> As Global warming melting more ice and raising temperatures of sea.
> The energy of Hurricanes is increasing every where.
>
> Cut & Paste-------------->>>>>>>>>>
>
> Hurricane Ike tripled in size in the central Gulf of Mexico as it
> churned on a weekend collision course with the 5.6 million residents
> of the Houston area, where coastal communities prepared to evacuate.
>
> The system's strongest winds extend as far as 115 miles (185
> kilometers) from the eye, up from 35 miles yesterday, the Miami- based
> National Hurricane Center said today. Ike's wind field is now larger
> than that of Katrina, the storm that devastated New Orleans in 2005,
> said Jeff Masters, the director of meteorology at private forecaster
> Weather Underground Inc.
>
> ``The total amount of energy is more powerful than Katrina, so we
> could be seeing a storm surge that could rival Katrina,'' Masters
> said. The storm is so large ``the location doesn't matter much; it is
> going to inundate a huge part of the Texas coast.''
>
> Galveston, parts of southern Houston and areas south of the city and
> near the Texas coast were under a mandatory evacuation order starting
> at noon today, local officials said at a press conference. The coast
> may see a storm surge of as much as 20 feet (6 meters). Ike is
> following a track similar to the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed
> 8,000 people.
>
> Felt Before Landfall
>
> Ike was a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 100 mph, up
> from 80 mph yesterday, the center said in an advisory at 10 a.m.
> Houston time. Its central pressure is more like that associated with a
> Category 3 or 4 storm, Masters said.
>
> The storm is moving west-northwest at 10 mph, with landfall south of
> Galveston on Sept. 13. Because of its size, Ike will be felt along the
> Texas coast long before its eye makes landfall.
>
> The center's forecasters said Ike may strengthen to at least a major
> hurricane with Category 3 intensity, meaning sustained winds of at
> least 111 mph, before landfall. Other forecasters predict Ike may
> become a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the five-step
> Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds from 131 to 155 mph.
>
> The storm is forecast to sweep through the center of the Gulf, missing
> the offshore Louisiana oil and natural gas fields. The Gulf is home to
> about a quarter of U.S. oil production. Many rigs and platforms shut
> more than a week ago as Hurricane Gustav passed through the Gulf
> remained closed.
>
> Oil Production
>
> About 96 percent of all oil production in the Gulf has been shut in
> along with 73.1 percent of natural gas facilities, according to the
> Minerals Management Service, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the
> Interior.
>
> President George W. Bush declared an emergency for Texas, his home
> state, and Governor Rick Perry readied 1,350 buses to evacuate
> residents in preparation for Ike's landfall. As many as 7,500 Texas
> National Guard members are on standby.
>
> Houston's population is 2.2 million, making it the fourth- biggest
> U.S. city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and its metropolitan
> area, with a population of 5.6 million, is the sixth-largest in the
> U.S.
>
> Jim Rouiller, a meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne,
> Pennsylvania, said he's particularly worried about storm surge damage
> around Galveston Bay, on the coast southeast of Houston, which may be
> in the top right quadrant of the storm field where rains and winds are
> most powerful. Some parts of the Texas-Louisiana coast may get as much
> as 15 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.
>
> Biological Lab
>
> The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, home of one of
> the most secure biological labs in the U.S., has begun evacuating its
> 260 patients to Austin and San Antonio, spokeswoman Kristen Hensley
> said by telephone.
>
> The school, with about 3,500 students and faculty, will close its 84-
> acre campus at noon. Its biological labs include a level-4 bio-safety
> facility, which is also in the process of shutting down, Hensley
> said.
>
> ``It's in the strongest and most heavily reinforced building on
> campus; it can withstand severe wind and storm surges,'' Hensley said.
> ``We have secured all the pathogens and decontaminated all the lab
> work surfaces.''
>
> The lab's systems are backed up with emergency generators to provide
> electricity in case power goes out, she said.
>
> NASA's Johnson Space Center heeded the evacuation order, preparing to
> shut its 1,600-acre facility in Houston that houses Mission Control
> and the training ground for astronauts.
>
> New Orleans
>
> Some 15,000 people work at the space center. It sits across the street
> from an arm of Galveston Bay.
>
> ``Our buildings can withstand a hurricane, but there's some concern
> about the expected tidal surge,'' said John Ira Petty, a spokesman at
> Johnson.
>
> Flight engineers left for Austin a few days ago. They will manage the
> International Space Station from temporary facilities there, Petty
> said.
>
> The New Orleans area, including Lake Pontchartrain, was under a
> tropical-storm warning for Ike. That means such conditions, with
> sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph, are expected within 24 hours. The
> warning stretches along the coast from Cameron, Louisiana, east to the
> Mississippi-Alabama border.
>
> New Orleans was spared the worst of Hurricane Gustav when it struck
> the state last week. Gustav killed 25 people in Louisiana.
>
> A hurricane watch was in place from Cameron, Louisiana, west to Port
> Mansfield, Texas. The watch means hurricane conditions, with sustained
> winds of at least 74 mph, are possible within 36 hours.
>
> Cut & Paste-------------->>>>>>>>>>
>
> So US will get more & more people killed by Hurricanes if Global
> warming is not stopped.
>
> Bye
> Sanny
>
> Be Intelligent:http://www.GetClub.com