Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part V

NHC - NOAA ^ | 22 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Category Four Hurricane Rita continues to move toward landfall along the northwest Gulf of Mexico shoreline. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations continue across Texas and Louisiana coastal areas. Lake Charles LA is providing evacuations by bus for residents who have no transportation.

Traffic gridlock in the greater Houston area was compounded by gasoline stations without fuel, long lines at those stations still carrying fuel, and record breaking temperatures on the first day of autumn.

Offshore drilling platforms and rigs, as well as oil refineries, petrochemical and natural gas plants are in the path of the storm. Wave heights recorded by buoy have exceeded 38 feet. The refineries threatened by Hurricane Rita are on higher ground than those affected by flooding from Katrina. As a result, speculation abounds regarding future prices for winter heating fuel and gasoline.

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
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:

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)

KPRC-TV/DT Houston - KPRC-TV/DT Houston - http://mfile.akamai.com/12944/live/reflector:38616.asx
KPLC-TV Lake Charles KPLC Streaming
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
Beaumont TX evac Routes
Lake Charles/Southwest LA Evacuation Map
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 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

[Spktyr]

TXCN: Showing footage of I-45 North at Spring Steubner now EMPTY! except for a few disabled and abandoned cars that do NOT appear to have anyone in them.

[tcrlaf]

Jim Finell From Queens...
Stewart O'Dell From Russel Springs, Kentucky...

Lost touch of JIM soon after Monterey, but Stewart and I still meet every couple of years to embarrass our wives with blue tales...

[fatima]

Knock it OFF

[familyop]

"Take no offense, guy was saying that Texas was all flat, arid, and barren. I just picked the nearest Texas terrain feature that could prove him wrong."

Oops, I should've found his comment. He must've spent too much time around Armadillo or those parts, eh? East Texas is beautiful, as is west Texas around Concan. I was in Corpus Christi during Hurricane Celia.

[Retired RN]

If people are looking to dry out, Odessa is about the driest place in Texas. My house is about 15 miles from sand dunes, literally.

[milagro]

Anyone just catch the report on CNN about the cops in NO looting? They interviewed an owner of a hotel and several other people that witnessed NOPD not-so-finest looting. Was INFURIATING to listen to the NOPD official the reporter was questioning claim that it was just people misunderstanding what the police were doing.

Yeah right!

[VeniVidiVici]

I remember going to Zenter's Daughter but not Zenters. Actually, I think I'm lucky I remember anything :-)

I was there in '84.

[Lemondropkid31]

"Big storm,Are you safe ."

Yea, I think so. I will be riding it out at my job. It should be ok.

[ekwd]

I meant to ask if evacuees can find gas and places to stay west of Fort Worth on I-20? Getting sleepy.

[garandgal]

Call me crazy, but I still swear I can taste the salt on my lips when the remnants of a hurricane make it up here to the heartland.

Since it is well-known in the ag community that things like soybean rust spores can travel from the South to the Midwest via hurricanes....I don't think you are crazy at all.

When there is a major forest fire in the west; we get the "smog" and poor air alerts here in Iowa. Isn't it amazing how the small particles stay way "up there" for so long?

[ARealMothersSonForever]

" but most folks consider that overreacting".
Well, maybe most folks in Massachuschetts or jersey.
Here in Texas, if a person tresspasses after dark, no intent must be proven by the property owner that shoots them. We even allow the county coroner to retrieve the carcass. Overreacting is when ya' run 'em through the whisperchipper, and bait yer catfish hole. That is just wrong. If ya caint noodle or flag your catfish without cut bait, ya be a sissy.

[BurbankKarl]

I was reading some blogs on the Houston Chronicle site....one person said every other house in Spring is staying....

[Colorado Doug]

Under that same statute, you can shoot people for TPing your house after dark, too. Generally considered to be a waste of ammo, though, and frowned upon by DAs.

Still, with such a statute, I'll bet there is a very low incidence of TEEPEEing. I'll bet a bb gun would be just fine.

[Torie]

I am not hyper ventalating like I was with Katrina, because I don't think massive death is a real possibility, like I did with NO. But we will learn from this one too. Gulf cities need to learn how to get hundreds of thousands) millions in the case of Houston) out in 48-72 hours, and deal with the gas, etc (pre position gas tanker trucks, etc.) The whole thing needs to be war gamed like a ballet. For the next decade, this will happen again and again. They will eventually get it right.

In any event, it appears more likely than not that Houston has missed the bullet, and it instead is going for the oil refineries. It may well be that California will soon have the cheapest gas in the nation, since it must use only local refineries, due to the unique blend it uses, and this is an autarkic gas market in that sense.

[steveegg]

As far as the big picture is concerned, that's a confusing one. The max wind speed went up significantly, but so did the pressure. The NHC didn't change their estimate on the wind intensity, so I'd have to go along with them that they balance each other out.

[Lemondropkid31]

Really? I guess the people there in Spring feel safe. I hope they are!

[BurbankKarl]

They already have gotten millions out....I think the roads will all be clear tomorrow morning....

[ekwd]

Zentners was downtown on one of the main east-west streets. I think they were really father and daughter who had a falling out.

[jeffers]

Heh.

That's 3,288.15 feet off the 2300 track.

To the NORTHEAST.

If it was a hurricane center plot, it'd be almost 4 miles NE of the 1700 plot.

Wobble or not, that is good news for Houston and Galveston.

[Brad’s Gramma]

:)