Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VIII

www.freerepublic.com | September 24, 2005

[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

[laz]

Bless the reporter who was on just now on FNC on Geraldo's show, pointed to a completely destroyed house in Beaumont, and said of the owners, "Tell THEM that they dodged a bullet."

Yes, MSM, please do. Tell the owners of all destroyed and devastated structures in TX and LA that they dodged a bullet, just because there are other structures that are still intact. And tell everybody in Cameron, Holly Beach, etc., the same thing as well while you're at it. Miserable, foolish, immature, clueless brats, with the attention span of a mosquito and a compassion that is paper-thin.

[Eaker]

Most inverters will sound a warning when they have drained a battery to near critcal levels. If the vehicle is in reasonable condition it will still start and the battery can be recharged safely.

Sorry this info came so late Nita!

[RGVTx]

I can understand some seeing it that way. Even though I know some media report with a spin toward an agenda, I'm not convinced most of their NO hurricane reporting has been the result of an agenda. I think it has been more focused on NO because of circumstances.

New Orleans' location with bodies of water held back by levees makes it unique. Then the break of the levees causing flooding is unique to NO. Most everywhere else will drain off naturally. NO won't drain without pumping the water out.

Nagin also drew more media coverage because of his incompetence and hysterical misbehavior.

I think there are plenty of reasons that NO would naturally get more media coverage. I don't think that is such a bad thing because some of the corruption and incompetence has been exposed and needs to be further exposed by the media. I think the media coverage of NO will lead to Nagin losing any re-election bid and hopefully Blanco, too. It might even push the voters away from the Democrat party. That is a good thing!

What does a community gain from media coverage of disaster?

I can't imagine a lack of media coverage to specific areas causing a lack of disaster aid response. The big charities like Red Cross and Salvation Army are collecting donations for all areas. Salvation Army called me about 2 weeks ago for a donation. Community leaders should be requesting their needed aid and citizens should be letting their needs be known to those who can help them.

I would think if a community was not getting it's needs met in a timely manner the media would jump on that story. Is this happening and we are not hearing about it?

[Robert A Cook PE]

12V Tractor battery should be OK with a 12v invertor.

Ironic to have to go from a tractor battery 12v DC to an invertor to 120v AC to a laptop DC charger to a laptop battery, ins't it.

Over the long term (weeks of recharging) a car battery (or the tractor battery) won't do nearly as well as a deep cycle solar or marine (fishing) battery because the car battery plates are smaller and thinner, but short term it will do fine.

Tractor battery more rugged than car battery - which helps too. Lawn/garden tractors are sometimes 6 volts, that might be the only problem.

[Ellesu]

You are right, although with Blanco I'm not sure if she is smart enough to know when she has been insulted.

[Ellesu]

The Queen Bee had to have a home in Bocage, which rents for $5000.00 per month plus these extras, while her Lafayette home sits empty. At the same time she tells the state we have tightened our belt all we can, there is nothing we can cut from the budget and she wanted to add a tax for teacher pay raises. Don't even get me started on the pork in our state budget she did not veto. Special session in October and I bet they do not cut any spending. They will be foaming at the mouth deciding how they will spend those federal dollars.


The rented home is 4,900 square feet, including 3,666 square feet of living area in the main house and a 1,200-square-foot swimming pool and pool house. LeBlanc said to make the home ready for the governor, the state had to spend:

-- $3,174.25 on eight security cameras. LeBlanc said the cameras will be taken out of the private home and moved to the Governor's Mansion once the renovations are finished. The labor to install the cameras was $1,428.

-- $1,334.70 for high-speed Internet connection for three months and a one-time charge of $80 to install the lines.

-- $1,318.35 for voice communications lines for three months, and $1,342 to install those lines. LeBlanc said the lines will stay at the house because it would be too expensive to remove them, but they probably will be deactivated.

-- A $340 fee to connect and disconnect the lines.

[Ellesu]

there are plenty of reasons that NO would naturally get more media coverage. I don't think that is such a bad thing because some of the corruption and incompetence has been exposed and needs to be further exposed by the media. I think the media coverage of NO will lead to Nagin losing any re-election bid and hopefully Blanco, too. It might even push the voters away from the Democrat party. That is a good thing!


