Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VII

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

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already.

An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are taking calls from residents, NWS, and public utility representatives, and alerting residents to local conditions.

On the flip side, CNN announced to the world that law enforcement officers had evacuated from Port Arthur TX with the rest of the population. Engraved looter invitations would have been more elegant.

Godspeed to all those in the path of this storm.

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 VI
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

[BigSkyFreeper]

DO NOT say SNOW! Please! :P

:)

[Revel]

The lake charles blog being updated by the weather service there has not updated in over an hour. I would say they are having serious problems. They made some comments on KPLC a while back that made it sound like they were worried about storm surge at there location.

The wind and water is blowing so bad in lake charles as seen right now on Fox and those street lights are STILL ON!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/temp/ritablog.htm

[ARealMothersSonForever]

'nite. Extra prayers for those in harms way.

[Ingtar]

Complete dark wooly catepillars seen this year. Bad winter coming.

[Heatseeker]

Good idea. Even if the official strength drops way off, don't let that fool you. I'm in eastern Maryland and it took years to fully recover from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 which was a weak Cat2 when it went by us, as I recall.

[Uncle Ike]

Did I just hear reporterette on Fox right?

Something about they're thinking of cancelling the evac order and letting people back into Houston and Galveston as early as tomorrow??

Given the experience with NOLA, isn't that just a tad premature??

[Diddle E. Squat]

Ch. 11 in Houston says there seems to be a westward move now in the eyetrack, probably just a wobble, but of concern.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Place your bets on when the media starts the "New Orleans is forgotten due to Rita damage" BS. I'll bet they already have the stories written.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Place your bets on when the media starts the "New Orleans is forgotten due to Rita damage" BS. I'll bet they already have the stories written.

[steveegg]

Good night ARealMothersSonForever

[GOPyouth]

This footage of Lake Charles on FNC is wild.

[ChefKeith]

Did Ya bring in the Dog???

[Diddle E. Squat]

No. It isn't below sea level, completely different situation. Especially considering that only a portion of the Houston-Galv. area will get even hurricane winds.

[steveegg]

Place your bets on when the media starts the "New Orleans is forgotten due to Rita damage" BS. I'll bet they already have the stories written.

I'll take the Sat nightly news cycle (6 pm EDT).

[ArmstedFragg]

FWIW: I lost the KPLC feed a few minutes ago. Anybody else still got it?

[Revel]

I would guess that the only thing they would need the tower for is through the air broadcasting on VHF or UHF.

[nwctwx]

937mb... not too shabby. Should be some big damage reports trickling in tomorrow. Time for bed, before the sun comes up. ;-)

[glock rocks]

G'nite. Sleep well.

[GOPyouth]

Oh yes, they are inside. They are barking b/c of the wind. These lazy, but beautiful, black labs hardly bark at anything, but give 'em some wind and they go nuts.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

But they need time to get gas and food down as well...lots of stores are sold out and gas is rare...