September 12, Ike had reached the western edge of the nearby high-pressure area and began to curve northward. The formation of an eye just prior to landfall resulted in a slight increase in winds, and at 0700 UTC on September 13, Ike made landfall on the northeast end of Galveston Island in Texas, with a minimum barometric pressure of and sustained winds of, making Ike a Category 2 hurricane. After tracking inland, Ike weakened as it sped northward and later northeastward, weakening to tropical storm status east of Palestine, Texas late on September 13 and later becoming a powerful extratropical cyclone on September 14 over the Ozarks. A more steady weakening phase ensued, and after tracking across southern Ontario and Quebec, the remnants of Ike were absorbed by another extratropical low near the St. Lawrence River, on September 15.
Preparations
Lucayan Archipelago
Fearing a repeat of Hurricane Donna in 1960, the overseas branch of the British Red Cross began preparing contingency plans for 2,000 families considered to be at risk from Ike. A group of 260 Chinese construction workers stuck on Middle Caicos after the passage of Hurricane Hanna were evacuated by the British Red Cross. Immediately before the storm struck, 348 people on Grand Turk were put into emergency shelters.Florida
On September 5, Florida Governor Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency in advance of Ike's arrival,. Authorities in Key West issued a mandatory evacuation for all visitors for September 6. The Federal Emergency Management Agency positioned supplies, and emergency response crews in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.Florida Keys officials began evacuations on the low-lying chain of islands in phases, starting at the end in Key West by 8 am Sunday and continuing throughout the day—at noon for the Middle Keys, and at 4 pm for the Upper Keys, including Key Largo. Visitors were told to leave on Saturday. Overall 15,000 tourists evacuated, but the storm stayed to the south, only causing minor beach erosion.
Texas
On September 7, The Texas Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network activated its 700-member utility mutual aid network and began coordination with the State Emergency Operations Center and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to begin preparations and notifications to utilities to prepare for Ike. State rural water associations activated mutual aid networks to prepare for the landfall of Ike while still providing assistance to areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. The Texas Rural Water Association held meetings with state agencies on September 9, to plan for landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast.On September 11, forecasting models began to show Ike making landfall just south of Galveston. City Manager Steven LeBlanc late Wednesday issued a mandatory evacuation order for the low-lying west end of Galveston Island. Later, the mandatory evacuation order was extended to the entire island of Galveston, as well as low-lying areas around Houston, Texas. Mandatory evacuations were also ordered for Jefferson, Orange, and Chambers counties located east of Houston. Voluntary evacuations were in effect for Hardin and Tyler as well as Newton and Jasper counties. Residents evacuating ahead of Ike were received by emergency workers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex where they were provided a place of refuge, medical treatment, and provisions. In addition to the orders of local and state officials, federal officials were thoroughly involved in evacuation decisions. On September 10, U.S. President George W. Bush made an emergency declaration for Texas, making more federal help available for preparations and evacuations. More than one million people evacuated in advance of Hurricane Ike, but more than 100,000 people did not.
At 8:19 pm September 11, the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston, Texas issued a strongly worded bulletin, regarding storm surge along the shoreline of Galveston Bay. The bulletin advised that residents living in single-family homes in some parts of coastal Texas faced "certain death" if they did not heed orders to evacuate. Reports said as many as 40 percent of Galveston's citizens did not pay attention to the warnings. It was feared to be much the same in Port Arthur, and it was predicted that low-lying areas between Morgan City, Louisiana and Baffin Bay, Texas, particularly those areas east of Ike's projected eye landfall would experience the greatest damage from storm surges of up to.
The price of gas increased in the expectation of damage to some of the numerous oil refineries along the South Texas coast, or at least delays in production from the oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. 14 oil refineries shut down production and nearly 150 oil tankers and cargo ships waited off-shore as every port from Lake Charles, Louisiana to Corpus Christi, Texas shut down in preparation for the storm.