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]

True, if she stalls upstream the 94 record could get a run for its money.

[RDTF]

LOL!

[BlessedByLiberty]

That reminds me of the ABC interview with the black people outside of the Astrodome. They really thought they were going to get them to chant President Bush hates black people. Instead they got honest answers from people wanting everyone to know that their local leadership failed.

When I spoke to one of my aunts, she said she thanked God that President Bush came out before the hurricane to declare it a disaster area or more people would have stayed to ride it out. I had not considered that angle and it gave me chills. She said if it weren't for his leadership in alerting everyone to the dangers, that many others probably would have stayed. [Including one of my own crazy uncles!]

[jeffers]

Well...naybe she should have federalized the state when Bush asked her too. Clearly she needs to realize that if Dub can arrange one storm....

[No Blue States]

Thanks, I guess the flow hasnt reached those gages yet.

The striper fishermen will be happy.

[Cboldt]

They are releasing 20k cfs now.

On Saturday, water was being released from Lake Livingston dam floodgates at a rate of 83,600 cubic feet per second, the third-largest amount on record, but the river takes about five days to crest at Liberty, according to the National Weather Service.

The release rate, decreasing since Saturday, was about 36,300 cfs late Wednesday.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/storm2001/942844

[jeffers]

That's puzzling me...we have Beaumont looking a little frazzled around the edges...and Lufkin with widespread structural damage...did Rita spin up a wall of twisters along a feederband up there?

If so, the windswath will get a lot smaller.

[laz]

The over-riding concern of Louisiana politicians is losing voters.

Yup, that's all it is. Katrina scattered the slaves and set them free, but the Dems want to gather them up again and get them back on the plantation. It's heinous.

I said it on the earlier thread, and I'll repeat it here: whenever I see Dems escort Blacks to the polls, I see Nazis escorting Jews to the gas chambers and telling them they're showers.

[No Blue States]

I saw that too, but notice the date:

June 14, 2001, 12:46AM

[Colorado Doug]

Has anyone heard from jpsb in Galveston today?

[smug]

I agree whole heartedly. Any monies from the government should not be allowed to rebuild below sea level. And any private funds used should be with a signed caveat that they do so knowing that we the tax payers will not assist after any flood in the future.

[Cboldt]

She started that twitching thing last Sunday ...

Landrieu showed the twitch before Katrina hit, in a news conference where she was working Blanco's mouth controls.

[No Blue States]

I havent seen a single post from him today.
Maybe he is busy cleaning up.

[DollyCali]

most excellent. Thanks for referencing this. There are so many good threads full of information over the years to see. I can not keep up with the current ones, yet alone the archives. I always appreciate when people post links to good material. You did a lot of research on that. I will be putting it on my home page "links"

[STARWISE]

I wanted to slap her silly ... honest to God, the arrogance and vitriol of these idiots with a press pass, attacking the officials ... still in the middle of the disaster ..who've been up for hours and days trying to save lives and DID save lives ... GRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

[laz]

Nagin says they are still looking at sarting the re-entry process.

Personally, I want to know if the FBI has obtained a search warrant for all city records. Especially those of the levee boards.

How many times have we read here that Nagin was trying to fight the corruption in LA? If he was, he seems a full-fledged part of it now. Unless he's working undercover, eh?

[the Deejay]

Fema is handing out checks like water, I don't think that is a good idea.

It's easy to hand out other people's money.

And I agree, it's not a good idea. No matter whose money it is.

[STARWISE]

The Landrieu Guilt Twitch was in full array on Russet's show.

[Cboldt]

I saw that too, but notice the date: June 14, 2001, 12:46AM

Doh!

Thank you very much.

[jeffers]

That's a big watershed, but at least it leans NW, away from the storm's current position.