Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VII

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

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already.

An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are taking calls from residents, NWS, and public utility representatives, and alerting residents to local conditions.

On the flip side, CNN announced to the world that law enforcement officers had evacuated from Port Arthur TX with the rest of the population. Engraved looter invitations would have been more elegant.

Godspeed to all those in the path of this storm.

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 VI
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

[Arizona Carolyn]

The palm trees take the storms pretty well -- well, except for the aforementioned lightening magnet part -- but Mesquite trees send out one large root and a lot of smaller roots.

The large root usually runs downhill towards the lake and when monsoon season starts you had better make sure they are throughly trimmed -- otherwise it will get picked up like a toothpick and tossed on the ground.

[Revel]

Part of the hospital roof where Kplc is broadcasting from has collapse. They are nervous to say the least. May need to evac.

[glock rocks]

G'nite dixiechick. Sleep well.

[steveegg]

I'm showing a 3-minute shift to the west based on the vortex messages. Houston's getting the back side, but this thing looks to stall before the entire backside clears.

---

KPLC - part of the roof at the hospital they are broadcasting from has sprung a hole, they are planning on bugging out.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Night... I think I'm headed off to bed, too... can't really tell a lot until morning.

[Republic of Texas]

In Miss. they are going to ask the state to let them build casinos on land. After the state pays their part of the tab, they might agree to that, or lose the gaming industry.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Oh, no!

[Heatseeker]

This is definitely going to Audrey or worse.

[dandelion]

Thank you kindly for your prayers.

My husband's doing armed disaster recovery for his clients, and he's trying to get his employees and clients back up and running as soon as possible. He came home *briefly* to see how this storm would affect his employees in Houston, and to help secure our little ranch just in case Rita visits here. (I'm still not sure if we'll be seeing any action here, but I think we can handle it if we do). The big question is how fast can he get his folks back to work and back to earning a living...

Houston is a pretty sure thing and he'll probably just need to secure the facilities, but New Orleans is another matter entirely. He just spent the last two weeks with his "go team" camping out in New Orleans after they ran out looters and recovered goods/facilities for his clients. My husband is trying to keep those N.O. facilities open, but I just don't know what's going to happen now. There are still good folks in that town trying to make a living for their families - even though they have lost everything. He's going to do his best to try and keep these people employed. It's all they have left.

And now the levees have been breached again. It's time to stap the Glock 21 back on, go back in and see what can be done...

Looters will not be tolerated.

Please pray for all those who have been affected by these deadly storms. May God have mercy on all in harm's way tonight.

[AntiGuv]

I don't really think I'm a nutjob. Well, at least not by reason of those 'apparition' perceptions. In my opinion, they were the result of the heavy mental, emotional, and physical duress I was under at those times (with the exception of the last set of occurrences, which I think were due to the architecture of that house before the additions). The first two in particular were just so remarkably vivid they made a definite impression to say the least. If there was a message involved, it was probably: "Get the heck out!" ;^)

[nwctwx]

Too bad the mods see reason to pull a valuable image that was slightly over the limit.

[Torie]

:)

[wxdawg]

I am def afraid so, Heat. Remember Audrey came in at 945mb...this is worst case for Acadiana....prayers up for LA...

[Spktyr]

The Post-Katrina Message to Terrorists: (al-Quieda to cells) "Hit any American city, they're unprepared and the terror and chaos will be pleasing to Allah."

The Post-Rita Message to Terrorists: (al-Quieda to cells) "About that last message... change that to read "Louisiana city". Or maybe Blue State city, but Texas sure seemed to be competent..."

[BigSkyFreeper]

I have a large oak tree about 300-400 yards behind the house on the other side of a large vegetable garden. Part of the root system is already several feet below the lawn surface of the backyard next to the house.

[Republic of Texas]

I had just logged off KPLC, now can't get back on. They probably have bigger fish to fry right now.

[Arizona Carolyn]

I don't see how they can afford to lose that 1/2 million dollars a day. I wonder if they will rethink putting them on barges and go back to ships that they can move out of the way of storms.

[LibertyRocks]

KPLC might not be on much longer.... Not sure what's up at this point. Female reporter keeps looking over her shoulder. The crew is moving, reporters and camera staying put for now.

[buickmackane]

Thanks everyone for your prayers -- you did a great job because the Tornado Warning was cancelled here at 1:30 am Central Time!

I am getting offline, though, and wanted to leave this post as a placemarker.

If you want to follow developments here in Alexandria, KALB Newschannel 5 now has streaming video that you might want to watch as Rita moves north of Lake Charles:

http://www.kalb.com/

Good night, everybody -- thanks again so much for keeping us in your thoughts because this night is still young!!

[steveegg]

KPLC is sticking it out for now. All I can say is try, try again.