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

[oceanagirl]

For those interested in NOLA flooding, it has been reported over on Storm2K by posters in the NO area that the Harvey Street Canal has been overtopped as of early this P.M. The levee or floodwall has not been breached, however. There may be further posts over there on this topic.

I don't know where the Harvey Street Canal is, and my AOL/Google had no matches with New Orleans.

[No Blue States]

lol,Your Welcome.. I nearly thought it was for now too when I 1st found that.
But it does give good reference on past floods, the dam had proven it can handle 110k cfs which is a serious deluge...and it list some low areas that might flood now.

[jeffers]

Thanks.

:-)

[trillabodilla]

It just makes me sick to see our wonderful people and culture degraded by the likes of these crooked politicians.

And, believe me, they are crooked from the top all the way down.

Can I move to Texas? Too bad, I don't know anybody over there!

[No Blue States]

You know about a lot of stuff!
Your right, the trinity basin swings NW and W to Dallas...most of the heavy rain is tending NE.

[Cboldt]

Harvey Canal is on the south side of the Mississippi River, and borders Harvey and Gretna (which lie to the east) aand Westwago (which lies to the west). This would be a new pehnomenon, and sounds as though it is Gulf surge, coming in from the south.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/images/nolalevees_jpg.jpg

[JUMPIN JEHOSPOHAT]

WorldNetDaily has this article Moral poverty cost blacks in New Orleans

[janetjanet998]

harvey street canal is south of the city and south of the river i think..

[pollyg107]

Back again after spending 15 minutes in the tornado shelter (the closet under the stairs). My ears are still popping. Looks like a weak tornado passed right over us.

[laz]

Here:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/Rita/BigPicture.jpg

Big picture view, based on collected anecdotal reports to date.

If that isn't spot on, I bet it's pretty close. That's a wider stretch of real estate than the Katrina surge across Mississippi and Alabama, isn't it?

[jeffers]

DeLorme has no match for Harvey Street either.

In any event, this means that every canal connected to Lake P. is also full up...not good news.

Keep i mind that early reports are often wrong...but in this case, i'd be more inclined to doubt the correct spelling than the report tiself.

[gpapa]

Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
Six-Hourly QPF Forecasts
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/6hrqpfall.html

Looks like Arkansas is going to get a lot of rain also.

[jeffers]

I lived in Dallas from 79 to 81.

Right behind the Chi-O house at SMU.

They sing naughty songs on Tuesday nights.

[laz]

Blanco wants the feds to pay for all of louisiana's teachers, cops, firefighters.

Blank-o wants the feds to pay for everything her little heart desires. She needs to be b*itch-slapped with some reality.

[jeffers]

Disregard the post this replies to, Cboldt found the correct answer.

[the Deejay]

any word from Port Arthur yet?

Took a very hard hit. Per Geraldo who is reporting from Port Arthur.

[Palladin]

Naughty songs...how quaint.

[BurbankKarl]

Dont think so....goodbye Louisiana...

[oceanagirl]

Thanks to everyone for the info on Harvey Street Canal. I can now locate it on my map, and it does not look good.

If I see anything more about it on Storm2K or elsewhere, I'll update.

[Cboldt]

The Harvey Canal isn't connecte to Lake Pontcartarin. It is south of the Mississippi River.

THe Harvey Canal has present construction of a flood gate, that is to be closed to reduce water level in the canal in the event of a hurricane storm surge.

This is the $120 million project that is decribed as being held up by Clinton in 1995. It wasn't held up by Clinton, or at least he left no traces of holding it up, and the project was passed in 1996 and funding for it signed into law by Clinton.