Sep 10th 2008 1:05PM by Stephanie Stradley (author feed)
Filed under: Ravens, Texans, AFC South
Hurricane Ike is projected to hit somewhere along the Texas gulf coast on Saturday. Right now, the specifics of where it is going to hit and at what intensity are up in the air.
The Texans are scheduled to have their only home game of September against the Ravens on Sunday. The team has not yet announced their contingency plans, other than noting that they have plans.
Last year when fires threatened the Chargers home game against the Texans, the teams waited until Friday to determine that they were going to play the game as scheduled.
The Texans’ Reliant Stadium has a retractable, fabric-covered roof that was designed to withstand serious hurricane force winds. Also many many windows. It’s never been tested in an actual significant hurricane. This interesting article discusses the Reliant Stadium roof, and how it is designed to flex during bad weather while not letting the wheels come off of the track that moves the roof.
Eric Berger’s excellent Sci Guy blog for the Houston Chronicle has the latest data on the storm including links to Weather Service discussion of Ike and the hurricane models. The error for three-day hurricane forecasts is nearly 200 miles. With some of the projections, the Houston area is expected to get at least tropical storm winds and may end up being on the wetter and windier northeast section of the storm.
