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

[Howlin]

Who said it was?

[Howlin]

Big time. :(

[EX52D]

I think it was greene66...I have been wondering myself.

[LA Woman3]

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. Wonder why the Louisiana reporters aren't all over this story? /sarc.

[Dog Gone]

5 dead in Beaumont; carbon monoxide. A family.

I just saw that on the tv. Apparently they had fired up a generator indoors.

The public knows all about the dangers of smoking cigarettes, but only a minority seem to appreciate the dangers of carbon monoxide. Tragic.

[LA Woman3]

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

check out the high school picture



Thanks for the link.....
*Speechless*

[Howlin]

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

Who the hell is their provider?

[Spktyr]

That's about right for a T1, allowing for market adjustments.

[Tarheel]

Who the hell is their provider?

PicktheTaxpayersPocket.com ;0)

[Cboldt]

I think it was greene66...I have been wondering myself.

Battered, but still kicking in Nederland.
Just got the generator going. Rough, rough night. The winds just kept going on forever. House was literally shaking and vibrating with each gust. Storm was LOUD, and just kept going on forever! Shingles off roof, with wood showing in spots. Fences down. Trees down everywhere, including my neighbor's oak, and a pine tree across the street. Water in street, but no flooding in homes in my neighborhood (Allen Meadows). Other parts probably not so lucky. Got tons of work to do. At least I seemed to have avoided structural damage to the house. Must have had 100-120+ mph winds go on and on. Still very, very blustery!

2,410 posted on 09/24/2005 9:33:15 AM EDT by greene66

[buickmackane]

More from Alexandria and Pineville...this is a combination of my personal observations and stuff from the Alexandria Town Talk and live newscasts on KALB Newschannel 5.

Yesterday, we ventured out and got a bite to eat. We saw lots of destroyed billboards, broken branches, cable and power trucks everywhere all over Pineville. We didn't know about the boil order for Alexandria at the time we ate there and drank coffee and ice water. Today we ate breakfast in Pineville instead.

Today was much worse, though. When we left our apartment complex in Pineville, we made a right turn onto our street instead of the left turn we made yesterday and the difference was a total shock. We had no idea that almost every house in the neighborhood had tree breakage, including one tree completely uprooted that crashed through the garage of a home just down the street from us. From the looks of things, we really did have a tornado here after all. I'm extremely grateful to have been inside an apartment building instead of one of those damaged houses. Thanks again to everyone who sent prayers our way this weekend!

Mayor Ned Randolph has just ordered every non-essential business in the City of Alexandria to close at 1:00 pm CDT today due to the severe water pressure problem. The FEMA building closed despite the long lines outside, and they brought in the Alexandria Police Department and National Guard for crowd control because everyone was so angry.

There are many people still without power, and to make things worse, there is a heat advisory for today. No air conditioning and heat indices creeping toward 110. It was reported that many of the people who were cluttering up roadways yesterday were simply aimlessly riding around to take advantage of the air conditioning in their cars. Considering how difficult it is to find gas at the moment, those people must have been pretty desperate.

I've got to find a gas station myself right now. I'm so annoyed about this. Last month, I told you that my car was burglarized on the same night Katrina hit. I've been going through one hassle after another trying to get my car repaired. I can't believe it's taking this long. First my insurance company sent me to a glass place, then another to get the window tinted. Then I had to wait for their vendor to ship me the replacement car stereo parts, including 3 wasted days in a row chasing a DHL truck that never got around to delivering the shipment to me. Then I couldn't get a rental car to drive while the car was in the body shop, because Enterprise kept losing my reservation in their computers and the evacuees had all their cars out on the road. I finally got the car into the body shop on the second try. *After* I had gassed up the rental car, I got a call saying I had to return the rental immediately because several employees of the body shop quit and there wasn't anyone who could work on my car until today -- they found out they could earn a lot more money doing recovery work in the southern parishes. So now they've got my car back again, but it has a full gas tank -- and I've got to top off yet another rental car. To date, I'm $325.00 out of pocket -- just so some crackhead could steal my used CD player for maybe a $10 hit of dope. God, it makes me furious!

OK, rant off -- thanks for letting me vent!

[Txsleuth]

I am sure Eaker couldn't forget you and Flyer...and neither do I!!! LOL

[Txsleuth]

Sen. Landreiu was just on Fox from Lake Charles....

She was congratulating her brother, the LT. Gov. and others for their "terrific" preparations before Rita...and then said that they did well, and that "NO ONE" can stop the flooding, or the winds....(seems she sure though Bush could for Katrina!)...

Anyway...she then started practically bragging about what she called an "undprecedented resolution" to get the funds to LA from the Federal Govt. to pay for all of the repairs...

She said that "no one lives in LA, to "sun-bathe", and that no where in America is as important to the rest of the country...therefore, the whole country needs to pay for all of this...hmmmmmmmmmmm

I looked closely, and I think I almost saw dollar signs in her eyes instead of pupils...and her hands rubbing together as she talked!!!

I also got the impression that she was "daring" Congress to try to NOT give her and her LA cronies all the money they are asking for!
'

[Michael Goldsberry]

I went on a quick recon during lunch today. Still no gasoline.

[VirginiaMom]

Why do I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that they will get everything they ask for?

I only hope the Federal Govt. puts auditors in place and somebody responsible in charge of all that money.

[eastforker]

You in Sugarland?

[Michael Goldsberry]

Yes, Sugar Land. I'm only about a mile from the old sugar factory.

[Revel]

You should be fine. And you should get at least 24hours of run time for you laptop if the battery is fully charged. Anything else you run off the inverter will subtract from that. If you were using the whole 300 watts then that battery would not last long. But the inverter will not use much unless you load down the output with larger current loads.

You also have all but one peice of what you need to have an everlasting amount of small power. You should look into buying at least a 5 watt 12 volt solar battery charger. With that you could keep charging your battery from the sun.

A marine battery is better for this situation because it is designed to be discharged in the manor you will be doing so.
As such it will have a longer life. But for the amount of time you will using the Car battery this should not be a big problem.

[Txsleuth]

I was just on John Cornyns website and he has tons of information about the hurricane damage....and it said his office is going to be open 24 hours to help...

Maybe you could call his office and ask if THEY know when the gas stations will be refueled..

I was going to send him an e-mail telling him I want him to have a little talk with Mary Landrieu about her demands for $$$$$..but I got a "server down" message.

[eastforker]

Boss wanted me to come to work today . I have to drive all over city, told him he was nuts to start back so soon. Will wait till maybe thursday or friday.