I told him he's in the mandatory evac area as of 2 am. He still says he's staying.
Mayor of Pasadena has issued a mandatory evacuation order. It's in the cat 4-5 storm surge area. I'd git my tush out of there.
Rita is now the 3rd strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic/Gulf. 173 MPH gusts to 213, central pressure 898mb. Katrina was around 908 mb at her strongest. Forward progress has slowed to 9 mph.
DFW and the Red River to the north will get really heavy rain, because it's probably going to slow down when it gets that far inland.
Center of the track shows landfall over the southwest end of Galveston Island. Worst possible track for the Galveston and Houston Metro area, from a storm surge perspective. If the track holds, the eye will be going over all you folks in Sugar Land and the rest of the west Houston area. You won't get bad flooding, but the wind is liable to literally blow your house down or up or at least sideways.