Is a fifty foot surge possible?????

[luvwinter]

I was watching TWC and I could swear one of their reporters (no it was not Stephanie Abrahms)who was standing on the seawall in Galveston said their was a possibility for a 50 ft. storm surge. What do ya'll think? That would be crazy and if it did happen it would be horrible for anyone who decided to stay. I just can't fathom a 50ft. storm surge. It is quite frightening to consider.

[dolebot_Broward_NW]

20 foot surge with a 30 foot wave atop it.

[Lindaloo]

ANYTHING is possible with a storm like this. 27 foot storm surge with 10 to 15 foot waves on top of that is nothing to play with.

[Ixolib]

I was watching TWC and I could swear one of their reporters (no it was not Stephanie Abrahms)who was standing on the seawall in Galveston said their was a possibility for a 50 ft. storm surge. What do ya'll think? That would be crazy and if it did happen it would be horrible for anyone who decided to stay. I just can't fathom a 50ft. storm surge. It is quite frightening to consider.

That would be truly incomprehensible!! In Katrina, I got about 3 feet of surge in my house - five feet on part of my property - and I'm at 30 feet above sea level. Fifty feet would surely have meant I'd no longer be a member of S2K - or of planet Earth!!

[HurricaneGirl]

HOLY CRAP!!! :eek:

[luvwinter]

:eek: HOLY CRAP!!! :eek:

Now she has it in red, lol. Seriously with Katrina The 30 ft surge was frightening, but to add another 20ft. People who are considering staying will not be alive to tell their tale if it is that bad, at least I wouldn't think so. I hope and pray that anyone who is in Rita's path goes to a safer place.

[huricanwatcher]

:eek: HOLY CRAP!!! :eek:

[karenfromheaven]

Katie Couric on NBC's Today show asked the mayor of Galveston about the 50 foot prediction, and the mayor said she had heard nothing like that from the NHC. She said they were telling her 15 feet. Fifteen -- Fifty -- sounds like someone misheard the number in all the excitement...

[ChaserUK]

well the forecaster on Fox DID mention a possible 50 FOOT storm surge earlier....

[pup55]

The powerpoint presentation below says that Galveston experienced 15.8 foot surge during Carla, which hit with 150 mph winds at Port Lavaca.

At Matagorda Bay, closer to the spot, the surge was 22 feet.

In the last hour, buoy 43001 experienced a 29 foot wave. It's just now experiencing 45 mph winds.

You have the tide, which can add another 4-5 feet.

so add all this up. Waders are not an option.

[feederband]

I was watching TWC and I could swear one of their reporters (no it was not Stephanie Abrahms)who was standing on the seawall in Galveston said their was a possibility for a 50 ft. storm surge. What do ya'll think? That would be crazy and if it did happen it would be horrible for anyone who decided to stay. I just can't fathom a 50ft. storm surge. It is quite frightening to consider.

Don't know about 50 ft storm surge...But I did just see Stephanie...Man I would have a hard time beeing her camera man...

[njoynit]

They DID say 50.Hubby thought I heard wrong.colse captioning said 50 when turned it on.I either had Fox/MSNBC/& KFDM6 Beamount talked about but was not in for all of it.

[soonertwister]

Anybody who thinks that Galveston is only going to get 15 feet of surge needs to change their brand of smoke.

It's very likely now that Galveston Island will be mostly inundated. In fact, I'd say it's almost a sure thing.

I would also say that IF Rita was to run up Galveston Bay, in some areas north of Galveston, 50 foot surge is not out of the realm of possibility.

[milankovitch]

The highest storm surge ever recorded occured in Bathurst Bay, Australia in 1899, the surge measured 43 feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_surge

[cyclone_eye]

If the sustained winds were over 200 mph and there was a gentle gradient bathymetry 50 foot storm surge would be possible.

Perhaps you heard 15 feet.

[scostorms]

Yeah! Free bath, hope you got the soap!

[southerngale]

They said on the news that a 17 foot storm surge would overtop the levee system in Port Arthur and bring it well into Beaumont, at least to I-10. Granted we're not like New Orleans here, but it could make parts of this area unrecognizable.


Hoping for the best!!

[luvwinter]

This is somewhat off topic but here goes. Here is a link that has streaming audio from New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The New Orleans feed seems to be a good one. They are starting to announce alot of evacuations for the parishes. Blanco was on earlier and told the public if they decided to stay would these people please write their social security number on their arm in indellible ink. How sad that people would continue to stay.

http://www.weatherserver.net/hurricanecenter/

[TexasStooge]

I don't think a storm surge would go as high as 50 feet, but from the way Rita's been acting lately, anything's possible.

[f5]

didn't Katrina's get close?