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

[VirginiaMom]

no, it's not a photoshopped bus, I saw it on Fox News too. pretty ironic and very, very sad.

[SE Mom]

God love you...what an adventure. Showers...sleep..food.
Glad you're with us and that you checked in:) Sounds like you have wonderful kids.

[bwteim]

MSBNBC and FOX nothing but NOLA coverage.
New Orleans has to be the story because that's where all the MSM reporters are

[dirtboy]

Yeah, DG, I think you'll be fairly safe with the current track.

But I'm really worried about what is going to happen inland if this storm stalls over the Arklatex.

[NautiNurse]

Naughty AND sassy! My kind of woman LOL!

;o)

[Aggie Mama]

You bet!

[steveegg]

MSBNBC and FOX nothing but NOLA coverage.
New Orleans has to be the story because that's where all the MSM reporters are

Could the fact that it's the only place with new news factor into that?

[cgk]

Prayers for you and yours. God Bless your kids. They can be remarkably plucky and strong for you in the most amazing ways, can't they?

[Strategerist]

I seem to remember people bragging about how they'd prayed Katrina away from New Orleans, that Monday of landfall.

[dirtboy]

s that all they do with school buses in NO let them sit in water?

No, but if a school bus is parked on high ground, disaster planning calls for them to be driven to lower ground.

They must have missed that one during Katrina...

[No Blue States]

Lake Charles NWS picking up Ritas eye:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.klch.shtml

[Lanza]

If we didn't have Katrina victims here, we could have easily gotten a room in a north Houston hotel on Monday. If a cat5 happens and we are not housing all of New Orleans, that's our plan next time.

[JFC]

go to weatherserver.net/hurricanecenter

click on the live videos on the right side page.. it is live feds from Houston and much more interesting than fox, cnn etc....

[Dog Gone]

Dog Gone - what is your location?

I'm about 30 miles due west of downtown Houston.

Right now it's a very pleasant day, unlike the last few days. Temperature is down, breeze picking up from the north, a few high clouds starting to swirl in from the northeast. I wouldn't mind keeping a hurricane offshore permanently, although I think it's probably just beating the heck out of my company's offshore platforms at the moment.

[conservativewasp]

must be a "hugh" breach. It's washed away 3/4 of the picture.

[Colorado Doug]

Well buckle your seatbelt - more scandal ahead. Engineers not

Ahem . . . Racist engineers not monitoring levees.

[Gabz]

Thanks.

[humblegunner]

PetroniDE is staying put in Katy, Bigun is up towards
Huntsville and should be fine.. he may have bugged out but I doubt it.

It's a real good thing we learned all those lessons from LA
or we wouldn't have a clue.. we've never seen a hurricane in Texas before, y'know! ;-)

[johnb838]

I'm pretty sure you can't get flood insurance on Galveston, certainly not on the south end.

[No Truce With Kings]

"It's all the people that left that are much further inland that evacuated that blew my mind. I have friends in Spring that are in Dallas."

Mine, too. And they are clogging up the roads keeping folks that HAVE to leave from getting to safety.