Posted on 09/24/2005 9:58:36 AM PDT by Howlin
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:
Hurricane Rita Freeper CHECK IN THREAD
FReeper Sign In Thread (LOCKED) 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 VII
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
Hey bonfire. Are you an Aggie!!!!
BTW....I think I saw a thread title the other day that said something about how if all of the Income Taxes that are DUE to the Govt. were actually collected...
We would have MORE than enough to pay for Iraq AND Hurricane Katrina...but, alas, some people just don't pay...so those of us that do, the dems want to take more from.
Yours is HUGE. My house in TX was that large but new. This house is smaller than we are used to but only 2 kids at home.
There are so many beautiful houses in our town. I want to fix this up and sell. Have my eye on about 5 others!!
That's cool, very cool.
Most folks don't like to think about human waste, or the problems it can create, so they pretend it doesn't exist.
Texans face the problem and deal with it in an efficient manner.
All is well.
No. Drove thru College Station once, though! Son just graduated from UNT.
If they had a cruise that kids could go on, then I would be interested. It would be a lot of fun!!!
I can't get your Mama Boucher link to load, so here's another photo. I see I wasn't the only person stuck indoors watching "The Waterboy" on TBS this weekend, LOL! I'm a transplanted Yankee myself, but I should imagine that real Cajun people would have been offended by the stereotypes in that movie. Am I right or wrong?
Well, everyone has a swimming pool so more kids drown. We didn't get one until my youngest was in 3rd grade. I was too afraid. My godchild's parents put one in when she was a baby and I was just miserable with worry. BUT they put special locks on the doors and an alarm system on the pool.
I can understand drowning more than leaving a kid in the car NO MATTER WHAT THE TEMPERATURE! How can you forget your kid ALL FREAKIN' DAY!! All the dead-car babies were by parents who forget to take them to daycare before driving to work! That's just murder. Plain and simple.
I know what you mean...
My son and DIL took my granddaughter with them on a cruise this summer...they said that Kailey was busy the whole time.
They have a lot of activities for children which gives the parents some time to themselves...so I bet if there was another Freeper cruise...your kids would fit right in!!!
There were still FEMA trailer compounds in Homestead for 18 mos. after Andrew.
I agree about the swimming pools...my granddaughter's other grandmother has a swimming pool...and I have worried..
But, they have alarms on their doors, and I know that they watch Kailey like a hawk...she is also a diabetic, so we ALL are just a little more attentive than some families would be...
The car thing??? NO EXCUSE--period, especially in Texas, where it is so hot...
I heard a woman call a talk show here in Dallas last week that said that her mother is STILL waiting for her new roof from a couple of years ago in Florida...
If I were Arthel Neville and others from NO, I would get used to the idea of NOT living in NO anytime soon.
If fact, if I was a resident of NO...I would demand that the govt. and the Corps of Engineers do whatever it takes to fix the levees the RIGHT way...not the most expedient or inexpensive.
When I was a little girl, we lived in a quonset hut in Boulder Colorado for two years while my father built a house all by himself---during the evenings and on weekends..
TWO years...just a 3 bedroom, 1 bath ranch...but it meant so much to us...and it was the only way my parent could afford a house on some land...not just a small lot.
Perhaps the military could put up some quonset huts in LA for people to live in...although, I don't know which would be safer in bad weather..a quonset or a mobile home.
Dunno why, but the idea of "Loch 9th Ward", brings to mind grainy, out of focus, long lense photographs of Kathleen Blanco cavorting just under the surface in a bikini on the cover of a tabloid at the checkout counter.
Thanks for the mental image, I owe you one.
There was a picture of that same dam dumping water at an earlier time on this thread. Did you see it? Worth a look if not, you could pretty much feel the ground shake just looking at it.
Going to bed.... but I just noticed that Carol Iovanna on Fox News just showed footage of, and spoke of the Pro-Troops rally today...she mentioned Jeff Sessions speaking there!!!
