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

[Sender]

I'll take Nicole Mitchell any day.

She's cute, but I dunno, there seems to be this leather/whip aura. Thing. Around her. Maybe it's just me.

[ncountylee]

Nice welcome wagon!

[freema]

Whew. I'll relax. Stress, where she thinks she feels it or not, can do some strange things too. I went thru Alicia in '83 (in Katy)...is that the same one?

Good luck, Pop!

[Brad’s Gramma]

OH MY GOSH!

LOL!!!!

[lainie]

I was gonna say ... any cop coming to confiscate a post-Rita gun might be met with the business end and told to skedaddle.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

The Texas way vs. the NO way....

[WxMan2000]

The eyewall looks pretty good on radar....anxiously awaiting new recon report.

[bored at work]

fn "A"!

[sheikdetailfeather]

Storms rumbling here in Central Fl. from outer bands again.

[Wneighbor]

but it seems to me that NO proves that corruption kills people.

That and building your city 15 feet below sea level. Go figure. Corruption. Scams. Surrounded by water and below it all. Sumpin wrong with that whole picture.

[COEXERJ145]

Anyone who will fly into a category 5 hurricane probably comes off a little tough.

[Spktyr]

Unfortunately, what you are doing is coming across at the former. We got everyone out, there are things that could have been done better, but nobody, nobody, nobody could have done this better.

Nobody has *ever* successfully evacuated a major metropolitan area in modern times. Until today.

[Eaker]

Here is TheMom!

[Steve_Seattle]

When there's a fire drill or building evacuation, people line up and go out in single file, they don't all rush for the door to get out first (unless they are George Costanza). So I think some kind of finely tuned evacuation procedure would be appropraite for evacuating a city.

[Southack]

Map Room

Click to Enlarge

 

Hurricane Central

Hurricane Rita weakens still more
9/23/2005 2:00 p.m. ET

Persistent weakening has brought Hurricane Rita down to a Category 3 storm. The eye is heading for a Saturday morning rendezvous with the upper Texas or southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast.

[BurbankKarl]

KPRC showing Beaumont and Port Arthur emergency vehicles loaded on ships in Beaumont.

[Brad’s Gramma]

I'm happy that they're enforcing the law!

NOT abusing it!

Thanks glock..

[ClearBlueSky]

Thank you.
Three weeks evacuated to the hills of Alabama for Katrina. It was pretty wild up there too, but we were fine with a generator.
Coming home was surreal. So much destruction- and the smell of death all along the Gulf Coast.
Miraculous, my house has no damage- and was one of two on my street that did not get water inside, so we were blessed.

Right now, Rita is kicking up some wind and rain, not bad tho. If Katrina hadn't pummeled the area, this would be a non-event. The canal that ruptured and flooded New Orleans is 5 blocks away, it only broke on the city side-not mine- or we would have had massive flooding too.
I'm SICK of hurricanes and living with a knot of fear in your belly for 6 months out of the year. I'm taking until the holidays to plan a serious move North.
My ancestors were STUPID to found a city in a swamp. I want to live where hurricane season only means interesting news on TV, not 18 hr evacuations,terror and destruction. It's just not worth it.
My prayers are with all who will meet Rita tonite.

[steveegg]

Re-intensification is not good.

Will be back after NASCAR qualifying.

[RDTF]

I keep wondering what your neighbors must be thinking!