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

[janetjanet998]

they didn't get a "HUGE" amount of rain there(lake liv.) 2-4 inches...most of it fall along the la/tx border 8-12 inches..interesting

[cajungirl]

Blanko"s corp will be social workers, getting benefits for people in and out of La {I suspect bus tickets}

Now why does she want Rita and Katrina to be "one event",,there has to be a reason. More money? Mooching off Texas?

I am so suspicous of her.

[pollyg107]

Good grief!! I just heard the Fox weather guy say that Rita is going to hang around north Mississippi and dump maybe 2 feet of rain before it heads southeast. He said there's even a slight possibility that it could go back out into the gulf and re-intensify into a tropical storm. I sure hope that doesn't happen.

[laz]

An eye opener. Some of my family went to Lake Charles when Katrina hit, some to Shreveport others to other states. Frightening to think Rita went that far inland.

Last year, I moved from Los Angeles to Miami, and I drove cross-country on I-10. I started out August 30, but didn't get to Miami until September 8 because I had to hold back for four days in Louisiana and wait for Hurricane Frances to get out of Florida. As it turned out, I got to Miami between Frances and Ivan.

So I drove through all the Gulf Coast cities along I-10, and through all the areas affected by Ivan, Katrina, and now Rita. Stayed in Baton Rouge those four days and toured NOLA over Labor Day weekend. I remember when I drove through Lake Charles after leaving Beaumont. Little did I know at the time what awaited all these areas exactly one year later.

[johnmecainrino]

Blanco wants the feds to pay for all of louisiana's teachers, cops, firefighters.

She is pathetic.

[cajungirl]

What I don't understand is why doesn't that "surge" go down, usually they do.

And why is the water rising in Lake Charles?

[jeffers]

I have two cats. They are smarter than Blanco's advisers.

[JUMPIN JEHOSPOHAT]

Jindal writes about his frustrations with the bureaucracy and about examples of private acts of compassion in an op-ed published recently in Wall Street Journal

[the Deejay]

Time to write off the ninth ward.

Let the Gulf have it.

[No Blue States]

Wind 25-37 mph here in Arlington. Dust and small debri getting blown around.

It wouldnt surprise me if a tree limb or 2 caused spotty power outages or flips a few trucks over on the mix masters.

Ive never felt a NE wind so warm here.

[CFC__VRWC]

A huge concern I have now is all the runoff that's eventually going to be dumped into the Mississippi River from the rain over the next few days.

[jacquej]

I can't believe that the fedgov would do that. Is it legal?

[cajungirl]

Walker Percy in Lanterns of the Levee wrote about these bubbles. The book is now sort of discounted as racist but it is an excellent book. He lived I do believe on one of those Delta plantations upriver and his descriptions of the levee and how they watched it was fascinating.

[Sunnyflorida]

Agree, Housley has some sense of geography.
I cannot wait to see Brenda-the-Orange, "gasoline COULD go to $5 per gallon." Again. She is a business reporter with absolutely NO sense of business.

[handy]

It sounds like the rains from Rita will do more damage than the winds.

[No Blue States]

I see why they opened the gates, one arm of Lake Livingston is just east of Lufkin where 10-12" fell.
Galveston bay is about to be flushed.

[nuclady]

I call Nagin, Blanco, and Landrieu: Wynkin', Blynkin' & Nod!!

[Knitting A Conundrum]

You know it!

[CFC__VRWC]

Now why does she want Rita and Katrina to be "one event",,there has to be a reason. More money? Mooching off Texas?

Mooching off Texas, plus making sure that all of the money flows to her corrupt pals in New Orleans. Why should she give a rat's a$$ what happens in places like Lake Charles and Sulfur and Houma? All those places vote republican.

[Sunnyflorida]

Yes I did see your outstanding work. Best of the Web for 2005, and beyond.