YAY!
Absolutely correct. From the moment Rita hit, anyone with two brain cells to rub together knew what kind of devastation had to be expected at the coast, and knew towns such as Cameron and Holly Beach probably weren't there anymore. Anyone interested in showing this could have gone out in a helicopter at daybreak.
What stopped them? What kept them from actively seeking out the story? The answer is the MSM simply wasn't interested in bringing any of that into our living rooms, so they simply ignored it. The only destruction they were interested in showing was Houston had it been hit, because they anticipated that destruction with glee. That didn't pan out, so it's back to NOLA and the levees for them, to continue the Bush bash. And once again, the MSM molds and shapes the news, instead of reporting it.
Not just the bridge...the pylon that supports it. With a good crane guy, the slabs that got knocked loose on other I-10 bridges will be functional in relatively short order. Loosing a pylon is a much bigger deal.
I'm glad I don't have to choose between the dam and a bridge, but if I had to, I'd save the dam and take the hit on the bridge. If the dam goes, a lot of houses and possibly the bridge go with it.
Worst case is you choose to save the dam, kill the bridge, and then lose the dam anyway. When they let the people come back to their downstream homes is probably the first time we can be reasonably sure the dam is safe. That shouldn't happen until they have seen enough of the inner face to be sure that no trickles are eating their way through.
if you want to know what's really going on down here, turn to www.klvi.com and listen for a few hours to the live stream. Clearchannel claims to be streaming it, but I don't have the battery time to check. They're the only source of our news on what's going on in the world, and we're not expected to get power back for up to a month.
It's horrendous. Major loss of electrical infrastructure. Flyover surveys reveal approx. 30 to 50% loss of large trees. If you had a tree in your yard on the north side, it may very well be in your bedroom right now.
Entery has to rebuild main transmission lines all the way down the LA-TX border. Plus, the damn at Dam B (can't remember the official name... Steinhagen Lake?) is allegedly broken and they're having to release all the water, which may flood thousands downstream.
Situation is very disoriented. Many people did not leave and unless they were prepared with food and water (like us), they're running out. Anger beginning to build at officials, but they don't know exactly who to be mad at because of lack of news. I think it's because everyone is so isolated. The ONLY source of news on what's going on is coming from KLVI radio station, so everyone sits around and listens (and calls in) to this station all day.
Men with chainsaws have spent last 2 days clearing roads to make them passable. Huge majority of roads in Hardin, Jasper, Newton, Jefferson, and Orange counties had huge trees across them, but people are being self-sufficient and clearing everything except the trees on the power lines (about half of them. lol!).
DPS (state police) won't enforce blockade of Hardin County, so Hardin Co. officials said on radio tonight that they're letting people back in starting tomorrow. This should cause MUCHO tension, as other counties are still enforcing blockade (Jefferson, Orange).
Please ping people to this question: I have limited battery power left on laptop. Have a generator with 300 watt inverter and tractor battery. Question: Does that battery have to be a marine battery, or is tractor battery sufficient. I'm scared of plugging this thing into the inverter until I get some kind of idea of what I'm dealing with. NOTE: I will not hold anyone responsible if I fry my computer by doing something based on your advice or input. :-)
Will check back tomorrow to see if anyone has advice. The tractor battery only has the following info on it: Everstart 12 volt (from walmart). Inverter is "Travel Power 300 watt."
no gas. there is NO gas in the entire se texas area. None. There is no electricity east of houston or south of jasper (or maybe even above that). Whatever area Entergy serves in se texas is out and will be out for weeks. Wires are everywhere. I have lots of photos but no battery power to get them uploaded. must save battery power for contact with kids.
This has become a nation of whiners, except for Texas. I anticipate with absolute dread the whining that'll result when the Big One hits Los Angeles. If Babs Streisand survives, she will blame the earthquake on global warming.
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