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

[Ellesu]

ZERO

[the Deejay]

ZERO

Just as I thought.

Politicians and the jollywood crowd, are good for saying what others should do, but they (themselves) fall short of doing same.

[Eaker]

Nita,

As usual backhoe has the answer!

I know less than he does but I will FReemail my phone number to you if you need additional help.

Tom Eaker

[MEG33]

There is a thread here with pictures of devastation along the LA coast..some of the homes are just gone.I know Jasper got a lot of damage in E Texas and along the Texas coast,too.
The conditions sound miserable for your family. I hope things improve sooner than projected.

[backhoe]

Nita, As usual backhoe has the answer! I know less than he does but I will FReemail my phone number to you if you need additional help. Tom Eaker

Family stuff requires I shut down here until morning, but if Nita has any questions, I'd be glad to email my phone number, which she is welcome to call collect.

[Twinkie]

My aunt lives in Splendora, TX and her phone seems to have been out ever since the storm. All I get is a funny busy signal sound when I dial her up.

[RoseyT]

Freepers, after Katrina I recall looking at images on a site, a NASA site perhaps, where you could click on a section of the MS gulf coast area and then zoom in and see post-Katrina satellite images. If one of you could point me in the right direction for that site for post-Rita I would appreciate it.
Thanks, RoseyT

[Diddle E. Squat]

A goat named Cabrito hangs out in his life jacket on a shrimp boat in Terrebonne Parish following Hurricane Rita.

LOL, I wonder how many will catch that "Cabrito" is a recipe for cooked goat?

[Ellesu]

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5117

New Orleans Played and Hurricanes Stayed

[Diddle E. Squat]

Gov. Elmira Fudd...

[Eaker]

I FReeped her my number. I will let you know if she needs additional help.

Your advice was sound and has been saved!

[Arrowhead1952]

Make yourself take a couple days rest before getting back into the regular swing of things. The work can wait. I have been working for the past eight days and will probably have one of those dreaded 21 day periods without a day off. We are waiting for the troops to come back from East TX and LA.

[Rte66]

Do you think they cheaped out on rip-rap? Should it not go down to the bottom of the dam? Think the embankment is too steep? Who built it? Halliburton :)?

In response to that, you wrote:

Clearly, this is George Bush's fault and even though the construction was done in 1966 by Forest and Cotton, Inc., I sense Halliburton involvement. Just what was Dick Cheney doing in 1966? I just can't imagine the riprap vanishing, I'll bet the slope is less than 3-1 or they didn't go to the bottom but most likely Halliburton stole it for use in Iraq.

~~~~~~~~~

Tee hee. I've been anxiously awaiting the moment the Halliburton conspiracists realize that the George R. Brown Convention Center here in Houston that housed so many of the Katrina refugees from NOLA was named for the most esteemed founder of KBR, Halliburton's Kellogg-Brown & Root subsidiary which is actually doing all these supposedly evil machinations.

[Flamenco Lady]

During the elections I remember someone posted a link to a socialist organization that had many of the democratic senators, representatives, etc. listed as members. I was just wondering if anyone had a link to their website. I am curious to see how many of the New Orleans and La officials are listed as members. The Gov. seems like she would be a shoe in for this group with all the hand outs she wants from the feds.

[Colorado Doug]

Tee hee. I've been anxiously awaiting the moment the Halliburton conspiracists realize that the George R. Brown Convention Center here in Houston that housed so many of the Katrina refugees from NOLA was named for the most esteemed founder of KBR, Halliburton's Kellogg-Brown & Root subsidiary which is actually doing all these supposedly evil machinations.

Now that is funny!

[ekwd]

Is this what you are looking for?

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/rita/RITA0000.HTM


and


http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/

[monkfan]

All I get is a funny busy signal sound when I dial her up.

My first guess would be that all the circuits are busy. Lots of people calling around to check on family. My second guess would be a downed line.

[Revel]

My opinion,

If your battery is that dead then you don't want to wait as long as it would take for car to charge it. And a dead marine batter would take a couple of hours to really charge. The best you do in a short time is to very partialy charge it.

Your best bet at this point is to park the car close to a door or window and hook the inverter right to the car battery in your car. You do not need to unhook it from the car. Then just run an AC extension cord from the inverter into the house and plug your computer into it. Just don't run the inverter for more than an hour or two at a time without running your car for a while or else your battery will go dead and you won't be able to start your car without getting jumped. But I am sure you could run your lap top for an hour or two on your car battery and still have your car start unless your car battery is almost junk. At this point it makes no sense to charge another battery from your car as that will just waist valuable Gas and is not as efficient as just using the battery in your car.

Hope that helps.

[laz]

They really do believe it's the normal way of doing things. They're that corrupt.

As for all the money they're demanding, they need to hear from the David Spade character in the Capitol One commercials.

[sheikdetailfeather]

I just talked to an evacuee from Galveston who left for Waco Wed. at 1pm (a 4 hr. drive) but it took 21 hours! He said at 4 pm they finally opened the roads to all go one way. He advised that police blocked exits and nobody could get off the main evac. route. He said in the future, if there is an evacuation there should be water, ice, fuel, accomodations, and port-a-potties along the route. He told me people had to let their pets out on the side of the road it got so hot in the car and some people were using sheets to hold up to go to the bathroom on the side of the road. He related that there was no fuel in Waco to even get to return home. He furthermore said that in the future, people are not going to want to evacuate. He told me to relate all of this here as he saw FR for the first time during the hurricane and thinks there are a lot of intelligent people on this forum.