>> 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
