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Thread VIII: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1490587/posts |
Posted on 09/23/2005 8:01:35 PM PDT by 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
Sorry, I do not buy that. IMHO, it is a very small minority doing the things you speak of. Please do not be too quick to judge and paint with such a broad brush.
On the other hand, it is very clear to anyone who can think about it that the Democratic party left 250,000 people to die in NO just to make a political point.
It's a little hard for a lot of people to let that "just go". I for one won't, especially since *my* state just got FIVE TIMES the number of people out that Louisiana was responsible for. We didn't leave anyone behind who wanted to go.
THAT is why a lot of us are angry at your government. We simply cannot understand why a large body of citizens has not taken the State Capital and demanded an accounting for the attempted mass murder.
http://www.goodolddogs3.com/thank-a-soldier.jpg
Right back at ya!!! Please extent my thanks to your nephews!!!
Yup.
I'm familiar with the hill country of Texas. I find it way to dry and when I come out of swimming in the Blanco River, I feel like I need to put on body oil...my skin dries white from all the limestone in the water. The Ph is exactly the opposite of the hill country too. The water is so soft here that it is hard to rinse soap off...the local washaterias warn people to use only 1/4 cup of soap if the directions on the soap box says to use one cup.
I am sure there are many Texans setting up waiting for looters. We don't get looter season very often, and many of us want trophies.
I find it very ironic that NO people are bitching about not getting news coverage and thinking they are forgotten when people in MS and AL were facing that in the wake of all the coverage of NO.
Where will they go? We still have people in tents over here...all motels are full up and down the gulf coast.
"One problem with return to Houston right now is some power outages and lack of gasoline."
70 mph winds in Jasper co.
And yet, I have to blame the Dems more, much more, for her attitude than the woman herself. She's only what they made her.
That photo of the looter with all the Heineken's makes me laugh, makes me angry, and then makes me sad, in that order. I look at the guy and I can't help but wonder that in a different reality where he didn't end up the product of a failed social experiment, like the creation of a mad scientist, who knows what his destiny might have been? He might have been a doctor, or a musician, or who knows what else.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Too bad the Dems have wasted so many, and never even gave them a chance.
Now my neighbor who keeps her apt at seventy has not has an increase in her bill this year nor has the man on the other side who lives in a 65 degree iceburg. Now do you understand?
It happens, and all I know to tell you is to call and keep demanding to speak to the supervisor and then the supervisors supervisor until you get to someone who can help. If that doesn't work, then contact the Public Utilities Comission, though they probably won't do anything.
Are you sure that you and your neighbors are on the same billing plan? averaging or non-averaging or whatever?
I once had a power company guy ride around my property for 4 hours looking for a non-existant meter so he could turn it off because I wouldn't pay the bill on it.
So9
The list of Old Testament Retributionists here is pretty darned long...
This is Texas. They'll find someplace. We'll *make* room.
You've said it right!
TONS of money that could have been spent to ,at least, improve the levees in N.O. went to 'studies' and 'commissions'. That money bought a lot of second homes- some, if they were on the Gulf Coast, are ironically gone now.
There is NO leadership in N.O. NONE. Nagin was a good businessman when he ran the local cable company, but now he's just another talking head whose only plan was ' RUN, and the gobment will come save us.'
It's the welfare/plantation mentality. A mostly black city elected mostly black officials and they- instead of using the power they have to HELP their people, dissipated it in cronyism.
The N.O. city council went AWOL. ONE Councilman turned up in the days after Katrina, Jay Batt from Lakeview, to try to inform the people in his district.
Nagin officially had the power to get a fleet of busses into the Central city to rescue people, but realistically he had NO power to make people stay behind to drive them. He also knew that a large portion of those who could not evacuate would be the same violent lower class that has had the city in a death spiral for years.
No one sane would have wanted to go into those neighborhoods to save the old and helpless for fear of being attacked by the very criminals who went berserk shooting and looting.
The Superdome was doomed as a shelter for the same reason. It is criminal that it wasn't prepared to actually shelter people. There should have been contingents of medical personnel and police there; instead it was just a building with a few supplies and a couple of security guards. Enter a large percentage of criminal types and we saw the result. The genuinely helpless and innocent were abandoned shamefully and preyed upon by the vicious of their own community.
Blanco saw a monster storm heading for her state and did NOT call out all the National Guard and Federal help she had at her disposal. They had DAYS to prepare- days while they urged the citizenry to prepare- and did NOTHING.
There is a PROCESS to getting Federal help for disasters, and Blanco and Nagin did not use it.
It is interesting to note that Nagin, as Mayor, avoided President Bush during his campaign trips here. Now he doesn't mind meeting with him at all.
Blanco's HUSBAND met the President on one of his trips here after the storm. Where was SHE?
Locally, I hear there will be recall petitions for both Nagin and Blanco. I'll have no say in the one for Nagin, since I live in Jefferson parish- but I will get involved in Blanco's recall.
It is also ironic justice that Nagin has no constituency now, and may never have the people, and the mindset, that elected him back again. I hope, if New Orleans is rebuilt in some fasion, the corruption and cronyism that killed it long before Katrina came in to empty it dies with the old city.
