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

[truthandlife]

A lot of people on this forum told me I was idiotic for doing it but I took everything in consideration and have kept up minute by minute with this hurricane. As long as a tornado does not hit my house, it was a good move.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Texas bump

[processing please hold]

Our town is overflowing, nowhere to put everybody. They're in parking lots, everywhere they can find enough room to park a vehical.
We aren't going to take any chances when it comes to marauders. :-)

[Spktyr]

Acquaintance just got in to Dallas - left this morning. Only a 5 hour trip.

[Gone GF]

"I was/am naive about hurricane forecasting. I thought it was more precise. I am very thankful that the worse case scenario isn't going to happen. I hope all the experts were mistaken and Rita turns into a TS and bothers nobody."

I sure hope so, too -- my parents are in southeastern Louisiana as we speak. They weren't there when Katrina hit and they were on the west side, so their house is all right, but who knows with this one.

Generally speaking, when an area hasn't been hit for a long time by a bad one, people forget the devastation. Look at the folks who stayed in Biloxi, even after Camille in 1969. Had Katrina not just happened, I think it's very safe bet that not so many Texans would have evacuated -- and perhaps not so many evacuations would have been called for.

As you can see now, deciding whether to evacuate or not and when to do it is VERY hard. It's easy to play quartertback when you're sitting in your chair -- not so easy when you're the one on the field looking at a 320-pound guy who might or might not get through to you.

[Txsleuth]

I know...I was trying to be facetious...because the day after Katrina hit....Shep Smith was standing down in the French Quarter, reporting that NO had dodged a bullet...

THAT was about an hour or so before all of the flooding started...

I just heard another idiotic statment...Bill Hemmer on Fox, who has been reporting from NO for weeks...and all day today re: the levee breaks....just said,

"Well, I think that once Rita hits shore, once again NO will be back as the main news because of the flooding from these levee breaks"....

jeez louise, as far as I am concerned....Katrina has never STOPPED being the main story...it is almost like Rita is a distraction for some of these people..

Of course, when you have Sen. Landrieu and Sen. Vitter on TV yesterday demanding your tax dollars to repair all levees, and rebuild NO...and then see THIS with just some rain....

I would think NOW is the time to say forget it---either build NO ABOVE sea level....or no taxpayer should have to fund the repairs..

[Zechariah_8_13]

I'm glad to hear you were able to stay. Thank God for that "settled feeling" He gives us when our decisions align with His will.

How's your wife doing? Hoping she's not having contractions any more.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Something to note that I read on another forum:

The western side doesn't look so hot, but whoever is east of the center is going to get raked in a really bad way.

And we're moving into the afternoon, and she's tightening up a little bit as the storm does it's afternoon/evening thing. Don't know what she'll be like at landfall, but she's borderline 3/4 right now, and no one to the east of landfall should be complacent...and with wobbly storm eyes, people need to keep an eye on the storm. You could guess wrong about which side you're going to end up on.

[RDTF]

But Hemmer is quite the babe :-)

[AFPhys]

Hey, though, the idiot Mayor managed to get the strip clubs up and running yesterday. Gotta have the important things in life wrapped up first, dontcha know?

[Spktyr]

You can *fly* a chopper in 45mph gusts. You just can't hover it, and that's what you have to do to pick up a sandbag or drop it.

[silentknight]

Bastardi also said this WOULD be the LARGEST hurricane to EVER hit Texas.

Wrong again - hype-monster and a prostitute for Accu-Weather $$$$ Hype it up for big bucks.

[numberonepal]

Good points, current trends look like she might try to go back to cat 4 as well... for a time at least.

You of all people had to go and say what I was thinking. I hope the hell we're wrong.

[oceanview]

how are the news and coast guard choppers flying then?

[BurbankKarl]

No, the media has scared everyone into leaving....from what I understand, the three zone evacuation is for the people living in the 500 year flood plains.

BTW, LAFD and LA County Fire are staged in Dallas...they just got back into Los Angeles last week, from NOLA. Flew out last night. Also, heard that a large number of out of state ambulances were staged in an area now to get heavy flooding...when I heard more about that I will post it.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

The discussions about how much this thing is weakening are akin to those same comments when Katrina hit land.

Bump!

[Conservomax]

I can't imagine how cool it must be to punch through the wall and be in that clear surrounded by the vortex walls which are miles tall.

[cgk]

God Bless Texas & Texans.

[processing please hold]

I hope it peeters out.
We'll be stocked with water till next to forever. :-)

[truthandlife]

Thank you for asking and your prayers. She is doing a lot better. She is taking it easy now after getting prepared for the storm and she has a better peace of mind. No more contractions. Hopefully the contractions won't start when the hurricane comes in.