I SO hope you are correct!

[pageonetoo]

I can't imagine a lack of media coverage to specific areas causing a lack of disaster aid response. The big charities like Red Cross and Salvation Army are collecting donations for all areas. Salvation Army called me about 2 weeks ago for a donation. Community leaders should be requesting their needed aid and citizens should be letting their needs be known to those who can help them.

The Red Cross is NOT a charity. It is a money grubbing business, with sheeps clothing.

I am surptised that you were cvalled by the Salvation Army. They don't usually raise funds by begging. They make the needs known, and God supplies. They have historically used kettles at Christmas, but have been banned by too many places, these days.

yet, they are the most frugal of any LARGE charity, with 83% or more going THROUGH the pipe. With the mass of money needed now, I am assured they will even put a higher PERCENTAGE to assist the needs. They will not keep much for later. They know Jehovah Jireh... and it may be you, He uses.

If you can help them...Click here for Salvation Army...

[RDTF]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1490933/posts

[Tarheel]

Horrific!

[Ellesu]

http://www.2theadvocate.com/multimedia/rita0924/

I don't think Blanco knows how to read a map.

[kittymyrib]

I'm so thankful Houston Power and Light restored power yesterday evening so my grandbabies could sleep with AC on in this HOT weather. They had evacuated to our place in central TX on Friday morning with no traffic problems at all. They did see abandoned cars from Thursday's traffic nightmare along the country roads they traveled, however. They went home yesterday, because it was their designated return time, only to find the power still out. Fortunately, they'd brought the meat from their freezer to put in our freezer, and it stayed frozen in their ice chests until power was restored last evening. I do hope this was the last hurricane of the season!

[Sunnyflorida]

They put messes of those things east of i-75 by the airport after Charley. They are really plain looking. White. No trim at all. Just white boxes. I think they are some still out there. There actually are some over by the PG library that seem new. These are very small.

I can tell you from experience that most of the timelines people are tossing around about recovery are way too short. We are over a year after Charley and the devistation is amazing still. Just getting permits and talking to the insurance agencies is trerrible. Getting contractors and building supplies. Is still very hard.

[Sunnyflorida]

It was on FNC. I have been turning down the sound. I do not have the technology to screen capture TV.

It looked like they were shooting an embankment from about 200 yards away it was about 100 yards long and 20 feet or so high. There was a grassy top and on the slope there were the boulders in about 30% of the face of the embankment. Where the boulders were missing there was what appeared to be dirt. Kind of the broken dirt look with sod overhanging. Clearly looked to me like the boulders SLID down the face. It COULD be caused by too steep a slope or the rip-rap was only towards the top of the embankment. A washing machine action under water could have washed away the dirt and the boulders just slid down.

[kassie]

Aw, come on.

[Sunnyflorida]

Charley report:

I'd say about 10% of the houses destroyed in Charley have yet to come down. There are hundreds of houses with blue traps. On my block 2 out of ten did not get full roof replacements. Of those four are still waiting for materials or labor. About 80% of downtown commercial was destroyed. There are two buildings under construction. Most of the street lights that came down are still down. Churches and schools ditto.

Levees: I am of the view that any thing that man makes can break. Therefor the levee system needs redundancy like they have in Holland. This means a radically different land use plan for NOLA. That is what needs to come first: a better land use plan. Better codes. I really doubt the local government has the courage to do it, but the mortgage lenders and the insurance companies can force their. The feds (i.e. HUD) needs to not wilt under the pressure to put back public or subsidized housing sub-code.

[laz]

Horrific!

It almost looks like a neighborhood that's been burned down to the ground, doesn't it?

[Sunnyflorida]

Exactly. Even FNC. They put reporters where they THOUGHT the damage would be then when it went to SWLA they did not move them but let them report on the relatively minor damage to Galveston, etc. Also they are extremely hung up on the lower ninth ward reflooding.

[Ellesu]

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050925/NEWS05/509260315

check out the high school picture

[Eaker]

The best advice I can give you is to stay away from Squantos, humblegunner and Eaker.