I'm thinking there may have been oxygen on board if there were a lot of elderly folks.
Sad about the bus fire, etc.
Is Rita still drifting to the east and where is the projected landfall this morning?
Morning, all.
Good news. The 0500 projected landfall is 1.09 miles SW of the 2300 (11pm) track, and it is only 3.15 miles SW of yesterday's 1700 (5pm) track.
That means that this graphic,
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/02J.jpg
...based on the 1700 track, is still useful, and better yet, that the chances of Houston and Galveston avoiding major surge have remained about the same overnight.
There are rumors from our old friend the Interdictor that parts of New Orleans are filling with water again, notably the Lower 9th District, which isn't such good news, but which is hardly unexpected considering that 12 foot waves are forecast up to 300 miles away from Rita's center, and the New Orlean's Levees are in a precarious (more like barely existant) state:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1489838/posts
I've seen two reports of flooding overnight, both minor, one at southern Galveston Island, the other at South San Padre Beach, both consistent with 12 foot surge, but now is a good time to remind everyone that last time, early reports of flooding went....underreported, at first. I'm interested in any reports of flooding or rising water your may come across so don't even think twice before posting them.
It's a real shame about the bus fire this morning. Those people deserved a better exit than that.
Unfortunately, when looking down the barrel of a shotgun at a Cat-4 monster, in the midst of a multi-million person evacuation, we really don't have any choice but to hang tough and focus on the big picture.
Some things are going to go wrong over the new few days, maybe a lot of things, but I think a lot is going to go right too.
In fact, I know it is, we can see it, the people at risk are getting out this time.
Right now, I'll settle for that.
