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

[numberonepal]

Plus they claim to know a little about football.

Everybody knows you have to be from the South to understand football.

[freema]

"How in the world can all the forecasters be so wrong? Supposedly a catastrophic storm! Millions evacuated! If this thing fizzles, who in their right mind would ever listen to the "hurricane" experts again? I guess better safe than sorry, but what a mess."

This was just a test. Rove invented Rita to see if Bush's home state could evacuate better than Blanco's.

[No Blue States]

"How in the world can all the forecasters be so wrong? "

Beats me, but even we can see the radars.
Im sure they do too and will alter their forecast some at this rate of weakening.
I dont know it its temporary but it looks good to me.

[tx_eggman]

Okay, I have seen some criticism of TX officials for waiting "too long" to begin it. From over here in North Alabama, it looks to me like they are a doing pretty good job

The proof will be in the results.

The issue isn't whether or not people were stuck in traffic for 14 hours. The bottom line is, at the end of the day, did they make it our of harm's way?

Everything else is just static and noise.

[abb]

gasoline down $0.10 and crude down $1.70 on the nymex..

[Revel]

"My local radio just said stock trading is going up because Rita isn't going to cause as much damage as initially feared."


NO is flooded again. The refinery's that were running in the gulf have been shut down. Who knows how many Oil and gas riggs will be destroyed. At least some refinery's are going to be flooded/ re flooded. All those companies in the evacuated area are shut down. That is a lot of people out of work for the moment. some cities in Texas are predicted to flood. Gas is going to go up up up!.

All of this and the Dow is barely down.

I would say there is some serious manipulation going on.

[Cboldt]

You can't see it in the pictures posted here, but It really looked more obvious from some video they ran about an hour ago.
They really need to use concretee to build these levee's.

I watched the FoxNews live footage, but it was looking at the flow from the backside.

Here is a picture of the repair "pre-overtopping. The top look like something other than earthen - and if the entire repair is earthen, then it'll wash down to flush is a matter of a few hours. There is lots of water going over, and plenty of volume if Lake Pontchartrain to keep flowing for hours more.

[steveegg]

Trying to track that down. TxDOT still lists one-way only up near Dallas, but they do allow themselves an hour of error. They have lifted the one-way flow closer to Houston.

[freema]

Doesn't it just make you smile to think about it?

[LA Woman3]

The same thing happened yesterday in Louisiana. The recorded message went to residents of Jefferson parish instead of Jefferson Davis parish.

[Jrabbit]

Just so they can say "Bush overcompensated" because it's Texas.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

look at this vortex:

URNT12 KNHC 231730Z
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 23/1700Z
B. 27 DEG 38 MIN N
92 DEG 08 MIN W
C. NA
D. NA
E. NA
F. 180 DEG 124 KT
G. 089 DEG 18 NM
H. 931 MB
I. 16 C/ 2200 M
J. 20 C/ 2653 M
K. 15 C/ NA
L. OPEN SE
M. C30
N. 12345/NA
O. 1/1 NM
P. NOAA2 WX18A RITA OB 05
MAX FL WIND 124 KT E QUAD 1654Z
FIX AT 8,700 FT PRESSURE ALTITUDE

pressure's up, 931, and flight winds are 124 knots...storm is not what it was yesterday...

[BurbankKarl]

They were expected the Houston refineries to be pummelled....it doesnt appear that way.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Saw your posts about the evacuation ordeal and your plans to stay in Pasadena. Most of Pasadena should be safer than Clear Lake (except of course the sliver on the lake and bay), and at a slightly higher elevation. Here are topo maps if you'd like to check, and earlier on this thread posted links to storm surge maps, just search my posting history. Zoom in and out using the sidebar. The lowest 2 levels have the actual height in feet above sea level.

http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=14&Z=15&X=89&Y=1027&W=2&qs=%7cpasadena%7ctx%7c

Also at the actual start of this thread is a link to a detailed map of flood zones of all kinds in the Houston area, including Pasadena. Remember, a foot of flood water isn't as dangerous as pounding storm surge with wave action.

Good luck.

[Spktyr]

45 is clear all the way up. I-10 is clear, 290 is completely clear - AND HAS BEEN SINCE 4AM!

[steveegg]

We need somebody to start a dedicated thread. Not it!

You suggest it, you do it :-)

[Lemondropkid31]

I just hear on channel two that 45 is north AND south. Yay!

[No Blue States]

Is the Cat3 forecast too high now?

[freema]

A nice place to visit, but you'd really want to live here! lol

[RDTF]

As disrespectful as this?

http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/22/national-enquirer-says-bush/
September 22, 2005
National Enquirer Says Bush is Drinking
Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal.

Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.

Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster.

His worried wife yelled at him: “Stop, George.”