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

[wolfcreek]

Does anyone have road-closure info for getting in to Houston from the west??? Elderly father trying to get home in SW Houston. Beltway and Westhiemer

[SouthTexas]

You should see us when the power goes off. Have to cook everything in the freezer before it spoils ya know!

I may die from eating the wrong things, but it sure won't be because I'm hungry! :)

[glock rocks]

I really no longer see members of the MSM as individual human beings. They are like the Borg on Star Trek. One mind controls them all. Each is just an individual cell in a large cancer.

246 posted on 09/24/2005 12:22:38 PM MDT by laz

[Sunnyflorida]

Good post. I found this on the maptech server but it is down now.

[laz]

Live shots of Lake Charles LA now on wdsu.com . . . ocean-like waves over tree tops poking out . . . utterly terrifying looking . . . I don't know what's around this area, but if it's on the ground, it's under water . . . huge wave breaking, spray and white caps . . . like an ocean . . .

Lake Charles is quite far in from the coast. If the surge went in that far... Horrifying. Inevitable, though, I suppose, because most of that coast is swamp and the surge could travel in further.

[nwctwx]

It's going to be a much smaller area of major damage compared to Katrina, but that 60-80 mile stretch of SW LA right on the shore got absolutely pounded for several hours. Just east of Sabine Pass, to about Cameron and up any bays/lakes (Lake Charles) took quite a significant surge.

Many other years, this would be the major storm of the season.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Here's a good site. You have to realize the two rivers are already connected. There is just a small neck of land separating them.

http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/oldriver/oldriver.html

[blam]

Nice graphic.

Rita is beginning to recognize that it missed me here in Mobile. Gonna loop back now, lol.

[brytlea]

We do the same thing here in S. FL...but then again, we ARE really Texans!!! Hubby barbeques and I clean (why do hurricanes make me want to clean house?)
susie

[AFPhys]

Several of the models have been predicting the dithering about for two days now. We'll see within a day or so, but as of right now, I would love to be able to register a "six-pack" bet with the "360º loop" programmers and see how confident they are in their programs.

We'll know soon who is right, but this
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p120i12.gif from NOAA shows that their model would bet on my side, not the loopers'.

[bwteim]

Nice job on graphics, glock rocks. Laz, right on target.

[AFPhys]

I see the GFS has now gotten the illness... but BAMM and UKMET are taking up the "run NE" torch now...

[BlessedByLiberty]

An eye opener. Some of my family went to Lake Charles when Katrina hit, some to Shreveport others to other states. Frightening to think Rita went that far inland.

[SouthTexas]

I like it and agree totally.

Glock, there is a race on (if you didn't know).

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I have heard that, but i haven't heard it confirmed. If they were really fully open, NO would be so flooded. So it's not exactly what he's implying.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yes, apparently the Red River and Atch. were "joined" by the early Corps of Engineers flood-control/shipping improvement changes so they could get the Red River open to shipping traffic towards Ark and East Texas.

That changed the Atch. flow, and helped the (previously minor) Atch. combine with/drain off the Missip's flow in a short cut around NOLA>

Then, to fix that shortcut, the Corps built extra dikes/locks to re-divert the Missip back towards NOLA. It's kind of confusing, but the net effect was to try to "cut off"/undivert the "natural" movement of the Missp. It really doesn't want to go in that big bend towards Lake P. any more.

[winodog]

Ive never been there but from what others have said about the levees, The river must be amazing there. How deep and wide is it at this point?

[jeffers]

Just drew a quick and dirty line from Beaumont to Lufkin to Houma, and another enclosing NO over to Mobile.

The first one encloses about four times the area.

It's Monday, twelve noon, Katrina just left the coast, and the media, unaware of what's really happening is saying "we dodged a bullet", only this time, it's Saturday, and Rita instead.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Thanks!

[ArmyBratsMom]

Great news! Thanks for posting.