September 13-14, 2008: Hurricane Ike

Overview

Shortly after 2:00am CDT, on Saturday, September 13th, 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall near Galveston, Texas, as a very broad Category 2 hurricane, and quickly moved north. By late afternoon, Ike was following a path which would take its center very near the cities of Tyler, Mount Pleasant,and De Kalb in Northeast Texas, and to De Queen, Arkansas, before racing northeast to the Great Lakes Region. While strong winds around the center of the storm were wreaking havoc for locations west of the Red River, several tornadoes developed in the feeder bands for portions of Central and North Central Louisiana.

Nearly every county or parish in the Shreveport National Weather Service forecast region reported some damage from the storm. The most severe damage occurred in Angelina, Nacogdoches, Rusk, Cherokee, and Smith Counties of East Central Texas. Hundreds of buildings were damaged and thousands of trees were downed across the region because of the storm. Many locations across Northeast Texas, Northwest Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas lost power and telecommunications as Ike moved through. While these services were restored for some as soon as the following day, a few locations were without these utilities for nearly a week after the storm's passage. Some of the highest wind gusts observed from Hurricane Ike are listed below.

*Peak Wind Gusts from Automated Stations*
LOCATION	WIND SPEED
Lufkin, TX	69 mph at 9:55am (before power outage)
Longview, TX	56 mph at 2:47pm
Shreveport, LA--Regional Airport	56 mph at 5:29pm
Shreveport, LA--Downtown Airport	55 mph at 6:52pm
El Dorado, AR	47 mph at 6:28pm
Tyler, TX	46 mph at 2:32pm
Monroe, LA	40 mph, 6:03pm
De Queen, AR	39 mph, 12:16am

*Peak Wind Gusts from Regional Cooperative Observers*
LOCATION	AMOUNT
Gary City, TX	85 mph
Jacksonville, TX	61 mph
Arcadia, LA	60 mph
Benton, LA	52 mph

Ike's rapid northward movement had one benefit. Most of the Shreveport NWS forecast region managed to avoid inland flooding problems, which are typical with most tropical systems. The heaviest rains were confined to totals of around 4 inches, most of which fell in portions of East Central and Northeast Texas, which went relatively unscathed during the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav across Northwest Louisiana the week prior.

Download the Hurricane Ike Post-Tropical Cyclone Report for a more complete assessment of observed weather conditions and reported damage from this storm.

Graphics

Tornado Track Map

Radar imagery of Ike entering the Shreveport NWS forecast region at minimal hurricane strength and its progression through Northeast Texas into Southwest Arkansas. Each frame is approximately 30 minutes apart.

Click here to download the survey KMZ file.

This survey data is preliminary and subject to change as more information becomes available. Road accessibility and inconsistencies between mapping and GPS software may limit the accuracy of the tracks plotted on this map. Line widths are not representative of actual tornado widths. The information plotted on this map is intended for general reference use only.

For official post-storm information, use Storm Data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

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