Storm Surge

Many factors contribute to what is known as storm surge in coastal areas during a hurricane. If you've ever visited a beach, you can think of storm surge this way. The place the waves wash up to the shore is sea level. Depending on if the tide is high or low, where the waves wash up may vary by 5 feet or 15 feet along the shore, back into the sand dunes, depending on how full the moon is. Somewhere in this area is what as known as mean, or average sea level.

If you were standing at mean sea level and a 6-foot storm surge swept in, most adults would be standing underwater. What is measured is not how far back the waves go into the sand dunes, but how deep overhead the water gets in one spot, usually measure as if standing at mean seas level.

Galveston built a 17-foot high seawall, and expects to remain above the storm surge
of Rita. It's a close call. The island is only on the average four feet above sea level, or four feet tall of dirt and sand above the waters washing in daily. If a twenty-foot tidal surge comes across Galveston, waves will be lapping over the seawall and on to city streets.

The Mayor of Galveston has set up city operations at a hotel across the street from the seawall, across the street from where waves will break over the 17-foot vertical concrete wall. The hotel and other buildings have withstood previous hurricanes. Every year Houstonians leave their used Christmas trees to be recycled as fill towards the dune areas to keep them cemented, so to speak. Pounding waves break apart barrier islands, reclaiming beachfront property to the sea.

Our moon is just past full, and just past the fall Harvest Moon. In the fall and spring, tides rise higher than usual due to the gravitational forces of the moon. Coastal areas have had higher than normal tides this time of year by precedent, and waters are rising from the wash of Gulf waters, as well as swells.

Warm waters, fueled by the hot summer sun, serve as fuel for hurricanes. The warmer and deeper the water, the more water raises into the clouds, prepared to fall as torrential rain. Within the waters underneath hurricane clouds, chops of waves called swells form. These are not like waves on the shore, but huge ups and downs of the ocean's level at the top, where boats float. Such serious swells can cause boats riding these waves to capsize, or turn upside down. One would hope no boats are out on a Sunday afternoon cruise, but the Coast Guard ships are prepared to help in water emergencies.

Bands of the loaded rain clouds circle around as if in a school band marching, playing the wind as a monstrous song around the center eye of the hurricane. It is still, no wind, no rain, blue skies in the eye of the storm. The sun comes out as the eye passes over the central area of destruction. Strongest winds, and wave swell action are just outside the eye of the hurricane as it sits over water.

If one sat through a direct onslaught of the storm, rain would begin, in this case about 8-12 hours before the worst of a moving storm. First will come rain showers in bands of clouds, marching around the center of circulation. There will be strong winds, getter stronger in each band. The storm will intensify the closer it gets. Rain will be blown sideways, wind will whip and shatter leaves and blow them until they land as pulp attached to remaining outdoor facilities and any articles, like summer lawn furniture and bar-be-cue grills left for the wind to toss like ping pong balls.

Trees will loosen at their roots as rain continues, and the ground becomes saturated. Stronger winds begin to blow trees over, telephone poles and electric lines will fall, the latter shutting off power to homes. No use of anything using electricity, no air conditioning, no TV, no lights after dark. Battery operated appliances and generators are almost necessary to maintain regular meals and life, especially in the oppressive heat that always follows the passing of a hurricane.

Anyone who has gas appliances has a definite advantage. My mother’s gas stove
cooked many a meal in Corpus Christi in the aftermath of hurricane Carla in 1961. Refrigerators go, ice is not available, and people lose what is in the freezer if it is not cooked immediately. It's awfully hot to bar-be-cue, but may will.

My mother found a note, left by my deceased father, to prop the garage door, by backing the cars so that they touch and brace the garage door. The incessant rattling makes a scary time seem even worse, and I thank my father in the beyond, to be able to pass on his experience. We had an attached garage.

If the storm goes from the howling winds and sideways rain to absolute quiet, many people may emerge from their homes, thinking the storm is over. Some may exit for a brief survey of the damage done. However, the eye can last ten minutes or thirty minutes.

