Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part III

NHC - NOAA ^ | 21 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous and large Category Five Hurricane Rita is churning westward across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. Air Force Reconnaissance indicated the central pressure has dropped to 904mb, making Rita the fifth most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches have been issued from Northern Mexico through the South Louisiana coastline. Galveston TX used school buses to evacuate residents. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations are in effect along the Texas coastline.

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
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana

Images:

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: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA

Additional Resources:

FReeper Sign In Thread 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
Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
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 II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[HoHoeHeaux]

I am way up here in KY but would welcome any Texans here, although I know it's a stretch.

And if anyone from Tx can't afford a hotel to evacuate to, I can pay for 2 nights, maybe 3. I want to help. Unfortunalely, the ones that need help probably won't be reading this.

[jpsb]

"My brother and nephew"

"Where do we find such men" I heard that someplace and I think it fits here. Bless your men and you.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Freeper Housing Thread

[Peanut Gallery]

Howdy neighbor, just checking up on the latest myself. PE thinks we might need to prepare a bit. (I'm making a grocery run first thing in the mornin.)

It just dazzles my mind that we need to prepare for a hurricane way up here in Dallas.

[AntiGuv]

If the storm is gonna be coming ashore over, say, Freeport TX then it seems that landfall will overlap the Sat morning high tides (7-8am or so). That's not good..

[HoHoeHeaux]

Maybe we should start one? And offer to book rooms for people? I don't know, I just want to help somehow.

[rwfromkansas]

responding to a post about the "nature" of nature

[steveegg]

Can you imagine if one of the satellite shots displayed a perfect Dana Skully eye in the center of that thing? Freaky. And then, if it like, blinked. Weird.

That would be beyond weird.

Speaking of the eye, on the water vapor loop, it either looks like I need a new monitor or some moisture is trying to get in there.

[tcrlaf]

And then we have THIS! Amazing how different things are already when ADULTS are in charge, isn't it?

Alleged Katrina looter charged with drug trafficking in Florida
9/21/2005, 10:20 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An evacuee who allegedly looted a Louisiana pharmacy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was arrested Wednesday on drug trafficking charges, police said.

Joseph Durkin, 35, of Westwego, La., had been staying at a temporary shelter for hurricane evacuees, police said.

Investigators arrested Durkin at about 4 a.m. on a Panama City Beach street, where he was found carrying more than $15,000 worth of prescription drugs and $500 cash, police said.

According to police reports, a confidential informant said Durkin had been selling drugs he looted from a New Orleans-area pharmacy before evacuating the storm-damaged city.

Durkin was being held pending bond at the Bay County Jail. It was not known if he had an attorney.

[HoHoeHeaux]

Wonderful! Thanks for the link. FR is on top of it, as usual.

[JeffAtlanta]

Speaking of the eye, on the water vapor loop, it either looks like I need a new monitor or some moisture is trying to get in there.

Is that good or bad?

[Torie]

The guessing for landfall is very late Friday night or pre-dawn Sat AM. So the tides may be inbetween (but it is only worth a foot + anyway, and the surge is over 20 feet, so it doesn't matter much). But speed of the storm seems to be one of the most unknown variables in any event. One just doesn't know.

[steveegg]

And high tide appears to be somewhat significant there (unlike NOLA/Mississippi); somewhere around 4 feet.

[Diddle E. Squat]

We are full up with evacuated relatives, but if no one gives you an offer, tell them to start driving anyway, because cities all along I-35 from San Antonio to Ft. Worth are setting up shelters. If headed towards S. Ant., turn on AM 1200 WOAI, they will give info on where to go for shelter info. Heard that one is being set up at McCreless Mall, which is on I-37 a few miles southeast of downtown S.Ant., and that if it fills up they will give people directions to other shelters. They could also just ask directions to the police station in towns like Temple and Waco, and they can get them info on where to go. Don't call, though, phone circuits are already swamped in much of Texas.

Better to get on the road and get out, and figure out where to settle later, than stay at home and risk injury.

[Brad’s Gramma]

I just wish I could help...I'm all the way in CA.

I'd be more than happy to help even the Eaker clan! ;)

[steveegg]

Is that good or bad?

Got me, but it would seem to support an eyewall-replacement cycle. If that's the case, it's early enough for Rita to regain whatever strength she might lose in that.

[Wneighbor]

It just dazzles my mind that we need to prepare for a hurricane way up here in Dallas.

I know whatcha mean!!! I can't even believe that I'm havin' to pick up a few extra jugs of water here in central Texas. But, we've kinda got everything else as ready as it can be here. Just waitin' to get a little rain here. My plants need it.... but not more than a couple of inches! HA!

[onyx]

Thank YOU!

Now check this out: http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/picservice.asp?t=m&m=18

[steveegg]

I think there should be a Freeper housing thread...if there isnt alread.

I should've paid attention.

From the top of the thread, FReepers Offering Lodging To Rita Evacuees - People and/or Pet Friendly FReepers Offering Shelter

[buickmackane]

Before I turn in for the night, I want to offer our Texas FReepers a few suggestions about last-minute lodging in Louisiana.

Keep an eye on the Shreveport/Bossier City, LA casinos. They claim they are sold out of hotel guestrooms because of upcoming live entertainment, but my intuition tells me that a lot of people will back out of going to see a concert during Rita, thereby freeing up some of the rooms. I don't know all the casinos up there, but I do remember seeing the Horseshoe, Isle of Capri and Sam's Town on I-20 just east of the I-49 intersection.

Halfway between Shreveport and Alexandria on I-49 is the pleasant college town of Natchitoches, LA. It features lots of bed-and-breakfast inns that might get overlooked while everyone's scrambling online trying to book at the chain hotels. There are several chains in Natchitoches, too, but I don't know whether those guestrooms are already full with Katrina evacuees.

In Alexandria, the Town Talk reports that 1,900 evacuees are expected to arrive here due to Rita. Many of the Katrina evacuees have been relocated to accommodate the new arrivals, so there will be ample space at the Rapides Parish Coliseum (our "dome"), the Riverfront Center, plus one other shelter that the Red Cross recently closed but has decided to reopen for Rita evacuees. When interviewed by KALB Newschannel 5, the Red Cross rep declined to name this shelter on camera, but it might be Camp Grant Walker in Pollock, as the closing of that facility was recently reported in the Town Talk.

Sources:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/ and http://www.kalb.com/

Way past my bedtime, y'all -- prayers to everyone affected by Hurricane Rita!!