Just before 8 a.m. EDT, Ike was centered about 70 miles Southwest of Lufkin, Texas and moving north-northwest at 15 miles an hour. The NHC expects Ike to move north-northeast and speed up as it makes its way over land.
At 7 a.m. EDT winds had decreased to near 100 miles an hour, but the NHC says Ike remained category 2 storm. It is expected to weaken as it moves over land, but will remain a hurricane through this afternoon. The NHC says Ike remains a very large storm, with hurricane-force winds extending 125 miles from the eye...
From the Houston Chronicle:
Hurricane Ike knocked electricity offline for virtually the entire Houston area as it continued to roar across the area today, while Galveston officials prepared to assess potentially grim scenes in surge-soaked neighborhoods.
CenterPoint Energy said about 90 percent of its roughly 2 million customers were in the dark before daybreak even as the storm continued to pack a 100 mph punch with the eye still near Kingwood as of 6 a.m. That means nearly 4.5 million residents were without power and doesn't include the service area of Entergy Texas, which didn't have updated figures yet....MORE
The Chronicle link, above, has the Chron's SciGuy, Eric Berger on the front page.
Weather Underground's Dr. Jeff Masters' Wunderblog is here.
