CNN reports that 10 Louisiana parishes declared federal disaster areas

President Bush on Saturday declared major disasters in parts of Texas and the Louisiana parishes of Acadia, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Sabine, St. Mary, Vermilion, and Vernon, making federal funds available for recovery from the devastation of Ike.
…

In Plaquemines Parish near New Orleans, sheriff’s spokesman Maj. John Marie told AP that floodwaters are higher than they were during hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

A lot of these areas were without power because of hurricane Gustav, and the repairs have been set even further back. Power companies from all over the US send crews, e.g. after Ivan my power was restored by a crew from New Jersey, but getting together all of the poles and towers that need to be replaced, as well as the wire, is a major undertaking. You have to let the ground dry out, because you can’t set a pole in mud.

The misery continues.

If you buy Pedigree dry pet food, or store brand dry pet food, you need to check this out.

Mars Petcare US Announces Nationwide Voluntary Recall

Franklin, Tennessee (September 12, 2008)—Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.
…

Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.
…

[Read more →]

Steve Bates at Yellow Doggerel Democrat called a friend and had them post a comment saying that he, Stella, Samantha, and Tabitha are fine. They came through the storm with no damage or flooding, but it could be a week or more before they have power again.

The memorial to those who died in the 1900 hurricane in Galveston was destroyed by Ike.

I’ve been watching the live coverage from KHOU in Houston via CBS.com and they showed the rubble from the monument strewn across the road.

CNN is report on the aftermath:

Floyd LeBlanc of CenterPoint Energy Inc. said 1.8 million of the power company’s customers — or more than 4 million people — in metro Houston are without electricity as high winds and heavy rains downed power lines. LeBlanc said 2 million customers represent about 4.5 million people.

“It’s going to take several weeks to get all this power restored,” he said. “We’ve been saying two to three weeks.”
…

“Much of the Galveston Island is currently flooded, and there are several fires in that area,” the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management said on its Web site. “Many roads in the county are impassable [because of] to rising water and debris.”

To the east, at least 1,800 homes and businesses were flooded by storm surge in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. And 6 feet of floodwater rushed into the town of Lafitte in Jefferson Parish, said Chris Macaluso of Louisiana’s Office of Coastal Restoration and Management.
…

[Read more →]

Position: 34.3 N 93.9 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [025°] near 24 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 982 mb ↑.

It is 100 miles West-Southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Downgraded to a Tropical Storm at 1PM.

Landfall was 2:10 AM CDT [0710 UTC] as a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph [175 kph] winds at Galveston, Texas.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

Unless there is some radical new development this is my final post on Ike. It is on the verge of being a tropical depression, and being absorbed into an approaching front.