Hurricane Ike - Pictures Added

[MarkBarbieri]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?

 

[tripodjw]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?

Well obviously you should head straight down to the coast to capture the worst of it.

Somewhere with lots of overhead cable but obvioulsy far enough away thatthe cables won't hit you. Always think the broken cables look interesting.

In all seriousness, good luck Mark. Hope it doesn't hit you and your community too badly. And i thought we had it bad here in the uk having had like 3 weeks of solid rain - at least its just wet.

 

[InsertWittyNameHere]

It looks like it is headed straight at us now. They are closing our office and schools tomorrow. A lot of people are leaving work early today. I think it will hit our area at mid-day on Saturday.

I'm 60 miles inland, so it won't be bad where I am. There is about a 20% change of getting hurricane force winds. We are way away from the storm surge area, which is the big concern.

My biggest concern right now is how to photograph it. I'm thinking about pulling out the middle seats from the van. Then I can open the sliding doors and shoot from inside.

There is a nice pond near or office that might work well. A tall building (30 stories), a wind whipped pond, some lightning, and a scary looking sky...that could work. Any other suggestions on where or what to shoot?

Where ever you decide to photograph from....be careful.

I bet you will get some incredible photos

 

[Steve's Girl]

Well, you could drive on down to the coast - shouldn't be too much traffic heading that way, and your kids could hold the umbrella while your wife holds the flash off-camera.

 

[wen-tom]

Only Mark could be thinking of how to photograph Ike rather than get away from it

I hope it doesn't effect you too badly Mark.

 

[11290]

How about down by the cable-stayed bridge across the Houston Ship channel. Don't remember exactly where it is as I haven't been back down there since it was under construction back in '87. At that time it was just the pylons but those are good looking bridges and would be a good foreground for big cloud formations.

Along with that, the "flares" from the petro plants in that area might look good against the dark clouds.

 

[zipuzee]

When Gustav came thru our area last week, I was trying to get pictures of the trees, but they didn't turn out that good (it wasn't as windy as we expected). So if there is an area with lots of trees, that would be my suggestion.

 

[YesDear]

Please be careful Mark. When Fran came to NC in 1996 Raleigh, where I live, got 90 mph winds. We are 150 miles inland. No picture is worth you blowing away!

 

[RBennett]

Please be careful Mark. When Fran came to NC in 1996 Raleigh, where I live, got 90 mph winds. We are 150 miles inland. No picture is worth you blowing away!

But IF you get blown away, that would be some GREAT shots!!! Make sure and have a fast shutter speed!!

P.S. - and yes, I'm kidding (partially). Be careful!

 

[handicap18]

I don't know if shooting from your van with the door open is a good idea in high winds. If the winds are hurricane force then there is a better chance of the van tipping over and even if they aren't hurricane force you'll get more rocking and rolling of the van with the doors open so it would be harder to get steady shots.

When I experienced Hurricane Bob back in Aug of 1992 I was right on the water. Over the course of the morning and afternoon I took pictures every hour to show the buildup of wind and water. The boat I worked on (a 65' sightseeing boat with a 4' draft) was almost pushed on top of the town pier. If it had been a high tide there is not doubt it would have made it.

As I look back over the pic's I'm glad I took the pics every hour. Over the course of about 5 hours its still amazing to look back and see how powerful it was (and it was only a Cat 1 hurricane, we had steady winds about 80MPH and gusts about 100MPH) and how high the water came up. On a normal moon high tide the water would at most come about 6 feet from reaching the pier. During this storm (no high tide) the water covered the pier in about 2 1/2 feet of water). We were also lucky because there was almost no rain during the storm. The winds were out of control. It snapped all the lines off the boat that tied it to the pier. The only thing that kept the boat on the pier was the chain we had also tied tied up.

There were a few boats still moored in the harbor. One boat didn't have a very good mooring and it snapped off and hit another boat and we watched that boat pushed against the pier and bounce off the pier as it made its way about 60' across and towards the beach.

I also remember the sky afterward was awesome. Great colors. I walked around town and got some pics of the boats that washed up on the beaches and different trees that fell.

Another thing I remember, is that once we decided to leave the boat we didn't walk long distances. Maybe 20-30 feet at a time, then rest behind a car or something. I remember being very cautious of flying branches and road signs and other things that people may not have tied down or taken in their house. Power was out all over and the only business open in town was the local pizza shop. They had gas ovens and the made a KILLING!!! One of my aunts at the time owned a beauty shop in town with a big window and beacuse someone didn't tie something down, it smashed into the window. Plus she had a pretty good view of the pier so the winds were pushing right at that building.

