Running head: HURRICANE IKE 1

Eye of the storm. A personal and far reaching impact account of living through Hurricane Ike.

Colby D. Rhea

Summer II 2024 Natural Disasters (ENVS-103-0CW)

Texas A&M Commerce

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Abstract

The power and ferocity of mother nature is hard to quantify in words and both awesome and to see first-hand. In

September of 2008 my family and I lived in Magnolia, Texas. The small suburb of Houston was frequented by

nature disaster, primarily hurricanes, throughout my childhood. But none were so memorable in the sheer terror

we felt as we sheltered in our small, brick home or the lasting devastation that was left in the wake of the storm.

Throughout this document I will elaborate on the causes, conditions surrounding/contributing to, and aftermath

of Hurricane Ike as it made landfall on the Texas coast. I will pepper in my personal accounts and experiences

of the storm and the effects my family and I personally faced as a result of the storm.
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Eye of the storm. A personal and far reaching impact account of living through Hurricane Ike.

The date of September, 13th, 2008 will life in the memories of many residents of the Texas coast and

neighboring communities for the entirety of their days. Because that was the day that Hurricane Ike made

landfall in . The National Weather Service stated multiple facts about the formations and devastation caused by

Hurricane Ike. This included the fact that, “Ike was a category 2 hurricane at landfall with maximum sustained

winds of 110 mph.” (National Weather Service, n.d.).

Formation and facts of Hurricane Ike.

According to an article on the website Hurricane: Science and Society, Hurricane Ike was first a tropical

disturbance in the Atlantic Ocean. The storm then intensified to a tropical storm on September, 1 st, 2008.

(Hurricane: Science and Society, 2008-Hurricane Ike, n.d.). It was this tropical storm that lead directly to the

formation of Hurricane Ike. As I learned in the course, specifically from the National Geographic video titled

Hurricanes 101, that all hurricanes “…form from a cluster of thunderstorms that suck up the warm, moist air

and move it high into Earth’s atmosphere. The warm air is then converted into energy that powers the

hurricane’s circular winds” (National Geographic, Hurricanes 101, Sep. 10th 2018). This is exactly what

occurred and by September 3rd, Hurricane Ike had fully formed and developed into a category 4 hurricane on

the Saffir-Simpson scale. According to the earlier mentioned National Geographic video, this means the

hurricane had wind speeds of anywhere from 133 miles per hour, up to 155 miles per hour. (National

Geographic, Hurricanes 101, Sep. 10th 2018). Hurricane Ike made landfall multiple times before arriving at the

Texas coast as well, firstly on the islands of Turks and Caicos on September, 7 th, 2008 as a category 4 and then

Cuba on September, 8th, 2008 as a now slightly weakened storm at a category 3. Hurricane Ike caused massive

damage to both islands and was sighted as being responsible for seven deaths in Cuba. Hurricane Ike continued

to weaken on it’s northward journey and as mentioned above, made landfall in Galveston, Texas on September

13th with windspeeds 110 mph. (Hurricane: Science and Society, 2008-Hurricane Ike, n.d.).

Landfall and effects to coastal Texas.

The following is a quotation for the 2008- Hurricane Ike very accurately depicts the storm information upon

making landfall in Texas. “Hurricane Ike made its final landfall near Galveston, TX at 2:10am CDT on 13
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September as a strong Category 2 hurricane (it had sustained winds of 110mph, just 1 mph shy of Category 3

status), with a Category 5 equivalent storm surge. Hurricane-force winds extended 120 miles (193 km) from the

center. Ike’s 4.6 m (15-ft) storm surge caused a massive swath of damage, stretching from Galveston, Texas,

east across all of coastal Louisiana. A storm surge is further specified in the above listed source as “a abnormal

rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane…” (Hurricane: Science and Society, 2008-Hurricane Ike, n.d.). Yet

for further inland locations it was the flooding via the intense rain and high winds that wrought havoc. I recall

vividly how my family hungered down in our hallway for what seemed like an eternity. The sounds of the

heavy winds buffeting the home structure a tree was almost deafening at times. I also recall the flood waters

climbing our 5 foot exterior porch and lapping at our doorway by the time the storm had passed over my

childhood home. The most memorable and harrowing memory I have of the storm was how the high winds

caused a huge oak tree to fall onto the roof, a branch of which pierced the roof and very nearly struck my

mother in the head. This undoubtably would have been fatal for her. Thankfully she was able to jump out of the

way of the rapidly descending branch after hearing the tremendous crash on the roof. But in retrospect I have

found that survival of this event and the near-death experience of my mother were frankly minor event in

comparison to the sheer carnage caused by the storm.

