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

[steveegg]

The pool on which of the 4 major products gets updated first is now open. The categories are "Public Advisory", Forecast/Advisory", "Discussion" and "Strike Probabilities"

[texas_mrs]

It's a small town just North of Houston.

[Tuxedo]

He is predicting it will hit SW LA. about 9:00 AM on Sat... and that EAST Texas will get some rain, but Dallas area won't get ANY rain at all!!!

Ummm.... WTF?

[james_f_hall]

FEMA is an ATM machine for post disaster relief and activity. State and Local are pre-disaster. I doubt FEMA has done very much in Texas and we don't really need them injecting themselves into our chain of command. They are there after the storm to throw money at it.

JMO.

[CedarDave]

Texas is moving fuel trucks down to the evacuation routes as I type. Will resupply both gas stations along the way and stranded motorists. Still have about 24 hours to get folks off the roads. Vow not to leave anyone stranded. Remember, evacuation originally was for persons in low-lying areas; not entire city. However, good number or residents decided to boogie anyway, which given the anticipated storm intensity is smart.

However, if you are off the beaten track and waited to long to take the back roads, you could be in trouble. Lady just called into the station -- has been on I-45 all day and gave up and left main road for back roads. Has diabetic father with her, 1/8th tank gas and a few candy bars left, in Tomball at a closed convenience store. EMT's came and checked her dad, but did not transport. Announcer asks for folks in the area to come help her. Person calls in and says open gas station east of her between her location and I-45.

[Vintage1]

Infuriating isn't it.

[kcar]

Isn't there a Toll road you can take to avoid that bottleneck?

[Sender]

The left has said for weeks (years?) that any Bush states would automatically get grade A service even as Democratic (poor?) states drown.

Some astute DUers have even opined that the cosmic wiccan spirit is hurling hurricanes at Florida and Texas as punishment for Bushism.

[dawn53]

Bush can't win with the MSM.

He goes early, they say, "what does he hope to accomplish."

He goes a few days after the storm, they say, "why wasn't he here early, or check in before the storm."

No winning with the MSM.

[petercooper]

why aren't people going west? Why is everyone just driving north?

[Flyer]

Did I just hear the TV guy mention a town called "Cut And Shoot"?

I drive through there every Friday.

Ever heard of Dime Box?

[SouthTexas]

They've all been pretty divergent today after lining up the landfall. Sort of "which way do you run" scenario.

[laz]

Aaron Brown running down the TX folks for not having fuel prepositioned for these poor folks trying to evac.

Yes, the MSM will magnify every perceived flaw with even more intensity than they downplayed the flaws of Blanco and Nagin. The intensity with which the MSM spins would make any hurricane jealous.

[james_f_hall]

Oh no, it's hot in Texas!!! I worked outside in extremes. From -80 Windchills to near 120deg heat indices. Our troops in Afghanistan do that and more with gear on!

[deport]

The officials in Texas know how to manage stuff. I'm impressed!

---

I'm sure they are trying to do their best. But I suspect many stuck in the I-45 parking lot for several hours will have different opinions... I don't care how hard you try but to get some 3,4,5 million people out of the area is a tough task. They had a plan and stuck to it.

I was on the road today and they did have the route I was on basically set that all traffic lights in the small towns were on caution blink to the north bound traffic. Cross traffic had red and Police at 4-way stops. It took me 10 1/2 hrs to cover 350 miles.... About 4 1/2 hrs to cover the first 50 miles or so and then it smoothed out.

[jeffers]

Storm Survivors Told To 'Expose Themselves'

Tuesday September 6, 03:28 PM





A group of female hurricane survivors were told to show their breasts if they wanted to be rescued, a British holidaymaker has revealed.Ged Scott watched as American rescuers turned their boat around and
sped off when the the women refused.

The account was just another example of the horror stories emerging from the hurricane disaster zone.

Mr Scott, 36, of Liverpool, was with his wife and seven-year-old daughter in the Ramada Hotel when the flood waters started rising.

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the hotel saying 'Can you help us?' and the policemen said 'Show us what you've got' and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts," he told the Liverpool
Evening Echo.

"When the girls refused, they said `Fine' and motored off down the road in their boat."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/06092005/140/storm-survivors-told-expose-themselves.html

[flowergirl]

The Flagship is out over the gulf off of seawall Blvd.A real nice big hotel across the street from the gulf is the galvez

[Syntyr]

"I have been busy topping off all of our cars today...just to drive the locals in the DFW area crazy!!!! LOL...just kidding!"

Sitting here watching the local news and the STUPID reporters are already looking for someone to blame for teh shortage of gas! SHEEEESSHHHH

When 1.5 million people are stuck on highways there are going to be traffic problems and people are going to use a lot of gas!

As my favorite General would say " Are you all stuck on stupid!"

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

I think the premier hotel in those days was the Flagship.

[maeng]

Wish the MSM would make up their minds (if they have one). With Katrina they wanted Bush to cut short his vacation and get down to NO. Now they want him to stay out of Texas? They are "Stuck on stupid" for sure.