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Locked on 09/24/2005 10:02:57 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Thread VIII: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1490587/posts |
Posted on 09/23/2005 8:01:35 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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:
FReeper Sign In Thread 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 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
Yup. I went for a nap and you let her slip sideways....last time I'm leavin you in charge....updated the graphic with the last offshore and first onshore plot...worth uploading it?
Looks like the eye is going just east of Winnie, which will spare a direct hit on Bolivar peninsula. High Island and Crystal won't fair too well with these winds.
Well I'm heading to bed for the night. Prayers for all those in Rita's path...
Thanks to everyone for posting such great info over the last few hours. It's been very educational!
Sounds like a good idea to me too. I should get a little sleep and the check in after daybreak. Nighter
I wonder how high up he is? I read somewhere that it's not safe to go any higher than 10 stories because of the danger from the wind and instability when you start getting up higher than that.
Did Rita really come in with 120 mph winds, or was she intensifying as she came in?
Sounds like my connection yesterday about 4 am; lost both the broadband and the phone for better than an hour.
My mind's too full of mush to convert this vortex data message with an eye fix 5 minutes before landfall that found 111-knot (128 mph) flight-level winds 10 minutes before landfall into surface-level winds, but the pressure was measured at 937 mb (an increase) 5 minutes prior to landfall. I'd say it's safe to say she wasn't intensifying at landfall, but that she was still a Cat 3.
I think he said 40 feet, maybe?? It's been an hour since I heard him say.
Good night Revel.
Good night LibertyRocks
Yeah right- the crew will just hand truck out a copy...
and turn on the power switch
LOL. Load up the graphics.
If I keep up laughing, they'll be saying, "We need another Egg" before the NHC gets to the 4 am updates.
It seems that depending on the hurricane and where you are relative to it,you can either take your chances staying lower and drowning, or going up too high and getting blown away.
OMG.
Okay, thanks. I saw the purple intensifying around the eye in the loop on FNC, and those wicked winds around Rick Leventhal in Lake Charles, and thought maybe she had started intensifying before landfall.
Thank God this beast lost some steam and didn't come in as a 4 or 5. And thank God Houston/Galveston wasn't in the crosshairs.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topfront/3367735
Winds touch off 4 fires in Galveston
1 woman burned in the downtown blaze; city starts planning its re-entry strategy
By STEVE MCVICKER, KEVIN MORAN, HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
GALVESTON - As city officials grew more confident Friday that Hurricane Rita had spared them from catastrophe, they began to focus on the challenge of bringing home more than 50,000 evacuees.
There still were major problems to be dealt with, however, as widespread power failures were reported late Friday and firefighters battled wind-driven blazes that spread among four downtown structures.
The Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said late Friday that CenterPoint Energy in Galveston County reported 90,000 customers had lost power. Sporadic power failures were expected throughout the night, CenterPoint reported.
The fire erupted in a building at Postoffice and 19th downtown and quickly spread as high winds blew cinders from building to building.
The fire burned unabated for about an hour before firefighters could respond. The worst damage was on the north side of Postoffice, where two old houses that had been refurbished were destroyed and an art studio was heavily damaged. An unidentified 37-year-old woman who suffered burns was taken from the studio to the University of Texas Medical Branch. Her condition was not available.
The winds carried cinders across the street, where they touched off a fire on the second floor of a house. Firefighters got the flames under control about 10:30 p.m.
Plans to coordinate when Galvestonians can return home will begin as soon as city officials assess the damage inflicted by the storm, City Manager Steve LeBlanc said. He said police, fire and public-works crews will begin as soon as weather permits.
"The first thing we'll do is clear roadways," he said.
An estimated 90 percent of residents heeded the mandatory evacuation, which began Wednesday. LeBlanc said the earliest that Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas would consider lifting the evacuation order would be sometime this afternoon.
"We are going to meet (today) and we are going to decide when to start talking to (state officials), and we are going to coordinate the mass re-entry, as I'm calling it," LeBlanc said.
He stressed that "we are not saying anything until we have looked around."
Avoiding a repeat
LeBlanc said he hopes the effort will go more smoothly than this week's mass exodus, when thousands of motorists from coastal areas were stranded on highways because of gridlock and a widespread fuel shortage.
"The evacuation was planned to be phased, and how well did that work? I'll let you answer that question," said LeBlanc. "So the question is now, how do we bring everybody back in?"
LeBlanc said the evacuation order won't be lifted until a coordinated return plan is agreed upon by state and local officials.
He said it is imperative that the return not interfere with repair and rescue work. He said he does not want rescue and repair crews stuck in traffic because people are trying to return home prematurely.
"I need accessibility," he said. "I need accessibility," he said.
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