Aftermath including monetary damage and casualties.

Regarding destructive nature of the flooding caused by then turned to a report by the Harris County

Flood Control District (HCFCD for short) to further understand the impact of the flooding. There I found that

the storm surge from Hurricane Ike had actually been the most extreme in the island’s history since 1915. I also

saw that Harris County alone reported an average of 12-15 foot of flooding. It was also recounted by the

HCFCD that the maximum wind speed recorded in Harris County was 92 mph at the Hobby Airport. These

factors of flooding and high winds directly lead to the following figures. An estimated $27 billion in U.S.

damages, including $15 billion in insured losses, 92,000 homes damaged in Harris County, 2,400 injuries in

Harris County and finally 11 fatalities in Harris County. (Harris County Flood Control District, Hurricane Ike

2008, n.d.). I can personally recall that we were without power for approximately 2 weeks after the storm had

passed and the community in general was in tatters for at least 6 months. It took almost 5 days of herculean
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effort by friends and family member to cut up and remove the tree from the house. I can also recall that

insurance was unable to send a specialist out to repair the roof so a number of months. It took so long that I

vividly remember adorning the branch with garland and lights in order to ensure it was festive enough for the

holiday season. But after learning about the sheer ferocity of hurricanes and the total damage caused by

Hurricane Ike I can call myself extremely fortunate in retrospect.

Conclusion.

In conclusion I thank my lucky stars for being able to write this paper today after enduring one of

nature’s most destructive forces first hand. I also was able to witness so moments of profound and unexpected

beauty during the endeavor. Because as mentioned in the National Geographic video Hurricanes 101,

Hurricanes possess a very distinct characteristic unlike any other natural disaster. Hurricanes are cyclonic in

nature with devasting winds and sheds of rainfall but pre and postpending the storm, but in the absolute middle

of the storm in an area of relative calm known as the eye. The eye is described in the video as being able

to”…provide and 20-30 mile radius of eerie calm.”( Hurricane: Science and Society, 2008-Hurricane Ike, n.d.)

The experience of emerging from a fortified structure to behold the first half of the immense devastation of a

storm in relative silence is an event I will not soon forget. My family poked our collective heads out of the

shelter of our home an saw the far-reaching damage to the property. The scene was fraught with the remnants of

trees and branches littering our usually clean lawn, power lines dangling uselessly from poles, and both building

material and trash scattered haphazardly across the ground as far as my vision was able to perceive. The

situation was made even odder by the fact that we walked to check on and speak briefly with neighbors. The as

the winds began to pick up in speed I remember my father and mother frantically ensuring that all our

improvised protections to the home where still steadfast, and the ushering us all into make a hasty retreat into

the marginal safety of our home after almost an hour of near normalcy. The storm the raged over our home

again and we all knew the next time we emerged for our home that the damage to property, infrastructure, and

people in our vicinity would only be worse. But it was absolutely worth the journey to experience the profound

peace that can only truly be experienced by those who step into the eye of the storm. (Rhea, 2024)
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.
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References

National Weather Service (n.d.). Hurricane Ike-September 2008, https://www.weather.gov/hgx/projects_ike08

Hurricane: Science and Society (n.d), 2008-Hurricane Ike, https://hurricanescience.org/history/storms/2000s/ike/index.html

National Geographic (09/10/2018), Hurricanes 101, https://youtu.be/LlXVikDkyTg?feature=shared

Harris County Flood Control District (n.d.), Hurricane Ike 2008, https://www.hcfcd.org/About/Harris-Countys-Flooding-

History/Hurricane-Ike-2008