Residents along the upper-Coast of Texas and western Louisiana can’t do much more but finish preparations and wait for the worst part of Ike.  Ike remains a large storm with hurricane force winds extending out 120 miles and tropical storm force winds up to 275 miles.

They are already starting to feel the effects.  Water levels, winds, and waves are on the rise.  As much as 20 foot of storm surge along with large and battering waves are expected.   Waves and water are already covering roadways, even though landfall is still approximately 12 hours away.  Southwest Louisiana already has a storm surge of over 9 ft; over 6 ft. in Galveston.  The buoy 22 NM east of Galveston is recording 19 ft. waves.

In the local area, things are still trying to calm and are getting better as time goes by.  Things should be back to normal by the weekend.

Other Ike Pics:  Here are some photos that were sent to me by Jan Nonog.   Jan wrote, “These were taken yesterday evening around 4.30pm to 5 at Tyndall AFB Beach. The whole beach was flooded right back to the boardwalk, normally it takes 2 or 3 minutes to walk to the water from there.”  Thank you Jan for sharing!!