Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Dangerous Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall in the northeast Gulf of Mexico within 24 hours. Tornados have spawned in Louisiana. Water is filling the Ninth Ward of New Orleans again. A bus carrying elderly evacuees was gutted by fire this morning outside Dallas, with multiple fatalities. Television crews have positioned their hurricane reporters throughout the region to attain maximum drama effects. Whoooooa.

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
Jefferson Co TX NWS Weather
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:

Lake Charles Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Lake Charles Experimental Radar Outages and Delays May Occur

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)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston
KPRC-TV/DT Houston
KTRK-TV/DT Houston
KTRH-AM Houston
KPLC-TV/DT Lake Charles/Lafayette
KSLA-TV/DT Shreveport

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
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 V
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

[Txsleuth]

I just saw the most remarkable exchange on CNN....

Wolf Blitzer was talking about the bus fire this morning that killed 24 elderly people from the Houston area...

He asked Bob Franken, after Franked reported that they think that a fire started somewhere on the bus, which then blew up the oxygen tanks...

Wolf said, "Bob, do you think the authorities are going to check into the thinking into letting those people on the bus with oxygen?" (a little paraphrased, but not much)...

Franken then said, "Well, Wolf, I don't think there really was an alternative!"

This is astounding....these were older people from a nursing home....my mother died in January from congestive heart failure...for the last year of her life she HAD to have her oxygen on at ALL times....

What did Wolf think would happen to these patients w/o their oxygen?

[ncountylee]

Seems to be just starting here. Wife's gone to Walmart, she'd better hurry!

You have our prayers, be safe.

[jbstrick]

"Bastardi sucks...boycott Accu-Weather (the anti-NWS company) "

I hat to say I agree. He seems to be a bit full of hyperbolie.

Accuweather wants congress to block our access to the National Weather Service information and only allow it through Accuweather and other vendors.

I recommend Weather Underground. You can join their premier service for $5/YEAR to recieve all weather alerts for your area to your pager/email.

[eastforker]

Ditto eaker to all on that ping list, we are here and will help anyone that needs it, if you don't ask we do not know.

[John Jamieson]

I'll send him a packing peanut.

[LA Woman3]

FYI The mosquito spraying is done on a large scale, by military operation to ward off disease. FEMA took care of that for us after Floyd...with all the standing water, it was an imperative health concern.




We had military spraying for mosquitos Sunday through Wednesday. I live in Ascension parish.....just south of Baton Rouge. As a crow flies, we are 10 miles from St. Gabriel-the make shift morgue for Katrina victims.

[diogenes ghost]

If you are not smart enough to know for certain that a firearm is unloaded, or otherwise disabled, you are not smart enough to judge those who are. Methinks someone with a mini-arsenal is more capable of making such distinctions than one who looks at a picture and faints.

[dfwgator]

I know it's now become a tired cliche, but the media really is "stuck on stupid."

[BushMeister]

Here's a cool old postcard of the Galveston Seawall:

[Spktyr]

What makes you thiunk Blitzed thinks?

[tx_eggman]

I hope Shep has a floating device.

Certain substances float all by themselves ...

[Wneighbor]

Yeah, I think I was in Flagstaff then. I remember ya'll though. If I'd o' been home I'd o' been there.... if I hadn't have already lost my temper with the broad and been thrown in jail.

[james_f_hall]

Media is stuck on stupid. They like to add to the confusion. They are doing same now in press conference now with Mayor.

They are stuck on stupid!!

[hummingbird]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....

"...and you can take that to the bank...COURAGE."

[Shazolene]

Re when to start 'contraflow' - I don't think there is a 'usual' timeline established. But I should guess that if you tell people that the MANDATORY evac will start at 6am, you start the contraflow a bit earlier than that, so that the voluntary evacuees who leave early (like 3-4am?) will have a route out.

We're all learning, I hope. But because it is so difficult I hesitate to blame anyone...

[Deaf Smith]

I finally found the pic in question.

Looks like you have some well educated kids.

Your daughter with the 50 BMG looks like she can handle it well.

Doesn't this just piss off the right people?

[Wneighbor]

Kinda reminds me of an old Waylon Jennings line "if I'd have killed her when I first met her, I'd be out of jail by now"

You hit the nail on the head with that line pardner.

[Abigail Adams]

Houston officials on WWL saying they're going to do one last sweep with busses to evacuate anyone who now wants to go.

[Rte66]

You would kick a poor, helpless, almost-victim of the 3rd most powerful hurricane in history, while her football team is down? Yikes, must be a T-sip.

[redgolum]

Nice dog, but can he handle the recoil?