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

[bitty]

You were soooooooo right. Did you see the dog?

[don-o]

Thanks all. I had to to their site to open the player.

NN, could the link at the head of the thread gone bad?

[mathluv]

2 dogs!

[Jrabbit]

If he finds some unfortunate pup, he damn well better save its life! I hated the pics of deserted dogs during the Katrina tragedy.

[bwteim]

Exactly my thoughts.

[RDTF]

Ohhh those doggies were left behind!

[A Citizen Reporter]

Can you believe it? As if the hurricane isn't catastrophic enough, Fox has to add a double dose of Shep.

[mware]

Damn I must be psychic.

[Zacs Mom]

clouds have rolled into Dallas, too

[Bubbette]

He better be showing us next how they are picking them up and putting them in their truck!

[Jrabbit]

NO WAY!! LOL

[NautiNurse]

NN, could the link at the head of the thread gone bad?

I just tried it, and got in faster than ever. Have you cleaned your cache today? :o)

[steveegg]

Hit the curse jar... that will be three bucks please.

I picked up CursePass, so just take it out of my account :-)

[RDTF]

That's what I want to see! Perfect PR opportunity but I don't care.

[Blennos]

In Gonzales, Louisiana, just southeast of Baton Rouge, we're getting tropical storm force winds and some strong rain. I can hear thunder right now. I've heard a few gusts that were similar to those that I heard during Katrina. At that time, we had pretty steady winds of about 35 mph and gusts to 70 mph. I'd guess that we're getting gusts in the 50 to 60 range today. We've already had more rain than we had during all of Katrina, but my front yard hasn't flooded at all. I'm mostly thankful to have power right now and hope that we'll avoid the outage that we had during Katrina. Being on the east side of the storm isn't good, but I'm far enough east and far enough inland not to be in any danger. Again, those are facts for which I'm thankful. We've had a few tornado warnings in the parish, but none have been close to my home. Right now, we are clear of both watches and warnings. Here's offering best hopes and wishes to those to the west of us.

We are just to the north of you in Prairieville, close to the Bayou Manchac. The main concern is flooding and losing power. The winds don't seem to be too bad. If we can get through the night without losing electricity then I will consider this a minor victory. If not, then I'll power up the generator and at least keep the ice-maker and fan working.

[abb]

wat's ur opinion of direction now? check out nws radar.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Brit is normally off on Fridays, but there is no reason to cancel "Special Report". There still is other news that has happenned today. Fox did the same thing 2 weeks ago. Cancel Special Report for wall-to-wall hurricane coverage. But watch, O'Bloviator's show never gets cancelled.

[NautiNurse]

We are still completely overcast here in FL too. This storm is as big as the Gulf of Mexico...spooky...

[Jrabbit]

I have an open tab during Shep......

[mware]

I'm going to make a pot of coffee in about an hour. It is going to be a long night.