The Hurricane Rita Thread

[conjur]

Looks like it's growing again:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/float-vis-loop.html

 

[Mloot]

I thought I was going to be able to get out, but it looks as if I'll have to hunker down and hold on. Send some good thoughts my way, if you don't mind.

 

[Viper0329]

Originally posted by: Ikonomi

Originally posted by: Viper0329

Originally posted by: Ikonomi

Originally posted by: Viper0329
Hey guys.

I've had enough of this hurricane season. It's crazy that I'm directly affected by both Katrina and Rita. I go to school in Covington, Louisiana, and we where hit really hard by Katrina and have just gotten life quasi back to normal. Just when I think it's over, Rita is going to hit my home town (Lake Charles, LA) really hard. My family is attempting to evacuate here to Covington, but traffic isn't moving. The school has opened up an empty dorm for my family and other people. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as the next few days go on. I'd really just like to have a normal life right now, and I pray I still have a house this weekend.

Jeff

Hey, I'm from Lake Charles, too. Looks like you guys are going to get the bad side of the storm now.

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I have some friends' families that are probably going to ride out the storm. I just wish I could persuade them to leave. It's not the hurricane itself that I'm worried about, but it's the 3 and 4 days after it that make life so tough. If there's a hole in a roof, there's no place to buy tarps. If you need medicine or emergency services, there are none. No phones, no way to buy food or anything else, etc. etc. etc. It's just not a good idea. This I learned from Katrina just 3 weeks ago. Life wasn't exactly a walk in the park the week following that storm.

Do you know anything about the evacuation situation around Lake Charles and the western part of Louisiana? The projections didn't show the hurricane going near LA until last night... Have a lot of people already evacuated over there? Or are most planning to ride it out?

At least it's weakening.

Well, from everyone I know who has gone east, it's taken at least 5 hours to make Baton Rouge. Traffic is pretty congested from what I've heard. I haven't heard a word on the evacuation status. Hopefull it's already done.

Calcaseiu River floods at 4 feet, it's already at 3.2 ft. Expected to crest at 10....that's not good. Major flooding all over the place is expected in Lake Charles.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Mloot
I thought I was going to be able to get out, but it looks as if I'll have to hunker down and hold on. Send some good thoughts my way, if you don't mind.

Cheers, Mloot! :beer:


Hold on tight!

But, from the looks of things now, Houston won't get the worst of it. Remember, the worst part is the NE quadrant of a hurricane.

 

[johnnqq]

it's supposed to be worse than katrina...

 

[conjur]

Well, I went back and read the 5PM Discussion and saw this (had skipped to where the current intensity was shown)

RITA IS GOING TROUGH THE WEAKENING PHASE OF AN EYEWALL REPLACEMENT
CYCLE AND DATA FROM THE NOAA RECONNAISSANCE PLANE INDICATE THAT
WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO 125 KNOTS...AND THIS MAY BE GENEROUS.
HOWEVER...THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS REMAINED AROUND 913
MB...WHICH IS A VERY LOW PRESSURE TO HAVE ONLY 125 KNOTS. IN
ADDITION TO THE EYEWALL REPLACEMENT CYCLE...RITA IS CURRENTLY
MOVING OVER THE EDGE OF A COLD SST EDDY. THIS COULD HAVE ENHANCED
THE WEAKENING TODAY. THE HURRICANE IS FORECAST TO MOVE OVER ANOTHER
WARM EDDY DURING THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS AND THERE IS SOME CHANCE
THAT RITA COULD REGAIN SOME INTENSITY. BECAUSE THE SHEAR IS
FORECAST TO INCREASE...THIS MAY COMPENSATE FOR THE STRENGTHENING
THAT MAY BE CAUSED BY THE EFFECTS OF THE HIGH HEAT CONTENT. THE
BEST OPTION AT THIS TIME IS TO KEEP RITA AS A 125 KT HURRICANE WITH
A SLIGHT WEAKENING BEFORE LANDFALL. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT RITA
IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL AS A DANGEROUS HURRICANE OF AT LEAST A
CATEGORY THREE INTENSITY.

Soo...hope after all? We'll know more tomorrow.

 

[Mloot]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Mloot
I thought I was going to be able to get out, but it looks as if I'll have to hunker down and hold on. Send some good thoughts my way, if you don't mind.

Cheers, Mloot! :beer:


Hold on tight!

But, from the looks of things now, Houston won't get the worst of it. Remember, the worst part is the NE quadrant of a hurricane.

