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

[silentknight]

I have high speed and it has slowed me to a crawl! lol

[SeaBiscuit]

Ditto.. for now I just hit the stop button to keep the graphic from loading.. maybe a Moderator can do something.

[STARWISE]

I'm not having a problem ... are you? Shall I ask the Mods to remove it?

[kcar]

Officials encouraging people from Houston not to come back yet. "no reason to return for fear of the security of your property" Peoples property is being watched after. Zero tolerance for looters. I10 already backing up and I45 south looks to be filling up. The man is worried about getting 1st responders to where they need to be if traffic jams develop.

The request, by itself, does not seem realistic, given human nature. However if a couple lanes in the major routes were dedicated to relief crews and utilitity trucks for a pre-announced duration, making returning civilian traffic more constricted, maybe that might encourage people to wait to avoid the kind of jams they road out in.

[NormsRevenge]

tee hee hee

Gabz'll have a heckuva time catching us.:)

[Cboldt]

Looks like continuing rain possible on the bowl of NOLA as well.

What's the name of the river flood relief system that is north of Pontchartrain? The lake and river are connected by the Industrial Canal too, but AFAIK, those locks are holding fine.

[LikeLight]

Please have the Mods kill it.

[glock rocks]

Yes, it should be pulled. It loads fast for your because the image is in your cache.

[STARWISE]

Houston, we apparently have a problem .. please remove Post #11.

[markman46]

we will be good! MOM

[TheForceOfOne]

Are you running windows? xp?

I'll try to help if I can.

[NormsRevenge]

the head shot of
Nagin loads fine here, the other drags on and on..

maybe just repost with nagins headshot only.

[No Blue States]

"The request, by itself, does not seem realistic, given human nature."

I agree, and it were my home that sustained little damage
I would want to go back now.
Hopefully massive jams wont appear today.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

You might be thinking of the Bonne Carre Spillway.

[jeffers]

Did the gates look to be fully closed or partially open?

[gov_bean_ counter]

We want NautiNurse.. We want NautiNurse.. We want NautiNurse..

I hope she checked with NN before proceeding. You know there is an order to the universe and some things are better left in place :)

[No Blue States]

Another way to do it if the Mod is slow is to just delete it from your photo hoster. ;) Thats what I do.

[ArmstedFragg]

Why are electrical power lines still above ground, where they are vulnerable to storms and terrorists?

Because it costs a small fortune to underground them, for one. I'm in a city of 150,000 where we are about 20 percent undergrounded. We just got an estimate on doing the rest of the city: a mere 200 million dollars.

Second, undergrounding isn't necessarily a solution. Underground transformer vaults get flooded and short out. When an underground transformer blows, it's more of an 'event' than just losing one on a pole.

[Black Tooth]

How many times are they going to say, "do not return home yet". Sheesh, they've said it 20 times. Time to end the news conference and do their jobs. Oh, Lord, now Shela Jackson Lee is now up and getting video time for reelection.

[Cboldt]

Quite simply it's because nobody wants to foot the bill to put them underground. The average citizen doesn't want their utility bill to go up, and it would if electric utility companies spent the extra money to replace all existing overhead lines with underground lines.

It's not just replacement. Repair, e.g., finding opens, is easier with the physical plant in plain view. Underground power transmission does not eliminate the risk of accidental electrocution either. Balancing all of those things, some locales have buried power, and others have it on poles. It's the nature of centralized power generation.