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

[JFC]

I am listening to them via net.

[Cboldt]

anyone know if Fox is going to have all night coverage tonight...

Yes they are. Announced it about an hour ago. Live all night.

[AggieMom x 3]

Celina. We ran out of everything but premium by last night.

[oceanview]

still, if you are in the western eye - it will be alot better then the eastern eye. do you have a battery operated radio? a charged cellphone? flashlights?

[steveegg]

Welcome to FR. May you and yours stay safe and dry.

[JFC]

I am getting the impression on all news channels a hint upset... that hurricane has calmed down and moved east.

[don-o]

Thanks. I may need to go to IE - though I have had 'em via FF all along.

[greene66]

Well, just read about the jog east. Sounds promising for me, I can't deny it.

Got a kick out of seeing the FoxNews guy there in Port Arthur at the Gulfway Drive intersection.

Oh, well. Have some other things to attend to. Thanks for the nice welcome, everyone!

[LA Woman3]

Anyone listening to WWL (United Radio Broadcast)?
They keep replaying an ad saying, "We will not let the city that care forgot become a city that forgot to care."
What?

[texgal]

"See, I can't get past that bleach thing. They say to add bleach to the water and that just freaks me out."

It's a very small amount, something like a drop per gallon and you don't drink it right away, you wait something like an hour before drinking. Water from your tap has been treated with chlorine - same thing as in bleach.

[greene66]

Got tons of supplies. Lots of food, gasoline, a generator. As these things go, I'm basically prepared.

[Sender]

Another favorite MSM tactic to appear 'fair and balanced' is to diminish the conservative side, mention it yet minimize and trivialize it.

For example, 'some say that Louisiana politicians dropped the ball, but the vast majority of experts fault FEMA and Bush'.

WTF? What vast majority of experts? MoveOn.org?

They did even worse thousands of times while the 'assault weapon' law was sunsetting. 'Some dumb, redneck, single-toothed, knuckle-dragging, psychotic gun nuts claim that the end of the AW ban will not cause wild west armageddon, but all smart, thinking, knowledgeable police chief parodies realize that gangs of rabid meth-soaked murderers, stymied for ten years by this common-sense legislation, will soon be raping Grandma and spraying cop-killer bullets on every playground from their new Uzis and machine guns'.

[RDTF]

They aren't really wishing for death and destruction, it's just that in their world this is very very exciting.

[james_f_hall]

So John Roberts thinks FEMA didn't preposition anything for Katrina? He said because of elections FEMA did it in 2004 and now it is overkill for Rita.

I think John Roberts of CBS is Stuck on Stupid!!

[Carolinamom]

Reassuring to know that you are well supplied. I may have misse it if you answered my question earlier, but where are you located?

[mware]

Oh damn they cancelled Brit's show for tonight and are putting on two hours of Shep.

[ncountylee]

Un-named experts of course.

[Types_with_Fist]

Anybody know the situation in Terrebonne Parish? I've been away from the computer for a while with other issues.

I talked to friends in Houma a couple of hours ago. They were convinced everything was fine and went out to eat to celebrate (I know, I know) despite my concerns. Then I noticed that the area, according to the loop I've been watching, seemed to be getting hit a bit worse that they expected.

I'm thinking they might have gotten hit by high winds even while they were at the Waffle House.

[Retired RN]

According to some survival websites, add 1/2 tsp bleach to 5 gallons of water.

[RDTF]

Why does that not surprise me. He has put his foot in his mouth (that hole in his extra large head) many times.