Rosa Machado walks in waist high flood water as her neighbors' trailer burns in Lafite, La., after Hurricane Rita passed through the area, Saturday.
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
This MAY be worse then katrina for southern LA outside of NO..Kartrina winds blew the surge out with winds form the north and they didn't have as much rainwater flowing south
I seem to recall an earlier post to you... hmmm.... what was it? Ah! "Piss off, Granola Boy."
Yes, that was it.
Signed,
Bubba
Saw that...interesting slope to that projection...steady...for the forseeable future...
I am getting saturated here....going to crash this box soon...just so's ya know...
A few years ago Canyon Lake (west of New Braunfels) flooded and the spillway was "used" for the first time. I don't think they realized what the results would be. Over 800 homes were damaged or destroyed and the water carved a gorge.
Here's a link that talks about the Canyon Lake Dam and there's a picture near the bottom of the gorge.
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/canyon.html
KHOU: Six arrested in gas riot on Spring-Cypress Rd.
That's all I can come up with, the flow down the Trinity isn't very impressive.
I wonder if it isn't just a rain-induced event, maybe rain plus wind. I don't know the entire makeup of the dam, but a large part of it is earthen, with a concrete spillway. I don't picture a sieche in a body that size, waves maybe, but I don't think that's it. The purpose of the release is stated as necessary for damage assessment, not for level control. THey want to drawi it down fast for some reason.
The flow downstream, based on the charts, is mighty impressive and shows the 80,000 cfs planned release rate. Up stream isn't near that great a flow; but the reservoir may be anticipated as filling from runoff other than what comes in via the upstream river.
I'd have to spend some time chacking other rivers to see if more than local flash flooding is expected due to Rita rainfall.
"Heavy rain and winds reaching 65km/h were reported in the city as the hurricane came ashore before dawn, according to the spokesperson, adding that Houston still faced the risk of flooding."
Fwiw, I was playing top league tennis today in winds of up to 60 km/h at time. Not very pleasant, but nothing to worry about.
Yes. Lake P should go to at least normal plus 8 feet. When the wind stops, that will slosh back south, with....predictable results.
UPPER Terrebone?
Upper JEFFERSON?
Not good.
Not good at all.
Perhaps it has something to do with how they got/get rich...
Calcasieu River at Salt Water Barrier [above Lake Charles; not good]
http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lch&gage=lchl1&view=1,1,1,1,1,1
ps. any word about conditions at Fort Polk, LA?
That dope FNC's Hemmer still has, "the Algiers section of New Orleans 12 feet above sea level." That does not appear to be correct.
here is the Maptech chart site.
http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm?lat=29.9987869571&lon=-89.8956324939&scale=175000&zoom=50&type=0&height=498&width=498&icon=0&searchscope=dom&CFID=1685345&CFTOKEN=18001136&scriptfile=http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm&bpid=MAP0204021051%2C2%2C1%2C0&latlontype=DMS
The upstream Trinity River projection is flat, but the downstream, of the dam, are sharply rising in coincidnce with a planned 80,000 cfs release.
Bayou Gauche is SW of NO....NW of Houma...That puts a LOT of area underwater or at risk.
yep...it tooks a couple of days for the lake to get back to normal levels after katrina and that was with a west wind helping to blow the water out
FoxNews reporterette: "It is a sunny night in Houston..."
"I wear my sunglasses at night."
Rosa Machado walks in waist high flood water as her neighbors' trailer burns in Lafite, La., after Hurricane Rita passed through the area, Saturday.
6 to 9 feet above flood stage. Upstream is forcast above flood too, for the next two days.
Ok. Gpapa's link (actually not his, one it led to) only showed up to current, no projection....so the Trinity's going to flood stage tomorrow, above a damaged dam....lovely.
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