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

[A Citizen Reporter]

Every time I flip back to Fox I hear Shep:

"These are the worst gusts of the night. And I think it's going to get worse"

Now about 4 hours of this is really tiring.

[LikeLight]

Yes, thanks for the heads up - I got it back now too.

[Gabz]

And you have a broken foot to boot!

But I have learned to compensate :).....

[RDTF]

oh great - hold your breath!

[BurbankKarl]

I lost it too...lots of fires breaking out in Houston...large response to Gulf Fwy @ NASA....not sure whats up

[topher]

Whoops. You're right - northeast.

I would not have corrected, but info on the storm may be helpful to other people...

I would have ignored the error, but I wanted to make sure people understood the general area where the tornado warning was...

[LaineyDee]

Yes'm. Just making ice, filling the tub with water and getting ready for the floods. How you doing?

[ajolympian2004]

Shep Smith is awesome. One of the many excellent news reporters ans show hosts at Fox News Channel.

[Dustbunny]

ROFLOL.... good one.

[newzjunkey]

KPLC's stream is back up live streaming.

[steveegg]

Didn't know that some of the WTC pieces made it down to Lake Charles. KPLC just had a story on the memorial down there.

[Types_with_Fist]

You smelt it You dealt it

Don't get insulted. I ain't no yankee. I was born, raised and spent most of my life in the swamp...:-)

[NautiNurse]

Got it back too. Thanks!

[Howlin]

because I don't want to get a "reputation"..

Why should you be the only person here without one? :-)

[Spktyr]

There's a slight chemical tinge to it, not sulfurous. Might be something like the smell you describe, though.

Whereever it's coming from and whatever it is, it's not from Texas, that's for sure.

[LibertyRocks]

Here is the link to the AP video report containing info from a police official who said the driver survived and also went back into the bus several times. The clip is short, and doesn't contain a lot of info as far as cause due to it being an early report.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-092305rita_vid,0,396967.wmvfile?coll=la-home-headlines

[A Citizen Reporter]

I think you may have misread the message. But I'm not surprised.

[hummingbird]

Yeah, and we may have a lot of rain to deal with yet.

First big squall is moving into Houston, they say. Up around Kingwood, I think they said. Or, maybe downtown.

Hard to think; got to think! (Don't like getting my feet wet....)

[Fester Chugabrew]

It's like a combination of rotting vegetation, stagnant water, and rotting meat.

e.g. Michael Moore.

[Abigail Adams]

If you look at the radar loop, it seems like the wind is moving counterclockwise over NO and into the Houston area. So maybe the smell is NO?