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Posted on 09/22/2005 3:25:57 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Extremely dangerous Category 5 Hurricane Rita continues to threaten the Greater Houston Metropolitan area. The forecast track has shifted slightly to the northeast, increasing the risk to Southwest Louisiana, and a significant portion of the oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas Governor Perry is urging all coastal residents between Beaumont and Corpus Christi to evacuate as soon as possible.
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
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:
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)
KPRC-TV/DT Houston - KPRC-TV/DT Houston - http://mfile.akamai.com/12944/live/reflector:38616.asx
KHOU-TV/DT Houston: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA
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
Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
Beaumont TX evac Routes
Lake Charles/Southwest LA Evacuation Map
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 III
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18
I know, I saw it live when the cameras went up to the door with the cops... they opened the garage... cases of juice and everything else loaded in there... it was unbelievable.
Wish I could find that video... that is a must see.
Yo, Double Tap ... here's another one, if you want to be consistent, you'd better get after it.
and storm weakening, too, prolly
I have met my match....
Is there really a storm out there?
Gotta go cut up some mesquite by hand as humblegunner has my chainsaw.
Curses to you humble!
I think that I will go back to the store and let people know that I have plenty of "D" batteries but I don't want to sell any!
You can't make this s%^t up.
The lesson learned is that somehow, they need to figure out how to phase the evacuations so that they do it by area. Probably by staggering the times that roads are open and that certain areas only have a certain window to get out, then the next area is let out and so forth, so that not everybody tries to leave at the same time.
Logistically it would be difficult but still I think it's possible.
Thank goodness UKMET is the outlier track there. It's giving me the willies.
you're not kidding..rather tighten up..24 hours out the models don't have a convergance point...the worst thing to happen now could be people returning from places they've already left.
There are going to be some surprised people if that is their attitude. Let's hope we don't have the devastation that Katrina caused east of its landfall.
Not only that, WAY more people evacuated than were in "mandatory evacuation" areas. My subdivision is nearly empty, and we're 50 miles from the closest evacuation area. My next door neighbor left for Austin around 9 a.m. today. I'll bet he's nearly made it to I-10 by now, which is about four miles away.
Eh, not all that disparate.
The UKMET is now sort of out by itself (and it's already not verifying...init time for that model was 8AM today; at 2PM, Rita is already south of where the UKMET had forecast the storm to be 6 hours from 8AM.
GUNA consensus is now over Pt. Arthur Texas.
Why would you try to pick at something that is done with?
All of the local news forecasters--Frank Billingsly and David Paul in particular.
A smaller bar than that which you get in your high-priced room at the better hotels. Also called a minibar.
(Better answers are given elsewhere on the thread)
Follow the thread back and tell me where MS was mentioned in it until you did. Landfall was made prior to MS (heck, it made landfall in FL :-).
I don't really want to argue over it or be pendantic. I just wanted to point out that there's speculation that it was not as severe as previously believed when it hit LA--a factor to consider when rebuilding.
LOL! This mom of 5 KNOWS about kids crowded in back seats even for a couple of hours.
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