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

[dixie sass]

If you don't tell the press 150 times the don't even get 10% of what is said.

[jeffers]

Water doesn't move instantly.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Born in OK, spent the night of my 4th grade play (forth grade I was in OK) in a storm cellar, and moved to NO 2 weeks before Betsy.

I don't think I believed in environmental safety ever...

[CFC__VRWC]

Fox was showing aerials from Galveston Island that looked like there was very little damage to the area. Earlier I saw footage from Beaumont on the Weather Channel - from what I could see, it looked very similar to what I saw after Charley came through Polk County, Florida last year. If so, probably 50-75% of the power should be back on in 3-4 days, 80-90% percent in a week, with outages in the isolated, outlying areas going on for 2-3 weeks. That's a very rough guesstimate.

All in all, it'll be one heck of a mess, but not nearly the doomsday scenario the media was so clearly salivating over the prospect of.

[southLA_lady]

I am in Breaux Bridge. Lots of limbs down, no real flooding to speak of. Some slight wind damage in places, but overall we got off lucky. Hope that helps!

[SouthTexas]

I don't know, but it does the same to wife. Maybe the thought of losing a wall and having dirty dishes exposed is more than ya'll can take.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I have my suspicions on who's the ultimate controller....

[76834]

Thanks for the link.

[AFPhys]

doggone it.... the radar.weather.gov site seems to be loaded down now... too many people know about the internet nowadays... can somebody make them go away and let those of us who have been using it for ten years have it back to ourselves again? we were here first!

[jeffers]

Hear anything from Lafayette? New Iberia?

[CedarDave]

Presser with FEMA director on. New man on the job taking usual "who's to blame" questions from media, e.g. poor people stuck out on the highway without gas. Show's he's not stuck on stupid by saying working well with state and local officals on making decisions on getting relief now. In response to questions on comparision of Rita to Katrina and why response so much better now, says will review all aspects of the response following the end of the disaster. Lots of time then. Situation still on going with rain and flooding, focused on that. Stupid MSM reporters continue pressing...

[McGavin999]

LOL, great picture!

[bwteim]

Try Googling with

flood control simmesport atchafalaya "old river" -site:com


also
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?050912fr_archive01

http://etd02.lnx390.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-1106103-132359/unrestricted/01Text.pdf

http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/essays/tpnoseries02.html

http://nola.live.advance.net/washingaway/corps_1.html

[brytlea]

Funny, that's kind of what my husband said about me! Guess it's a girl thing...... ;)
susie

[gpapa]

As of a few minutes ago unable to reach Fort Polk, LA website. Any word from anybody about Fort Polk status yet?

[Knitting A Conundrum]

The river is higher than the city. It would. It'd be like pouring water from a pitcher. And there's no end of water to see...and it would be tearing up everything in its wake. Lots of current, lots of pressure behind it. Impossible to empty. The lake is lower than the river. It wouldn't equalize.

[RDTF]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/24/AR2005092400511_pf.html

Rita Hits Near Civil War Battleground

By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 24, 2005; 10:12 AM

-- Hurricane Rita came ashore Saturday just east of Sabine Pass, Texas, home to a Civil War battleground and a town that was nearly destroyed by a hurricane over a century ago.

In 1886, a hurricane destroyed much of the town of Sabine Pass, killing 86 people. Major storms hit again in 1900 and 1915.

Sabine Pass was annexed by Port Arthur in 1978, and about 1,500 people lived in the community in the early 1980s.

The Sabine Pass Battleground State Park & Historic Site commemorates a battle in 1863, when the U.S. Navy tried to invade Confederate Texas. The Navy wanted access to the rail center of Houston, but was stopped by Lt. Dick Dowling of the Confederate Army and 46 of his men, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Web site.

Sabine Pass also is the birthplace of J.P. Richardson Jr., "The Big Bopper," who died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in 1959. Two years earlier, he recorded his most famous song, "Chantilly Lace."

___

On the Net:

The Sabine Pass Battleground State Park:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/sabine_pass_battleground

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I've been online 11 years! I get first dibs!!!!!

[MoefromMs]

Well I'm happy for you that you were satisfied. I live in George County, and I was not happy with FEMA response because they got here three weeks late. the mayor of Stateline Ms, had to call a local radio station in Mobile a week after the hurricane hit because they needed water and generators for elderly in the community who needed electricity for med. equipment. Everyone has their own opinion on how things went down. Do I need FEMA, no, but a lot of people do need help. And as I said, I din't like the fact that he did a fly by in his airpane days later, I think he could have and should responded sooner.

[Sunnyflorida]

If this guy is correct that is a huge problem. I've been assuming that many of the levees that protect the city are based on sea level assuming the Lake gets only so much higher (driven by storm surge).

If the River is allowed to backflow through the Industrial Canal then they have a real ongoing problem. Especially if the River comes up from Rita. MR GO is a relieve valve, I suppose. Time to go to the maps. My connection to the Maptech topo and chart server is down. Do you know levee heights besides the River ones?