Bad News: Hurricane Rita

Just got upgraded to a CAT 4. It has a way to go over warm water yet...may hit CAT 5.
Current 3 day cone.
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Computer spaghetti model with projected landfall scenarios. Irregardless of where she lands it will be devastating. Hope more people learned from Katrina and get out of the way instead of waiting til the last minute. Some areas issued voluntary evacuations yesterday, mandatories will be issued soon I expect.

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Those poor people. Do hurricanes usually dip striaght into the gulf, because everyone seemed so unprepaired, and that'll be two right in a row. I thought they usually snake around the outer edge of FL and up the coast.

 

Looks like texas, louisiana and mississippi are going to experience, this year, what florida did last year!!!!

Roger

 

It really all depends on where they actually start to form. Only thing that kept this one south was the high pressure pushing down from the mid-west. Had that not been there, I would most likely not be posting this right now.

 

Ut oh... everyone keep safe, again

 

I keep thinking of all the Katrina refugees (which is the word for them, political correctness be damned...when you have to flee your home with little but the clothes on your back, you are a refugee) in Houston and other parts of Texas, and my heart breaks. Now their temporary shelter is getting hit with another hurricane, this one potentially even more devastating.

 

Keep the posts coming in, those of you in the possible affected areas...we need to know you guys are doing ok as this thing hits landfall.

 

i just heard its a CAT 5 now max sustained winds are 170? (wait that cant be right???)

 

Where did you hear that? The last update from NOAA's National Hurricane Center was 10am, next one not due until 12 EST that I know of.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/211444.shtml

 

Top gusts of Katrina made 170, so you are probably correct.

 

i believe the cutoff for Cat 5 is 155 mph winds (not sure though)... and that's sustained winds... i dunno NJ5638 i would find it hard to believe that Rita has 170 sustained winds already, possibly gusts to 170 though...

 

As of right now........

140mph sustained winds
937mb lower = stronger

This is a very strong storm & it will make a substantial impact no matter where it lands. If you live anywhere in the projected path...Board up & Get Out!

http://image.weather.com/images/maps/tropical/map_spectrop06_ltst_6nh_enus_600x405.jpg

 

Just be safe all those who are going to be affected.
We all will be thinking positive for eveyone down there.

 

Mandatory evacuations begin at 6PM for Galveston...others to follow. Reports are stating they expect the storm to intensify even more. I'm with Sgt. Tibbs, it breaks my heart too. All I can say is if you pray, now is a good time.

 

I live just outside of Austin, and they're telling us we may see winds up to 70-100mph and torrential rain.

And to plan for power outages.

And we're a couple of hundred miles from the coast....

 

Scary, scary stuff. We had some wicked stuff here last year but nothing close to the ferocity of Katrina & Rita. Stay safe and I wish you the best of luck. Please be sure to let us know how you are doing.

 

I wanted to volunteer my home for evacuees but I don't have any extra beds. I wasnt about to make a family who lost their homes travel 1500 miles to sleep on a floor...

 

I think we'll be okay up here, though the wind could be a problem.

If the storm comes in at Port Lavaca like they're saying right now, then an awful lot of people are gonna get hammered.... Figure everyone from Port Arthur to Corpus and inland to at least San Antonio and Austin, maybe Waco, are at the very least getting several inches of rain. Luckily, while we'll get flooding down there near the coast, at least we're pretty much above sea level and it will all drain away pretty quickly. Hopefully, it won't be TOO bad.

BTW, unless this thing makes a hard right and goes into Florida/Georgia/Alabama, or drifts south into Mexico or at least South of, say Corpus, New Orleans/southern Louisiana is also gonna get a LOT of rain, something they really can't have right now... The levees and city are still VERY fragile.

http://www.sitesatlas.com/Maps/Maps/usatx1.gif

 

Most of my family that live in Galveston and the area are already leaving. I have one relative that works for John Sealy Hospital in maintenance and I was told they have to be there I guess to help move thing to higher levels or something. Please pray for the ones that do stay.

 

Rita just got upgraded to a cat 5.....

 

I am praying for all involved. Please stay as safe as you can if you are there. If you evacuated, I hope you are somewhere safe.

Living in Minnesota, I have never been in a hurricane and never want to be. Seeing some of the devastation has saddened me so much.
Prayers go out to all.

Gal

 

I just spent over a half an hour on the phone with my aunt that lives in Houston, TX trying to convince her and her husband to leave. "If things get bad we are going to leave", she said... Unless I missed someting, things ARE going to be VERY bad when this thing makes landfall. These are intelligent, educated people with the means to leave, but they don't seem to want to.

I have never been in the situation, so maybe I can't empathize, but I cannot imagine putting my life and the lives of my family in harms way to be there with my PROPERTY when a storm of this magnitude hits -- especially just weeks after seeing the devastation from Katrina. With any luck, my words made a dent and they will be here with us in AL by Friday (we are the closest family).

Please, if you are in the path of this monster, find a way to get out of the way! Go stay with family, friends, in a shelter, a hotel or just drive north, but get out of the way. None of us want to see the kind of human tragedy we saw a few weeks ago in LA and MS.

Everyone be safe. You are in our thoughts.

