Sun, Sep 14, 2008
Members of Civil Air
Patrol's Texas Wing braced for Hurricane Ike, urging residents to
"stay safe" while moving CAP aircraft and equipment away from
coastal communities. Members of the Texas Wing also flew a
"high-bird" communications mission for the Texas State Operations
Center in advance of Ike, which is expected to make landfall late
tonight or early Saturday as a powerful Category 3 hurricane.
"Operations for today include relocating aircraft and a joint
agency high-bird mission," said Lt. Col. Jack Jackson, vice
commander of the Texas Wing and the CAP liaison in the Texas State
Operations Center, or SOC. "We are providing an aircraft and crew
as well as two communications units. The high bird (aircraft) will
collect data from other agencies' aircraft and relay it to the two
ground-based communications units."
Coastal towns such as Galveston were already seeing a storm surge
this afternoon, and forecasters warned that a potentially deadly
20-foot wall of water could make its way inland. Tropical storm
winds of 75 mph also were reported, and gusts of 125 mph or more
were expected after Ike makes landfall.
"It looks like Ike may remain a Cat 3 until it leaves the Houston
area (about 60 miles north of Galveston)," said Jackson. "Everyone,
please stay safe."
Maj. Robert Brecount, information officer for Texas Wing's
hurricane missions, said CAP officials were watching the weather
and conferring with other agencies at the SOC. "Lt Col. Jackson has
been in contact with all Texas group commanders and has coordinated
efforts to find safe haven for all the aircraft usually kept along
the Gulf Coast,," said Brecount. "With the constant help of the
commanders and all the flight crews involved, the aircraft and
other assets are now safely protected from the dangerous winds of
Hurricane Ike."
Relocating the aircraft and other CAP assets like vehicles and
communication equipment wasn't easy because of the uncertainty of
the path of the storm. "Hurricane Ike continues to be erratic,"
said Jackson. "There have been several major changes of the path in
the last few days. This and other weather changes have caused us to
have to alter the relocation path for aircraft."
Ike took a slightly more northerly track late Thursday, aiming
more toward Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city. Authorities
there told residents earlier today to brace rather than flee, even
as people in low-lying areas closer to the Gulf of Mexico were told
to leave or "face certain death." By noon today, more than 1
million people living near the Gulf Coast had evacuated to other
Texas cities like San Antonio, Austin and Dallas.
The arrival of Ike comes two days after members of Civil Air
Patrol's Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama wings wrapped up aerial
damage assessment missions for state agencies, including the
Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness
and the Louisiana Air National Guard. Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama aircrews flew 93 sorties and more than 185 hours in CAP
aircraft to photograph critical infrastructure like dams, river
locks, power plants, power lines and gas plants.
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