Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VIII

www.freerepublic.com | September 24, 2005

[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

[No Blue States]

Stinking caps...

EMERGENCY RELEASES FROM THE DAM AT LAKE LIVINGSTON WILL CAUSE RAPID RISES ON THE TRINITY RIVER BELOW LAKE LIVINGSTON.

A MANDATORY EVACUATION HAS BEEN DECLARED FOR PORTIONS OF POLK...SAN JACINTO...AND LIBERTY COUNTIES BELOW LAKE LIVINGSTON. PERSONS ARE URGED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE RIVER
UNTIL WATER LEVELS RECEDE.

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/tx/flood.html

[CedarDave]

Fox reporter in St. Charles on now -- looks like the storm is still raging, river flooding downtown.

[jslade]

Governor Huckabee is quoted as saying half the people who evacuated there will stay, and I bet that's typical.

The RATS will figure a way out to get their votes in LA.

[RoseofTexas]

Lake Charles doesn't look good, still pouring rain and wind....BIG TIME! God please subside this storm!

[SE Mom]

St. Charles River has gone over it's banks...

[Miss Marple]

Adam Housley is in Lake Charles, and it looks pretty bad there. Lots of water and they are still getting pretty strong wind.

Also, Housley is actually reporting, and has his hood up (rather than a baseball cap). No hysterics. Good job, Adam!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I knew it had to deal with the dam, but I didn't get to stay long enough (hubby was working on getting me upstairs to look at what he found at the green dump where he gets our firewood) to check.

[Right_Handed_Writer]

"Accu-Wx sucks

Thursday afternoon on Hannity Joey predicted Galveston and right on up the I-45 corridor stalling short of Dallas and then going southwest down the I-35 corridor. He missed by 70 miles and a category. Exact same afternoon the NHC forecast put it as just west of Sabine Pass as a CAT 3 then to a slow crawl to the Texarkana area. They missed by 18 miles and hit right on the CAT.

Don'tKnowJackuweather can take another hike.

[No Blue States]

Lake Livingston Dam during a previous flood:

[RoseofTexas]

Darn, looks like LA is getting it from every side....Lifting prayers for the folk in LA...we are standing with you!

[No Blue States]

It was probably wise of them to go ahead and open the gates
with 10-12" of rain and counting upstream.

I wish there were a Livingston dam cam..its probably quite a site.

[jeffers]

Have you seen this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1489838/posts

[cajungirl]

I wonder about Avery Island. Aren't the strategic pet reserves down there?

[conservative in nyc]

Liberty, Texas. Lake Livingston is the blue thing to the East of Huntsville. The Trinity River basically runs from it, through Liberty, to Northern Galveston Bay almost directly to the South:

[nuclady]

Thank you very much :))

[YaYa123]

Could you believe it? The hurricanae is still battering Louisiana!!!! Watching Lake Charles, still under violent siege, really makes Blanco's comments seem even more out of touch. Is she crazy?

YIKES!!! She dreams up some silly little job corps make-work project, (because Louisianians are too stupid to get their government hand-outs without help), while the hurricane still blows away the southwest corner of the state! This is beyond embarrassing!

[jeffers]

That matches what the software says, right at 9 feet, at the edges...deeper at Port Arthur. Most likely.

Ditto on Houma, the report had the water's edge near there, not in town.

[jeffers]

Here:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/Rita/BigPicture.jpg

Big picture view, based on collected anecdotal reports to date.

[handy]

I must say that listening to the press conferences from the mayors of the affected cities, I find it very chilling. They truly have implemented the nanny state. They must make it safe for the rest of us, because we are too stupid to avoid downed electrical lines and such. It is scary that elected officials have so little regard for those they govern.

Yes, and it is the media that drive this. When a reporter say something like - "Wolf, there are people stranded on the highway with no water." - I just want to scream who's fault is it they have no water! If the idiot is too dumb to fill up their car with gas, food & water (remember the evacuation order was give Tuesday) then it is their own fault.

My brother in law got a map, avoided I-45, left @4am Thursday and got to Dallas in 12 hours. Get a map, get supplies, and take responsibility.

[Enchante]

"Joe Blow, from the NYT, you are stuck on stupid!"

That's what I've been waiting to see - someone needs to humiliate some of the worst MSM reporters, make an example of them!! Of course, no one wants to make reporters into enemies-for-life because then the smears and slanders just get worse -- but it sure would be nice to see some of the idiots pointed out for the whole nation.