IF AndrewWG chimes in, he may remember this storm also. We're from the same town.

If I can, I'll try to scan a few pics.

Bottom line Mark. Be careful and be aware of your surroundings. You never know what the wind will blow your way. Flying street signs are NOT fun. Nor is a 3' branch from an oak tree.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't know if shooting from your van with the door open is a good idea in high winds. If the winds are hurricane force... it would be harder to get steady shots.

I think he'll be ok as long as he has Image Stablization.

J/K

Stay safe, Mark.

 

[Gdad]

I would be cautious being out and about in that mess Mark. Sixty miles is not as far as you think. In 2004 central Florida was pretty torn up with Charley, Frances, and Jeanne criss-crossing thru. I sincerely hope for all that the severity of Ike will be less than expected.

 

[dburg30]

Have you looked that the size of this monster? They are calling for these kinds of winds FAR inland..

from http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1081&tstamp=200809

Ike is larger than Katrina was, both in its radius of tropical storm force winds--275 miles--and in it radius of hurricane force winds--115 miles. For comparison, Katrina's tropical storm and hurricane force winds extended out 230 and 105 miles, respectively

So I think there is a good chance you'll have hurricane force winds. So please be VERY careful and remember not to fool with mother nature.. She will win...

But I agree with making sure you have it set on fast burst to catch the action if you get blowed away

 

[AndrewWG]

Ok, I DO remember Hurricane Bob very well. When thinking of it all, my suggestion would be to stay home and get what you can from your yard. The reason I suggest this is that you have a wife and kids. should you leave them at home while you go adventuring around taking photos, you may not see them for awhile. It is amazing how quickly the streets become littered with trees, signs, etc. There is no way to get home. This was the case around here for a couple days.

The current model of the storm shows it staying at category 1 for quite awhile inland. That is the same strength that Bob was here in 92. It really isn't something to play around with.

Should you decide to give it a go, I highly doubt that you could take photos from any outdoors position as you WILL be getting blown around too much so I would find an area that you can take nice photos through a small (don't stand in front of a large) window. Even then, I would guess that the rain on the window will keep a decent photo from happening.

One thought would be to go out during the eye of the storm. It is REAL cool looking and usually calm and possbily sunny with dark clouds all around. Now that would make a cool pic and could probably be done from your home.

Above all, stay safe. If you do get some cool pics, post em!

 

[AndrewWG]

An afterthought I just had is to NOT drive around during the storm. If your area doesn't have that rule in place, an accident from a person just driving around severely impacts the job that emergency crews are already stressed out trying to accomplish.

 

[handicap18]

Ok, I scanned a few pics.

Here is one from about 1130am. The storm is about 110 miles away. Winds about 35MPH:
Take note of the boat at the far end of the pier. You can just about make the wheel house and the light blue door open:

And looking the other way.
The tide has already risen about 10-15 higher than a normal moon high tide. This beach is HUGE:

Now this is about 2 1/2 hours later, around 2pm taken from about the same spot. Winds around 80MPH with gusts over 100. Like I said. We were lucky we didn't get any rain. You can now CLEARLY see the boat.

and looking the other way towards the beach:
The boat on the far left is about where about the average tide would normally be:

This was actually in Aug of 91. When I took these pic's I was 21 years old. No responsibilities. No wife. No kids. None of that. This was a Cat 1 storm with almost no rain. Its certainly something I wont forget. It was hard walking around. It wasn't easy to keep your head up so you could watch for blowing debris. I did see a few larger branches and some trash cans and other small stuff.

Hurricane's are a fascinating part of mother nature, but they are dangerous. I don't know that I would do this same thing now with a wife and 3 young kids.

Just my take.

 

[Gdad]

Hey Mark- if you are out shooting and the wind catches your camera be sure to let go of the strap- unlike this guy in Tropical Storm Fay a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwISf9tW08&feature=related

(The guy was okay by the way...)

 

[AndrewWG]

This was actually in Aug of 91.

Was it 91? Wow, seems like esterday. I thought it was 92 also though.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Just to be clear...I'm not a total nutter. I'm not going out if we have hurricane force winds in the area.

 

[jann1033]

never been in a hurricane, closest was camping during an offshore tropical storm that left us with a torn up tent and a good few inches of rain inside it( why we ever go camping I'll never know)...I'd skip the hurricane photos from anywhere but maybe inside a closet although the posted ones are pretty amazing