-Publius

 

Intelligent and educated in most things doesn't make them experts in hurricanes, disaster, or survival. Most folks tend to be optimists, thinking it won't hit here, it won't be that bad, MY place is strong enough, etc., without facts to back that up. Most also worry about looting while they're gone. Hence, otherwise intelligent educated people made homes and farmed in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, knowing that it blew regularly, but not believing that it would blow while they were there.

If the threat of danger won't convince them to leave, emphasize that long term power outage is likely to make it hot, dark, and miserable, and offer them a short, COMFORTABLE, vacation at your place.

Good luck with them.

And God help all of them, wherever it finally hits land.

 

I would advise filling your tanks up now before Rita hits... Apparently 25% of our oil refineries lie on the Texas coast... They expect gas prices to skyrocket (again).

 

Yep. Deja-vu all over again.

Filled up just before Katrina hit, and am just now down to 1/4 tank. I'll be filling up tomorrow night.

 

Please pray for everyone along the Gulf Coast, actually everyone because this will make gas prices sky rocket yet again not to mention all of the homes destroyed with the 5.7 million people in Houston.

This is the most unbelievable storm I have ever seen!
http://image.weather.com/images/maps/tropical/map_tropprjpath18_fcst_5nhato_enus_600x405.jpg

http://image.weather.com/images/maps/tropical/map_spectrop06_ltst_6nh_enus_600x405.jpg

 

Been watchin' this thing closely & I could be wrong, but it looks like it might have taken a slight turn to the north.

I'm telling you, if this was headed for us ( after what happened last year ), we'd be so gone already. Three storms in three weeks was plenty for me. I relaize they weren't anything close to what this or Katrina was, but I'll pass on the experience all the same.

 

4am update shows it is tracking more to the north. Top winds remain at 175MPH and pressure has dropped to 897 millibars.

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Oh dear, not another one! I hope anyone in the (possible) path are making al the necessary preparations.

If there's one thing Katrina taught us, is that one needs to prepared early and not take it as a given that all will be okay. Hopefully, it will, but it doesn't look very good at the present.(Cat. 5).

My prayers and thoughts are with all those good folk that may be affected.

 

Was listening to the news this morning driving in to work, and this one guy, who is leaving Galveston by car, covered 40 miles in 13 hours!! Just sounds like one big parking lot to Dallas!

 

I sure hope none of them get caught in their cars because of the congestion.

 

Yeah, it seems to have turned a bit north. Unless it turns west again, that's good news for us up around Austin and points south (San Antonio, Corpus), bad news for the folks in east Texas/Louisiana.

 

Cat 4 Rita Thread 150mph winds 915mb at HCW


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/gmex-wv-loop.html

 

Does anyone know of a site or software like Google Earth that is up to date so my family can see if there home still stands after the storm?

 

Keep safe, all you Texans, and other states involved. Awesome pics from the Weather Channel in earlier posts. We get cyclones here in Northern Australia, from October to April (official season). Hopefully never ever like Katrina and Rita. Bazza

 

Google Earth and the other map sites don't do live views, just the last satellite photos they have, so that won't really help.

 

Ok, thanks G.T.

 

If people are still there, they need to stop what they're doing, pack up all the stuff they'll need, and leave.

The traffic is horrible. Earlier today my boyfriend's parents were driving from Houston to Canyon Lake, near San Antonio. They went 30 miles in 5 hours. They opened the other side of the highway a while after that, but it's still going to be a mess. People are leaving their cars in the middle of the road instead of on the shoulder, and that's causing more problems.

I understand why some people don't want to leave. It's their home...but if you have friends or family still there, I'd call them up again right now and wouldn't hang up until they've agreed to leave. It's not just about home crashing down; a ton of other things could happen - broken glass flying around, a tree falling, etcetc.... *sigh* this is terrible.

stay safe everyone, and your loved ones as well.

 

As GT said Google and MS rely on maps that can be badly out of date. Most of my area does not show in googlemaps, although yahoo can find the same street.

Spy software prepared to take images from above.

Maybe the link to build a inexpensive outdoor webcam would be a better source... until the power goes off!

 

mandatory evacuations now, Cat 5, this is one evil hurricane season.

 

Still a Cat 4 140mph at this hour, over 12 inches of rain expected from East Texas to West Louisiana. The corps is still working like demons to shore up the N'Orleans levees but ...

I loved the Gulf coast, but am now mostly glad to have moved from there in '93 as my old house is gone.

Good luck peeps!

 

From what I'm seeing on the news the rainfall was enough to break the levees in NO again. 9th ward is taking water from a broken levee.

 

Awful news about the bus load of elderly people. The first victims of this hurricane and it hasn't made landfall yet!

 

i don't know why I'm so complacent about these things. Hawaii is the only place on the planet that is subject to all four natural disasters. hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and earthquakes. we are currently tracking three hurricanes heading towards the islands, (one has already passed) and the volcano watch is always saying that mauna loa is about to blow. we regularly get .5 earthquakes, and the last tidal wave wiped out half of the main town on this island. yet i still feel surprisingly safe. blinkers? English optimism? shear stupidity? i think that the beauty here is seductive. you just can't imagine anything going wrong. yet whole towns are frequently lost to one or another of these disasters. i hope and pray that Rita burns itself out before it causes major damage, my aloha to all those in harms way.