When the storm reappears, one will be receiving the fiercest of winds, now from the opposite direction, west instead of east. Move to the other side of the houses safe room, and stay away from windows that may break and shatter. Some residents who do not board windows secure them with masking tape. If roofs have not blown off, and lose yard furniture and building materials, and recreation as well as regular vehicles not been secured--they will blow with the tremendous winds. Anything that is not secured or taken inside will be blown about.

A tale from Hurricane Carla, repeated in the paper at the time, told of a man who left his cow in the pasture during the hurricane. She was gone when he checked during the eye of the storm. At the end of the storm, he found a horse where the cow had been. Strange stories come from hurricanes. Truth may be stranger than fiction.

The barometric pressure, measured in mill bars, measures how much pressure the hurricane is pushing down on the earth. One may be familiar with the feeling of going down an elevator too fast, and having his ears pop. Barometric pressure pushes on the land and any people or animals in its path. A tale from Hurricane Andrew in Florida tells of a lady who truly wanted to leave during the middle of the worst. Her dog was howling because of the pressure on his ears. The same decompression was happening to her, but the dog expressed his discomfort. Barometric pressure will cause people problems with health.

The Port Arthur area is full of coastal refineries, but is only eight feet above sea level. Reaching the inland areas of Beaumont, the level of elevation increases to 21 feet. There is no seawall in Port Arthur. The worst flood of the ocean onto the land could through the Sabine Pass, the empty space between barrier islands that protect the inner coast from direct contact with the rough and windy Gulf of Mexico waves.

Marinas with docked boats are sometimes submerged in order to not be exposed to the tremendous winds. Tidal storm surge will pick boats floating on top of the water, and deposit them wherever the water goes, even several miles inland. This storm is predicting coastal flooding up to six miles inland. Louisiana wildlife has suffered from salt water intruding onto fresh swamp water. Take a salt-water fish, and put him in fresh water, and you will soon have a stinky dead fish, or Hermit crab when I was growing up. You cannot mix salt and fresh water without problems, like death to plant and brine water life.

Because of the push of water coming from the Gulf onto the land, the lowest levels of land have the most potential for flooding damage. The northeast quadrant of the storm in the area which pushes the most water, being now called the dirty side of the storm by the Weather Channel. If this push of water comes into Galveston Bay, salt water will come inland and flood the bayou city, which often has drainage problems during torrential rains. Interstate 10 floods and traffic cannot pass. Many sections of Houston flood easily, and many inches of rain causes the overflow of creeks throughout the city. Water drains slowly. One hope the water push onshore is not the worst possible. One could only hope for an uninhabited area, which none exist any longer. The coast is built up with constant construction, and the population of these areas is growing rapidly.

Transit with the city of Houston has been moving at a snail's pace. One man, leaving by plan traveled 6 hours on what regularly would have been a thirty-minute drive. Traffic seems to be moving at about 15 miles per hour. Many wait in airports for security checks, food lines (the few which remain open), and with great hopes of getting out by plane. Everyone in Houston is headed somewhere, as not all Houston will evacuate. Being inland, many will stay to protect their homes, hoping to save both home and life. Hurricane winds of great strength will fracture buildings that have stood since Hurricane Alicia, the last storm of great magnitude to pass in 1983.

If the storm surge comes into Galveston, the Port will be flooded and disrupted for some time. Beaumont-Port Arthur has a smaller population, but destruction could be even greater, as this is not a newly-constructed area, and many homes are old, and the occupants elderly. No one would wish to experience a replay of the broken levies in New Orleans, but this area will receive additional wind, and rain will be added to what has yet to be removed.

Hurricanes are dangerous business, and cause loss of property and loss of life. There always seem to be a few surfers lost at the last minute, looking for the wave to ride like one that's never existed in the Gulf of Mexico before. Rip currents are especially strong in the offshore waters, and life swimmers' skills do not always save lives. Rip currents cut across from underneath the water, a swift stream of water moving from shore back out to sea.

Many factors play in the destructive forces of a hurricane. Understanding the many elements can increase your understanding of how it happens. Why is a question reserved for God.

Your donation of cash or volunteer work for hurricane victims can still be taken by the Red Cross telephone bank. You can contact them at 1-800-HelpNow. Prayers help too. God Bless America.