Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Dangerous Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall in the northeast Gulf of Mexico within 24 hours. Tornados have spawned in Louisiana. Water is filling the Ninth Ward of New Orleans again. A bus carrying elderly evacuees was gutted by fire this morning outside Dallas, with multiple fatalities. Television crews have positioned their hurricane reporters throughout the region to attain maximum drama effects. Whoooooa.

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:

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
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 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

[jpsb]

1) mainland, San Leon
2) Dirt here is 12', if I go to my neigbors house it's 3 stories, my house is only one.

[Lazamataz]

Did I turn out to be wrong?

[Robert A Cook PE]

Gulf Coast tides are not 3-4 feet: that's more like the size you see on the Atlantic Coast near Norflok and the entrance to the Chesapeake. (12-18" up at the turning basin of the ship channel as I recall.)

[WFTR]

In Gonzales, Louisiana, just southeast of Baton Rouge, we're getting tropical storm force winds and some strong rain. I can hear thunder right now. I've heard a few gusts that were similar to those that I heard during Katrina. At that time, we had pretty steady winds of about 35 mph and gusts to 70 mph. I'd guess that we're getting gusts in the 50 to 60 range today. We've already had more rain than we had during all of Katrina, but my front yard hasn't flooded at all. I'm mostly thankful to have power right now and hope that we'll avoid the outage that we had during Katrina. Being on the east side of the storm isn't good, but I'm far enough east and far enough inland not to be in any danger. Again, those are facts for which I'm thankful. We've had a few tornado warnings in the parish, but none have been close to my home. Right now, we are clear of both watches and warnings. Here's offering best hopes and wishes to those to the west of us.

Bill

[American72]

Mayor of Houston is a Dem, although our elections are supposedly "non-partisan" - you don't run as a "Dem" or a "Repub" but everyone just knows who you belong to anyway.

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

Tom DeLay schooled the press. He told them quite clearly that the local and county agencies are the first responders and that FEMA is a coordinating agency. We are not to expect FEMA or the feds as a first responder.

[dirtboy]

Yep. If it were a bit further north, it would stretch from NOLA to Houston.

[Eaker]

If every weapon is loaded how do you clean them.

I know when a weapon is loaded and I don't clean loaded weapons. I unload them first.

Then they are unloaded.

There might be other threads on knitting or bleaching hair where you have more expertise.

[kassie]

I completely agree with your thoughts.

[dirtboy]

Yeah, I looked up normal high tide for Sabine Pass tomorrow morning and it was 2.1 feet.

[jpsb]

thx, did a drive to check things out further inland, winds not bad yet inland, funny what a difference a block or two makes, blowing like hell here, but much lighter a block or two inland.

[Michael Goldsberry]

I've adjusted Grandpa's barometer 24 points upwards per data collected on this thread. Now reading 1,003mb... and falling.

;)

[DallasMike]

The storm is projected to be around Texarkana on Sunday. And Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday.

We're actually hoping here in Dallas that it will break the hot spell and give us some rain. 20 inches of rain would not be good, but we would all love, say, 6 inches spread out over 3 days.

 

[oceanview]

the last hour jog it makes before landfall will determine that. its going to be close for port arthur/beaumont.

[kassie]

Sugar Land is not turing off the water???

I sure hope not and if they do, I would hope they'd give us some warning.

[RDTF]

Pokay?

[Eaker]

Only 28? Poser. :)

LOL!!!

Slim, yer a nut!

[steveegg]

Don't know of any state that has other than a fixed gas tax. Higher prices mean somewhat fewer gallons sold and less gas tax.

Check this chart. Kentucky uses a percentage as its tax; California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan all charge sales taxes; Connecticut has a gross receipts earnings tax based on a percentage; New York has a complicated formula that includes a few percentages, and Virginia adds a percentage-based wholesale tax.

[Dog]

Kassie ....fill up the tub and everything that will hold water.

[Fritzy]

Thanks for the come back... terrific! Frankly, I am SO impressed with the Texas FRiends on this thread.. strong, powerful, caring, visionary Texans... from what I have observed over the past three days... (traffic jams..leadership responses ..etc).. there is a sense of pride and controlled efforts that seems to be a Texan Trademark... Wish LA could take a page from this type of citizenship...

I do look forward to spending a few weeks to get my sea legs in the Livingston area... then we will make our decision... appreciate your perspective..

More later...