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

[LikeLight]

Dang - the slow motion drama continues to unfold . . .

[Jeff Head]

More real estate...but thankfully, along the coast, less people.

[epaul]

Hey you guys, did you see the storm tracks on Fox News just now,,,, Looked like the one someone ( I can't remember who) did last night as a joke. Some tracks going NE, some South , one going back to the gulf and circling.

[Jeff Head]

Who operates that Dam...the Corps?

[laz]

The Landrieu Guilt Twitch was in full array on Russet's show.

When Landrieu lies, she twitches. Even when the lies are in her head and not verbal.

[jeffers]

The CoE has been....colorful...in their descriptions of levee matters lately...the breach into the Lower 9th was described as either a "trickle" or "seepage" I don't remember which...on the other hand, the surge may be receeding, which is definitelt good news if true.

Grain of salt, first reports are always wrong.

Most of the time.

[gpapa]

http://water.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/dailyMainW?state=la&map_type=real&web_type=mapcurrent/?type=dwc&group_key=basin_cd

[TX Conservative]

To be fair, the mayor of Houston is a Dem., but he's done a great job working with the Republican County Judge who is the head of Houston Homeland Security and also the Republican governor. They all managed to put politics aside in contrast to the idiotic partisan display of public officials in Louisiana.

[ncpatriot]

...everyone benefits from the corruption in one way or another...

Makes sense to me; sounds like a co-dependency.

[tx_eggman]

your mission, if you choose to accept it, if too get all info you know and keep us updated :) that would be HUGE

Link to news of 36,000 cfm release in 2001

There are flood warnings from the Livingston Dam to where the Trinity River empties into upper Galveston Bay.

The streamer on my first link

First Link (Video Stream)

says evacuations are underway all along the river basin.

[cajungirl]

Right.

[jeffers]

Thanks. It takes java, which is currently blocked at the firewalls but I have it bookmarked for future reference.

[Cboldt]

I see that that canal's walls range from 5.0 to 9.5 feet. That means a surge at least 5 feet above sea level.

I dug up a good deal of information about this canal a few days ago, but for the reason of resaerching the politics of approving the flood gate and levee improvement projects associated with it.

http://louisiana.construction.com/projects/TopProjects2005.pdf 756 kB (p8)
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/visitor/wbFactSheet12-00.asp
http://louisiana.construction.com/features/archive/0504_feature1.asp

Lots of interesting tidbits in the last article. Providing flood protection of that large of an area, in that geographic location, is a monumental undertaking.

[CindyDawg]

It's that way on WU too. I've been watching today and the models are very "confused":') Nogap will not let S Texas go and now another thinks the Atlantic. That's a little bit of a difference lol

[SauronOfMordor]

An emergency spillway is good news, but not a guarantee.

Especially if the amount of water accumulating behind the dam from the rain, exceeds the capacity of the spillway.

[laz]

Ah, yes. Reverend Peterson, the good Jesse. If only all Blacks listened to men like him, instead of the race-baiters.

[Cboldt]

Thanks. It takes java, which is currently blocked at the firewalls but I have it bookmarked for future reference.

It has some good maps. I can grab links to a few ...

http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lch&gage=kout2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1
http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lch&gage=dwyt2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1
http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lch&gage=evdt2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1

[jeffers]

Thanks.

[SauronOfMordor]

Those with big houses in the Uptown area are rich enough to go back. And they are tight with Nagin.

What was the attraction of New Orleans that lured the rich folk to want to live there? If the remnant of New Orleans is not viable enough to continue to provide night life and the other amenities that made living in NO enjoyable for the rich, they will leave too

[CindyDawg]

Aren't you near there?