Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VII

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already.

An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are taking calls from residents, NWS, and public utility representatives, and alerting residents to local conditions.

On the flip side, CNN announced to the world that law enforcement officers had evacuated from Port Arthur TX with the rest of the population. Engraved looter invitations would have been more elegant.

Godspeed to all those in the path of this storm.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track

Rita Forecast Track Archive
Forecast Models
Buoy Data Western Gulf of Mexico
Houston/Galveston/Beaumont/Lake Charles Wx Watches/Warnings
Jefferson Co TX NWS Weather
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana
Hi Res Houston Flood Zone Map Slow load, great detail

Images:

Lake Charles Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Lake Charles Experimental Radar Outages and Delays May Occur

Storm Floater IR Loop
GOM WV Loop
GOM IR Still Image
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston
KPRC-TV/DT Houston
KTRK-TV/DT Houston
KTRH-AM Houston
KPLC-TV/DT Lake Charles/Lafayette
KSLA-TV/DT Shreveport

Additional Resources:

FReeper Sign In Thread Check in to let us know whether you are staying, going, and when you get there
FReepers Offering Lodging To Rita Evacuees People and/or Pet Friendly FReepers Offering Shelter
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
KPLC Lake Charles Evac Routes, news
KFDM Beaumont/Port Arthur News, evac info
Hurricane City
Wxnation Houston
Galveston Webcams
Golden Triangle Weather Page Provides Galveston Weather, Warnings, Radar, etc.

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

Previous Threads:
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part III
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[Brad’s Gramma]

Just gotta be careful yourself. :)

I think glock's passed out. Haven't seen him post for a bit.

[Arizona Carolyn]

He was just showing the barge. Is Carol McKinnley in the eye right now? -- oh, answered my question, said it's gusty and whitecaps where where she is.

[dixiechick2000]

Thank you!

Tornadoes are the stealth culprit in hurricanes.

[Republic of Texas]

210 is the loop around Lake Charles. Kind of an important road to those folks.

[glock rocks]

Rick Leventhal has live pics of the casino barge floating loose towards 210 causeway on FoxNews.

[conservative in nyc]

Hard to tell. The upstream gages haven't reported since Midnight CDT. They were falling before the last reading, likely due to winds out of the north.

[mrsmel]

Mine are "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon", "True Grit", and "The Shootist".

[TheMom]

So I can take your agreement to mean my logic does make sense and I am not being ridiculous?

[John Jamieson]

Your logic is backwards ..... and you love to beat dead horses, don't you?

[Arizona Carolyn]

Anything with John Wayne was already great. We need more John Waynes, maybe that's why Honore' caught out fancy.

[justa-hairyape]

Thanks for the maps. Inner eyewall heading for Lake Charles.

I sure hope we don't get any flooding in Baton Rouge. I don't think America can handle watching Blanco breaking down even further, just because her State Capital would be under water.

[cgk]

From a local blogger's ... blog. For your discussion.

---

A Plan is Only as Good as It's Weakest Link

The headline says Best-Laid Plans Weren't Enough in Texas but the focus seems to deal more with government response and negatives than personal responsibility and positives... as usual.

It was envisioned as the anti-Katrina plan: Texas officials sketched a staggered, orderly evacuation plan for Hurricane Rita and urged people to get out days ahead of time.

Perhaps that was the vision of the MSM, but officials in Texas were focused on doing the right things, as opposed to "not doing the wrong things". Almost 3 million people likely evacuated - sure some had trouble, but I don't think any plan of such magnitude can be 100% perfect.

Why?

The officials can plan for every conceivable contingency and there will always be something unforseen.

Skeptics wait until the last minute to leave.

"Orderly and lawful" doesn't mean anything to some people.

Storms change direction and evacuation plans must be flexible and change at a moment's notice.

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Friday decision to order one-way flow came after the storm, originally on a track south of Houston, changed course and headed toward Houston instead.

Bottom line, alot of people are safer tonight because the process worked well enough for them.

State emergency management coordinator Jack Colley said 2.5 million to 2.7 million Texans had already been moved out of harm's way...

Say what you want, but I personally experienced it... it was slow-going, but it worked. If it hadn't... you probably wouldn't be reading this right now. Think about it.

[John Jamieson]

No

[Republic of Texas]

Agreed. I heard the eye is approx. 37 mi. wide and at about 10 mph forward speed, thats a 3-4 hour landfall.

[Spktyr]

Would you settle for having just *her* house flooded to the roof?

[A Citizen Reporter]

Wow, when people address me as "Dude", I know I've stayed up too long. And I really have nothing to say to people who do so. What's been said is on the thread.

Prayers for those who are in harm's way tonight.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Carol McKinley is in Nassau Bay, TX if I remember right. She said she's not far from the Johnson Space Center.

[conservative in nyc]

It was falling, which makes me think more water was being pushed downstream than coming in from the Gulf. The last reading was at Midnight, though. And in the last few hours before that, salinity began to increase.

[cgk]

Thank you.

You are seriously going above and beyond the call of duty here. Much appreciation for all your hard work.

[Shortstop7]

Thanks for posting that.