Posted on 09/24/2005 9:58:36 AM PDT by Howlin
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:
Hurricane Rita Freeper CHECK IN THREAD
FReeper Sign In Thread (LOCKED) 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 VII
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
That part of my post was in bold,indicating that I was quoting the previous post. INW,that was not MY opinion.
There are some maps and projections of this from yesterday too. It's predictable given the release at the dam at Lake Livingston.
"Rita Damage to SW Louisiana worse than being reported"
I saw those pictures earlier, and this is what I feared, that all those little coastal towns had been erased. Even though the MSM isn't showing it, it's the only conclusion I could draw based on how far the surge went in, as far north as I-10.
The MSM simply doesn't care. The MSM is lying in wait in Houston, waiting to pounce on anyone returning to the city and ask them to relate their nightmarish experiences in the worst evacuation in history. That's precisely the spin the MSM will try to put on it. Hopefully some Texans will respond accordingly to the questions they'll be asked by these fools, and show those fools what makes then Texans.
The MSM's post-Rita mission is perfectly clear. The reaction of Texas to Rita reveals to anyone with the eyes to see how inept, how irresponsible, and how criminal Louisiana's reaction to Katrina was. The MSM cannot let this utterly obvious contrast be seen by the world. After all, they believe it is their duty to TELL us what we see instead of letting us see on our own. And so they descend upon Houston to drum into our heads, 24/7, that the evacuation was a failure and that it had a myriad of problems. They've all been given their orders, and like robots following their programming, this is what they will do every single day now for the foreseeable future.
My brother has two or three of'em in his yard, too...but last I heard, no big trees down at his house...although his freezer leaked.
"Karita"
Excellent!
Or Ritrina - sounds like a kidney condition.
Those houses are in about 2-3 feet of water and that ship even empty as you can tell is still drawing 10-15 feet. It would run aground if it headed that way, before it gets to them.
Radio feed:
23rd and broadway mobil in Galveston has gas.
Yale at 4th(Heigths?): Orange juice factory amonia leak. Close windows and shut off AC if in this area.
Ps: From what I can tell the rain totals were not that great above the Lake Livingston area, the 80k cfs is mostly due to the emergency release at the dam to draw it down for repairs. Its a good time to see clear skies and a falling lake level. I notice on your link the release will come up just short of major flood stage.
Brillant post.
Living by the sea is no big deal if you got half a brain. Building subsidized housing is a foolish thing to do. If you can't affort you own home how can you be expected to have the sense to get out of the way of a hurricane.
There is a conspiracy (I hope) to keep the po' people out of NOLA. It is called building codes.
Radio feed:
Huntsville and Conroe..traffic getting thick.
Ice $2:50 a bag Kroger somewhere.
Barge free at trinity river bridge at 59, expect a detour there.
300,000 Centerpoint customers still without power.
Willis w/o power.
Traffic expected to get worse as the day goes on.
I knew that the Hurricane was gonna move up the coast towards La. as early as Wed. nite because I stopped watching the local TV stations here in Houston where I live. Very late Wed. nite, the NOAA Website showed the possible strike track move from Matagorda to Freeport, a significant event. On the next update, 4 hours later, it moved again to Galveston and Houston. Clearly, the juxtaposition of the 2 High Pressure systems over Texas was having a strong influence on this storm. By early thurs. morning, the line had moved to just right of East Bay and Trinity Bay. At that point, MSNBC and Max Mayfield of the Hurricane Center in Miami started predicting, with confidence, that the storm would strike the coast early Sat. morning near Port Arthur. Having lived here for 57 years now and watched a number of hurricanes with interest, it was clear to me at least that this forecast was a good one. I then made the informed decision to stay. Here in Clear Lake, we had barely an inch of rain and winds that peaked at maybe 50 miles per hour.
You are correct. The draw down is to inspect damage due to displaced rip rap, and to add rip rap as required. The Lake is not "too high" by any stretch, and there wasn't enough rainfall to cause trouble.
The media likes to keep it simple though, so they can understand it themselves. In their minds, Rita caused rain, so the dam has to be opened to let the rain out. Idiots, they are.
That link is fun - one can go to upstream and downstream monitoring points. There will be some flooding - the closer to the release, the higher the water.
Radio feed:
Pasadena mayor: Welcome back...90% power restored.
Amonia leak not orange juice factory, some chemical plant(400 blk Yale)
Valve turned off, reporter no longer smells amonia.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1490933/posts?page=47#47
This is Cameron, LA. This looks far worse than what we saw along the Mississippi coast. In Mississippi, you could see the rubble and debris of former houses, like piles of matchsticks. What we see in the photo of Cameron, I can only describe as what a neighborhood would look like if it had been burned to the ground.
And Drudge has as his top headline: RELIEF AS HURRICANE FAILS TO CAUSE DEVASTATION
Matt, what's your definition of devastation? I know the MSM's definition is a breached levee. Where does Cameron fit in?
You're absolutely right, laz. The MSM has their leftist marching orders. Regardless of what they say or do, I have faith that Texans will help get the real story out there - by continuing to show them how it's done ... by picking themselves up, dusting off, and then jumping in to help their neighbors to the east. I'm a displaced Native Texan, originally from the Houston/Galveston area, and I couldn't be prouder of how Mayor White and Gov Perry (Gig 'em!) have handled this disaster.
The sick, twisted, unfettered by values or morals flip side of it, sure.
That is NOT what Texans do.
No.
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