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

[MarMema]

Now there's a blazing conflageration, and there's people in it.

That's what I was thinking...

[Spktyr]

Step outside. The wind is carrying in the smell of NO, the unmistakable smell of something organic decaying.

It's very strange. You can smell it in Dallas, and that's NOT a normal smell here at any time of year.

[RummyChick]

geraldo stuck in port arthur

[Vob]

Blowhards.

[Squantos]

LOL.....Awesome !

[Flyer]

My electric has held steady here and I have a UPS for the main computer so I don't get rebooted if it does brown on me.

Good to hear from ya!

[Armedanddangerous]

Shep is just chillin with his homies wearing the hat like that.

He's trying to become Fly..


Isn't that what they call it?

[RoseofTexas]

Bwhawhahahha did you see Rita Cosby's outfit?? She reminded me of that charactor on South Park Kenny!!

[RDTF]

That was nice. Aren't the simple times the best memories?

[Howlin]

Great captures!

[johnb838]

I was just watching it on the radar, believe it or not it looks like a lot of the bad weather has sort of started to slip on by on the east. I don't want to jynx us, but a lot of the stuff on the front side is almost to our north now and all the bad stuff has petered out before it's gotten to us.

[LikeLight]

Thanks for screen captures from CNN (I intentionally do not have provisions to receive CNN in my home)...

[MarMema]

I know that FEMA, Red Cross, and Noahs Wish (with a lot of rescued animals) are all in Slidell right now. So I was praying there would be no flooding there.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Oh Lord. CNN shots of a firefighter trying to drag a hose into that fire in Galveston, against those hurricane force winds. That says so much more than Shep chasing hats on Fox News. God Bless those first reponders.

[Howlin]

Cheney.

[LikeLight]

Lake Charles - boil water order.

[momf]

Thanks

[mware]

[LibertyRocks]

Just so everyone knows - one of the reports I heard right after the bus fire had a survivor that stated the driver went back into the burning bus several times to help people out - at risk to his own life. Also, DOT helped him fix a tire on the bus right before the fire started.

The only reason I'm posting this is because I just don't think it would be fair if everyone started ranting on the driver simply because he appears to be an illegal alien at this point (which I have seen happen before). It appears to be a mechanical problem at this point as far as the origin of the fire. Given that DOT helped him fix one tire right before the fire started I just don't think it would be fair to pin it all on the this man.

[tcrlaf]

Local News Channel64 in Indy has gone to ABC13 for the overnight...

Galveston fire is on...