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

[james_f_hall]

http://www.beloblog.com/KHOU_Weather_Watch/

Break-ins in Galveston?

[Spktyr]

No, nor do I expect to hear more than a few scattered reports, followed by "nevermind" calls to HPD because citizens have taken care of the problem.

This *is* the largest evacuation in history.

[cookcounty]

It will be interesting to see how soon outside responders are able to get to the affected coast.

I predict it will take 72 hours to get large scale forces in place.....pretty much the same as the 72 hours after the levee break (or after the report of the levee break) in N.O.

Saw Grand County Colorado sending 3 ambulances down I-25 today, they'll wait out the storm in Ft. Worth, and then go in. It could be a very long drive.

[jpsb]

Forget about evacfrom Harris/Galveston county, ain't gonna happen, best thing is to hunker down and deal with what comes your way as best you can.

[ekwd]

That's it. Greetings from Huntsville.

[AFPhys]

I don't think it is simply the wording. It seems they have a bug in the reporting when the probability is very high.

[katykelly]

Don't ferget "No Name, Co.".

[laz]

I'm just sticking with TWC from here on out I think. It's better for my mental health.

Same here. Before, I was down to FNC and TWC. Now it's just TWC. Everybody else is stuck on stupid. It's like watching children ask stupid questions and make inane comments. Heck, children are wiser than these fools.

[BIGLOOK]

Eel is great. The ones we have here can feed a family....or bust your pole.

[publana]

Troy Dungan is predicting more of an East Texas big rain.

If Bowtie said the above, you better be nailing down everything on your property. It is uncanny how often that man is wrong.

[montag813]

Did anyone see Wolf Blitzer assailing Houston's (white) mayor over traffic jams and gas lines? It was ridiculous. Nagin has still never been challenged. At least Mayor White got his people out. White somehow managed to avoid launching into an R-rated tirade against Blitzer (unlike you know who)

[uncbob]

Yes. There is a town called Cut and Shoot.

Was a boxer from there by the name of Roy" Cut and Shoot " Harris

Fought and lost to Floyd Patterson for heavyweight championship back in late 50s if I remember righly

[FreeReign]

yea it has to be largest evac ever,,,Houston is 4th largest city...

How far from the coast is Houston? It seems unusual that people are evacuating Houston.

[Sender]

It would be a bad day for a looter in Texas, methinks.

[johnb838]

Used to be people shot each other regularly on the Houston freeways. We defined Road Rage. We've mellowed. I'm not sure why. We grew up a lot during Allison I think. It's been said a lot, but 9-11 that same year changed everything too. My mother died that same year. Not a great year for me.

[jeffers]

Somebody's getting smacked.

It'll kill fewer people where it's headed now than where it was headed this morning.

Still have to take it all with a grain of salt. The steering currents died and the models have all gone divergent in three dimensions.

If that's not enough of a razor's edge, my projection for max surge ends only 36 miles NE of Galveston now, with substantial surge extending to Galveston itself.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable if Rita was still hooking around to the right.

[steveegg]

3 or weaker? I hope he's right, but he's not backed up by the discussion (which projects a landfall at a "lower-end" Cat 4 just before 7 am Saturday).

Mike Bettes is the new Jim Cantore; he made it to Port Arthur while Jungle Jim is still in Houston.

[Rte66]

Not sure of all the locations, but 10 of them are for the Houstonians stranded on the highways! Capacity 200-500 at each shelter!

[Zacs Mom]

"Galveston will be just fine."

From your keyboard to God's "Palm Pad"!

[SouthTexas]

We do have the fire ants too. Have threatened to box some up and send them to the EPA and tell them to try their "so called poisons" on them.

Would probably get tagged by Homeland Security for shipping a hazardous package.