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
How many libs sent their checks back? Oh, about as many as moved out of the country because Bush got re-elected.
If you need more power later, you can also recharge your tractor battery with your car and some jumper cables. Connect the cables to the tractor battery first, red to the + side of the battery, black to the -, then connect the red to the car battery and the black to something metal but not painted on the engine. That will minimize the risk of getting a spark near the battery. Run your car for about 15 minutes and the battery will be about a quarter to half charged
I did do a Google search on Steinhagen Lake news and got no results, however Livingston Lake has minor problems and is undergoing a massive controlled release of water. 80,000 Cubic Feet Of water a second for 4 days. That is about 75% what the Mississippi flows at St Louis. It will flood a lot of homes.
Best of luck and stay safe!
Stop the world.....I actually had real things to do today.
LOL! Good answer and probably dead on accurate.
Rundown:
FOX sucks, FOX sucks...ad nauseum. There was a hurricane. Sharon Osbourne is bulemic. Oh.......and FOX sucks.
I think most, if not all, of the photos of these areas that are available on Yahoo were taken from Coast Guard choppers. Until last evening, actual video footage of these areas hadn't been shown on tv. If someone just watched the tube and didn't search the internet, they wouldn't even be aware of the devastation along the coast. MSM was quite late coming to this party, because once Houston wasn't hit, they resumed "all NOLA all the time".
Until last evening, actual video footage of these areas hadn't been shown on tv.
That should work until the battery runs low.
Hook the red lead to the plus post on the battery, black to minus.
Plug in your laptop and try it...
(BTW, you don't need a marine battery, but they are built to survive more charge/drain cycles over their useful lifetime than the tractor battery.)
FNC didn't start showing such footage since at least around noon. It was much later. I know because I watching, and they pointed out they were just getting it. And CNN started showing it after FNC.
LOL. Looks like Nita's question has been thoroughly answered :o)
Most of my emergency equipment is 12 volt... lights, radio/tv, shortwave, etc... and I've rigged everything with a common kind of connector so they can all be hooked to a couple of huge deep-cycle marine batteries that I keep charged. It was a consideration when buying a scanner (do I want a desk 110v model or 12v car model?) and TV/DVD, so I opted to go the 12v route. The items are smaller, easier to transport, and generally require less power. I hook them to a 12v power supply and run them off house current most of the time, but they're really handy when the trees take out the power lines (which usually happens during the big snow).
You can get around this with a pair of jumper cables or a couple of wires. The center, metal point of a lighter plug needs to be connected to the + side of a battery. The metal on the sides of the plug connects to the - side. If you have jumper cables, you can clip the red on the center and the black on the sides of the plug, then just connect the other end, red to + on the battery black to -.
If you have any doubts about anything, just plug a lamp in the inverter first, bulbs are cheap.
Hey, hey! Way to go, Eaker! Or, are we supposed to call you General Eaker from now on? Please advise. I hate mis-addressing my CO.
I didn't twist your words. Your words were not location specific beyond "the coast."
----
"If someone just watched the tube and didn't search the internet, they wouldn't even be aware of the devastation along the coast."
If you had followed previous posts I've made on this thread, you'd know that the coast I was referring to was the Louisiana coast, and that I was talking about Cameron and Holly Beach, because I specifically talked about that. To point to one of the later comments I made, in which I simply said coast because I had already defined what I was specifically talking about, is intellectually dishonest.
In fact, the post in which I simply referred to "coast", was a response to a post by BurbankKarl about the specific areas along the Louisiana coast that hadn't been shown until today. Karl knew what I meant even though I didn't get any more specific, and that's why I didn't get any more specific. You saw my response but apparently not what came before it, and that's understandable.
In fact, the post in which I simply referred to "coast", was a response to a post by BurbankKarl about the specific areas along the Louisiana coast that hadn't been shown until today. Karl knew what I meant even though I didn't get any more specific, and that's why I didn't get any more specific. You saw my response but apparently not what came before it, and that's understandable.
Why do you deem me dishonest when all it means is that I didn't follow your every post. It's an awfully long thread and a bit unrealistic to expect everyone to follow every post.
Instead of jumping to the worst of conclusions, maybe you should have noticed which of your post I responded to and realize your words in that post did not convey your intended point. Your later explanation was sufficient without the accusations that I twisted your words.
Besides, why does it matter that certain areas were not shown on tv a few hours earlier like other areas were?
I don't understand your stress over this? What am I missing here? I'd hate to miss out on a good reason to stress out!
"You saw my response but apparently not what came before it, and that's understandable."
-----
Thank you! **offering handshake**
Handshake accepted.
Not my stress alone, but also of other FReepers. We are stressed because we could see the beginnings of the MSM ignoring aspects of this event that don't play into their agenda, just as they did in the case of Mississippi and Alabama. After seeing how they've ignored those two hard-hit areas once the flooding in NOLA began, we just don't want to see that kind of selective broadcasting and minimizing of others' pain again.
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