Hurricane Ike Facts and History

• Ike was a hurricane for 9 days and 21 hours.  It was first named a hurricane on September 3 at 5pm ET.

• At it's largest, Ike's tropical storm force winds stretched for 510 miles and hurricane-force winds extended 220 miles. Weather radar from Galveston, Texas to Key West, Florida could see its outer bands. That's about 70 percent larger than an average hurricane. 

• On the night of September 12, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast near Galveston Bay, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island, near Texas City. 

• The main reason behind the lower than forecast surge heights can mainly be attributed to a landfall just slightly farther east along Galveston Island. This did not allow for a pure southeast trajectory of winds channeling into Galveston Bay.

• Some of the strongest winds were found along the west end of Galveston Bay in locations such as Clear Lake, Kemah, Seabrook, Shoreacres, and La Porte where winds were in the 85 to 105 mph range. 

• Damage estimates from Hurricane Ike are ranging from $6 to $16 billion dollars. 
  Some of the largest precipitation totals resulting from Hurricane Ike:
  
  Houston - 15.75 inches
  Spring Branch (Harris County) - 15.20 inches
  Cypress Creek (Harris County) - 14.21 inches
  Halls Bayou (Harris County) - 13.94 inches
  Conroe -  13.55 inches

• The Midwest strongly felt the remnants of Hurricane Ike:
   
  Louisville, Kentucky - 75 MPH
  Covington, Kentucky - 74 MPH
  Huntingburg, Indiana - 67 MPH
  Fort Knox, Kentucky - 64 MPH
  Owensboro, Kentucky - 63 MPH
  Cincinnati, Ohio - 61 MPH
  2.6 million lost power in Ohio