Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Dangerous Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall in the northeast Gulf of Mexico within 24 hours. Tornados have spawned in Louisiana. Water is filling the Ninth Ward of New Orleans again. A bus carrying elderly evacuees was gutted by fire this morning outside Dallas, with multiple fatalities. Television crews have positioned their hurricane reporters throughout the region to attain maximum drama effects. Whoooooa.

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 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

[grey_whiskers]

Blanco on TV now, trying to impersonate a governor.

Anti-Blanco Sarcasm Torpedo ARMED. FIRE!!

That's a good idea. Think they can arrest her for impersonating a government offical?
[...although poorly ! ;-) ]

[Eagles Talon IV]

"Uh, does a car going a hundred and thirty miles an hour suddenly stop if it runs out of gas? No Cat 3 storm falls apart immediately upon landfall. Heck, Katrina came ashore in Florida as a Cat 1, and she tracked all across Miami-Dade County from northeast to southwest without losing one single mph."

Florida is a relatively narrow peninsula and some of the hurricane was able to draw strength from being over the Gulf or the Atlantic. Even when Katrine hit LA it went from a 4 to a 1 almost immediately. Without the heat source the rotation slows as cooler air is drawn up into the eye. I didn't mean to say the storm would go away. I used the term "fall apart" as a relative term to what it was while over the warm waters of the Gulf.

[browardchad]

Blanco has become, in a word, obscene.

There are hundreds of thousands of people's homes and livlihoods in this storm's path, the levees are overflowing again, millions of dollars already lost in business revenues due to evacuation, and a good portion of our refining capacity at risk, and she's talking money to pay city employees, and waving around a check from the federal government.

I've reached the point where I never want to hear the words "New Orleans" or "Louisiana" again -- and I doubt that I'm alone in that feeling.

[Miss Marple]

Recap of Blalnco with my interpretations:

1. She wants President Bush to "change the rules" so that the complete salaries of police and firemen will be paid by the federal government. She says the parishes are not getting any income so they have run out of money.

COMMENT: First of all, I believe the "rules" she wants the President to change are actually LAWS, and she is either ignorant of this or is trying to make the President the bad guy when he doesn't comply.

2. She doesn't like the vouchers being given to Louisianans in other states. She wants the government to pay for full-service hotels and motels in Louisiana so that people can come home.

COMMENT: The Rats are really afraid that their base has been scattered to the four winds and that they will lose power in the next election.

3. She also said that the priority should be to build New Orleans "safer." By safer she means taller levees, and asked the President to make that a priority.

COMMENT: Until they fill in the flooded areas with about 20 feet of compacted soil and raise the elevation, higher levees aren't going to be doing much to make the city safer. I will vigorously oppose the reconstruction of New Orleans below sea level, and I will campaign to keep money for any reconstruction of levees from those levee boards. Too much money gets siphoned off for non-levee expenditures (such as the Landrieu family's campaign war chest).

Blanco gave me the impression she was reading a script, no doubt written by her newest employee,James Lee Witt.

[glock rocks]

Keep yer head down. Prayers going up for you, kid.

[laz]

Imagine the last transmission from a WC-130 being "My God, it's full of stars..."

Maybe the vortex isn't a hurricane but the mouth of a wormhole.

Or maybe it'll spit out all those ships and planes lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

[Wneighbor]

After all of this I hope we get some rain out of this mess.

Yep! Desperately need it, that's for sure!

I've been sitting here today trying to figure out whether to bite the bullet and go ahead and water my plants outside today! This time yesterday I was trying to figure out how to protect them.

[Eaker]

Gone lootin'???? ;)

No, just getting back!

This will probably really freak the Know-Nothing Nannies out! I couldn't quit laughing as they kept handing me guns.

[Palladin]

Has she channelled Eleanor Roosevelt yet?

[IamConservative]

You need a sign on the front window: "This is a house where 27 28 guns live. If you would like to see them all at once, crawl through the window after dark."

[steveegg]

New vortex data message - eye fix at 2:11 pm (previous at 12:46 pm) -

597 
URNT12 KNHC 231938Z
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 23/1911Z
B. 27 DEG 58 MIN N
   92 DEG 28 MIN W
C. 700 MB 2482 MA
D. NA
E. NA
F. 206 DEG 110 KT
G. 118 DEG 20 NM
H. 930 MB
I. 14 C/ 3044 M
J. 19 C/ 3042 M
K. 14 C/ NA
L. OPEN SE
M. C20
N. 12345/7
O. 1/1 NM
P. NOAA3 2318A RITA OB 12
   MAX FL WIND 129 KT NE QUAD 1741Z
   EYE OPEN E THRU SE

Only significant change is motion - 13 minutes north, 13 minutes west in the last 1:25.

[lainie]

I was aghast at those photos.

My smartass remark is that if you're going to let your kids play with guns - which you shouldn't, you could at least teach them a proper grip and stance.

My serious remark is it's wholly inappropriate all the way around.

[Revel]

"I am sad to say, that the Bush "I take the blame" speech opened the floodgates for the Feds to pay for everything."


It is not noble to take the blame for something you are not the blame for when the end result will be bad.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Fox just said President Bush is going to the command center in Colorado instead of going to Texas. (I said Arizona earlier in error.)

[Spktyr]

I'm not expecting more than sporadic, scattered attempted looting and little to no successful looting in Texas. If anything, the crime rate in Texas should be lower than usual this weekend.

However, the reason I expect this is because my fellow Texans are prepared and ready. I don't expect any problems either - but I'm ready for anything that can pop up.

[hummingbird]

Good luck to "Captain Courageous" and let us know what he's seeing when he calls back in!

[Sender]

I don't mind my tax dollars being used to help devastated people in harms way, as long as they are wisely used, efficiently used, and budgeted by trimming pork.

A lot of current spending programs need to get 'nipped in the bud' before we start writing blank checks.

[Professional Engineer]

LMAO!

[ncountylee]

Does she want to pay the employees that cut and ran?

[twigs]

Dan Rather got his start with a hurricane in Texas. Maybe he wants to go full circle.