Man, I hope the center keeps drifting away from my location, or that it unexpectedly weakens. I've never been through a hurricane before, so I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.

 

[HomerSapien]

Im in College Station( ~3 hrs from galveston) and people are absolutely freaking out here buying out grocery stores. I stopped by krogers to get dinner on the way home and the store looked like it was ransacked. People were just grabbing things and tossing them in carts without even looking at the items. Talking with some friends, they said it was like that all over town, but i didnt see that for myself.

Here are just two rows at the store, but almost all the fruit, lunch meats, canned goods and cereals were gone. Sodas were almost completely gone but there beer was almost all there (odd).

bread
paper items

I understand stocking up, but wow...Grocery stores must be posting record profits.

 

[JohnCU]

Nice jog back to the west.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I'm in Longview TX 261 miles north of Galveston, in NE Texas. It's looking like we may get 50 or 60 mph winds up here. Good times will be had by all, I'm sure. Nice and sunny today though.

People here are stocking up too. Kroger was totally out of bottled water. Canned goods were low. Long lines at some gas stations too.

 

[mercanucaribe]

My parents just got to Austin from Houston. They left at 7:45 this morning. 13.5 hours!

 

[jfall]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
My parents just got to Austin from Houston. They left at 7:45 this morning. 13.5 hours!

damn, they got lucky. I left at 8pm last night, and only got 25 miles in 13 hours. I had to revert to Katy

 

[Medea]

Conjur -

I noticed that as well. I think that's why (at least, right now), many of the meteorologists are not sure what cat level that Rita will be when she makes landfall. I've noticed that a lot of them are not inserting numbers at landfall on their charts. We might get a clearer picture in the update which is due in about another 20 minutes...

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
I'm in Longview TX 261 miles north of Galveston, in NE Texas. It's looking like we may get 50 or 60 mph winds up here. Good times will be had by all, I'm sure. Nice and sunny today though.

People here are stocking up too. Kroger was totally out of bottled water. Canned goods were low. Long lines at some gas stations too.

I'm in Tyler, pretty close to Longview. WalMart here has been stripped bare. People are acting like nutballs grabbing gallons of water and running towards the checkout.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Now predicted to hit Lake Charles, LA area.

There goes my hometown

 

[Ikonomi]

Same here, Dedpuhl, but on the bright side...

They say pressure is up to 917 mb, winds down to 138 mph.

 

[conjur]

still sliding up the coast

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/025048.shtml?3day?large

 

[Glendor]

We're sitting it out, but are slightly more relaxed than we were Wednesday morning when the eye was going to pass just West of Houston where we are in Katy. I don't know if it will move East enough to affect Lake Charles that much, but the people just West of the TX / LA border are looking at a difficult time. My folks evacuated to our deer lease that is now in the path of the store. It's predicted to still be a Cat 1 Hurricane when it gets to them. Not good considering the deer camp is rather primative. :shocked:

 

[ViRGE]

Word has it that a levey already broke again in NOLA.

 

[ViRGE]

10pm:

Winds: 140mph
Pressure: 917mb
Rita will strengthen slightly before making landfall, but it's hard to tell if she'll significantly weaken after that strengthening or not.

 

[jfall]

Originally posted by: Glendor
We're sitting it out, but are slightly more relaxed than we were Wednesday morning when the eye was going to pass just West of Houston where we are in Katy. I don't know if it will move East enough to affect Lake Charles that much, but the people just West of the TX / LA border are looking at a difficult time. My folks evacuated to our deer lease that is now in the path of the store. It's predicted to still be a Cat 1 Hurricane when it gets to them. Not good considering the deer camp is rather primative. :shocked:

I'm sticking it out in Katy too

 

[RagingBITCH]

I don't get it......we're here in DALLAS and people are lining up to get gas, raping the grocery stores. Fvck, we'll be lucky if we get some light showers and a little wind. It's not like we're in Galveston people. Fvcking retards man.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Word has it that a levey already broke again in NOLA.

:Q

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
I don't get it......we're here in DALLAS and people are lining up to get gas, raping the grocery stores. Fvck, we'll be lucky if we get some light showers and a little wind. It's not like we're in Galveston people. Fvcking retards man.

happens here when they forecast an inch of snow.

 

[HomerSapien]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
I don't get it......we're here in DALLAS and people are lining up to get gas, raping the grocery stores. Fvck, we'll be lucky if we get some light showers and a little wind. It's not like we're in Galveston people. Fvcking retards man.

i dont get it either...should anything hit, 2-3 days worth of supplies should be more than enough. People are acting like noah's flood is coming.