Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part V

NHC - NOAA ^ | 22 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Category Four Hurricane Rita continues to move toward landfall along the northwest Gulf of Mexico shoreline. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations continue across Texas and Louisiana coastal areas. Lake Charles LA is providing evacuations by bus for residents who have no transportation.

Traffic gridlock in the greater Houston area was compounded by gasoline stations without fuel, long lines at those stations still carrying fuel, and record breaking temperatures on the first day of autumn.

Offshore drilling platforms and rigs, as well as oil refineries, petrochemical and natural gas plants are in the path of the storm. Wave heights recorded by buoy have exceeded 38 feet. The refineries threatened by Hurricane Rita are on higher ground than those affected by flooding from Katrina. As a result, speculation abounds regarding future prices for winter heating fuel and gasoline.

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
KPLC-TV Lake Charles KPLC Streaming
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 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

[Zacs Mom]

I wish they'd been able to leave! I worry about all the big trees. I'm concerned them may very well be without power and blocked in by downed trees!

[NormsRevenge]

Start walking north and stick out your thumb, if nothing else. ..

Or..

[steveegg]

Thank Mike; I'm just the conduit tonight.

[jeffers]

Getting just a fuzz of westing, 3.7 miles perpendicular to the 1700 projected path. Normally not enough to mention, probably a wobble, but with Houston highways clogged and the gasoline situation it's worth a heads up.

1700 projected track, surge and eyewall graphic here:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/02J.jpg

[gulf1609]

Thanks. Are you in Bmt? We moved to Houston from there 5 or so years ago. Seems like this caught them a little off guard. Is Goodson doing an OK job getting everyone out?

[nhoward14]

Not surprised by the staffing problem. Last night Rita was aimed almost dead on for Corpus.

[Revel]

Channel 2 in Houston was just showing a map of the Rita taking a westerly turn. You could see it clear as day. They are worried that if it stays in west movement too long then it could go straight into Houston after all.

[james_f_hall]

yeah, and if they need to be choppered out, I doubt they'll get shot at.

[NautiNurse]

I think I've already seen the dire damage alerts. Check weather warning links in red at the top of the thread.

[Tuxedo]

Wow... wife just reported WalMart here in NW San Antonio pretty much cleaned out... long long lines at the gas pumps... and it is 8:30 at night? The storm isn't even supposed to come close to here.

[SouthTexas]

Right now, they ALL show a left turn, just to differing degrees and at differing times.

That one sure would make a very wet weekend!

[cgk]

Wow, very cool link, thanks!

[Revel]

Oops...You beat me too it.

[secret garden]

Me too. They should've gone to Dallas 2 days ago.

[SE Mom]

A sobering assessment. Is he normally on-target? His reasoning seems sound.

[Timeout]

Hey, blam! I haven't been on these Rita threads...still playing catch-up on work delayed during the Katrina outages.

How did you come through? I know the west side of the bay got smacked hard. Is your place OK? Dogs OK?

I had a 15-foot-deep pile of trees/branches in my yard...but none hit the house. Some shingles blew off, but all in all, the house came through fine. No power for 7 days, but again, we couldn't complain while watching the horror in N.O. With the gas shortage, I shut down my generator and went to say with my niece's family---taking my gas cans with me. We used every last drop and then sat in a gas line for 4 1/2 hours on Friday.

Best purchase: a window air conditioner. Our routine was to start working on yard clean up around 8am, work til dark around 7pm. We got one channel where we could watch news at night---it was almost too depressing to watch. At around 10pm we unplugged the fridge and fired up the A/C. Had to all sleep on the floor in the den, but, hey!, it was cool!

Most interesting experience:
During the ferocious back side of the storm I was sitting near a large window. Every once in a while I heard children's sing-song voices. At first I was astonished to think the children next door were out in the storm, but I looked and they weren't out. This kept happening...little snippets of children's voices. Then, with sustained winds of about 100mph, I heard a piano playing and a group of adults & children singing "What a Friend I have in Jesus"! I have no idea where they were. We suspect the wind was picking up sound waves and dropping them at random. Ever heard of such a thing? It was a first for me.

[Zacs Mom]

Thats a little bit north of where my son and his family are and personally I'd rather they weren't there. They will probably experience high winds, downed trees and power outages - all very survivable under most circumstances!

[NautiNurse]

Check out the five day track above with the big bubble covering the whole state of TX.

[ekwd]

Bet a lot of evacuees did.

[jeffers]

Heh. I got mine two days ago, back when it was leeegul.

Scoflaw.