I hope the Federal government does at least that.
REFUSE to give money to the same people who have STOLEN it for generations. I, personally, wouldn't put a penny into rebuilding any part of Louisiana until EVERY elected official who has bled the state for years is out of office and prosecuted.
Landrieu, Morial and Nagin and Blanco should ALL join Edwin Edwards in a federal penetentiary for the rest of their worthless lives.
That said, not on any individual level, if los angeles took an earthquake near the magnatude of Katrina and was wasted in a similar manner, I'd vote for leveling the place and moving the populace elsewhere. Just as I would vote to do in New Orleans. (Difference being, there might not be a choice in So Cal while there IS a choice in the delta.)
You have swamp and sinking land, and we have waterless desert and shaking land.
PS:Unless there were two week's warning and free gas, L.A. evacuation would make NO look like a church picnic.
PPS: as to moving the population of L.A. I also recommend Northern Somalia as appropriate destination for most of Hollywood & Bel Aire.
PPPS: as to moving the population of L.A., I still have hopes of the Texas hill country.
He is backtracking because the FACTS are finally coming out, an I will bet he has heard from a lot of people like me.
I don't like people who won't stick with the President when the media goes into full-blown attack. They are cowards and opportunists, regardless of their political conservatism.
We went to Wal Mart Foods on Wednesday and there was not a whole lot of food on the shelves. Stocked up on what was left (Peanut Butter with Honey mixed in--yuck) and then looked for gas. We went to quite a few gas stations and finally found one. This was still on Wednesday. Tried to get batteries for flashlights and they did not have any C's or D's.
Kept up with the storm on FR and the TV and looked like the storm was going to the east of Houston. I was not as worried if the storm went to the east of us but was still concerned if we would have taken a direct hit. I went through Alicia in another house with a lot of trees and we had extensive tree damage but was able to hunker down. I know I am not a weatherman but my gut feeling was this thing was going to the east (see prediction below)Here was my prediction on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Central time.
"(That is what is so strange right now in Houston. I have lived in Houston most of my life and have never felt heat like this in September with very low humidity. My own prediction is once this thing starts to get close to land, the dry air will suck the energy out of this thing. I think it will be a true miracle of God."
We hunkered down and the family was getting a little stir crazy for 3 days. We were outside until 7:00 p.m. last night talking to our neighbors and actually getting to know them. About 80% of neighborhood evacuated.
Hurricane came in last night very gusty winds, rain and lights flickered on and off a few times but we kept our power (PRAISE THE LORD!) About a million people don't have power right now so this was good. The power was my main concern because when that is out it gets pretty hot. We did not have power after Alicia for 4 days.
TAKE HOME LESSON ON THIS STORM:
1. Have many sources to keep up with hurricanes. This thread had more information that I got than any newscast on the radio, internet and TV. FR was a Godsdend! Thank you all for this thread and I especially thank you NautiNurse. You will never know the impact you have made on so many lives.
2. Don't get into the emotional hype of what the media is saying. I know they want to err on the side of caution because they are talking to a lot of people but they are also wanting to get a name for themselves and are looking for ratings. I think a lot of these newscasters and so called meteorologists have a sense of power during this time that some of them cannot handle. They give out hyped up information that is an attempt to get people to fear and tune in. Their justification is that they are protecting the public and would rather be safe than sorry. I think they have other motives. It says in the Bible (Phil 4:6-7) "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." This is very important to know because if you keep watching the news or listening to the radio, you will be paralyzed with fear. Do not be fearful but have a sound mind during these events. Have some common sense.
3. Ask God for wisdom! In James 1:5 he says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and it will be given to him." My wife and I prayed to God what to do and we did not feel good about leaving and it was confirmed by my brother. God really guided us through this and I have a lot of responsibility having 4 kids to care for and a pregnant wife. Trust your gut feeling because if you pray to God for wisdom he will let you know what to do.
4. Prepare a lot earlier than 4 days before a major hurricane. I was not prepared (flashlights, food, fuel, propane tanks, water, etc.) I had to do a lot of scrambling around and this caused a lot of stress on my pregnant wife. I am going to prepare a lot better even for a biological attack. There is still not gas and if we did not find a station on Wednesday we would be out of luck like so many others.
People also act different when under duress. I was glad I was armed and protected. That gave me a sense of security knowing if anyone were to take advantage of me at my house I would have been able to defend myself.
I hope all of the other Freepers are okay and for those who left Houston to get away from Rita, you made a good decision at the time. If this storm would have veered to the west and we would have picked up the dirty side of this storm, it would have been truly devastating.
The only thing that I am afraid of is that there will be many people stay around next time when they should get out. If Houston takes a direct hit with a Cat 4, there will be 10's of thousands of people dead. I hope that the State of Texas and Houston have learned that we just don't have enough concrete (roads) in this town for traffic or getting out of a hurricane. I hope we do some things differently next time around.
Alicia happened over 20 years ago and hopefully I won't be talking to you for 20 more years about another hurricane but next time around I will be prepared.
I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR PRAYERS BECAUSE THEY WERE TRULY ANSWERED!!!
It seems to have been a relatively small part of AL that got really hammered, but even our own news media doesn't seem very interested.
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