The Hurricane Rita Thread

[FeuerFrei]

BREAKING NEWS
Hurricane Rita's top sustained winds drop to 135 mph; still expected to make landfall as major hurricane, according to National Hurricane Center.

 

[Medea]

NEW ORLEANS ? Hurricane Rita's steady rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighborhoods in a devastating repeat of New Orleans' flooding nightmare.

"Our worst fears came true," said Maj. Barry Guidry of the Georgia National Guard (search).

"We have three significant breaches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly," he said. "At daybreak I found substantial breaks and they've grown larger."

Dozens of blocks in the Ninth Ward (search) were under water as a waterfall at least 30 feet wide poured over and through a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal (search) levee.

On the street that runs parallel to the canal, the water ran waist-deep and was rising fast. Guidry said water was rising about three inches a minute.

The impoverished neighborhood was one of the areas of the city hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters and finally had been pumped dry before Hurricane Rita struck.

New Orleans Levee Breached

 

[ViRGE]

In the latest sat shots, the eye has recovered very well, this isn't going to be good.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Local News video of where water breached the 9th ward area east of the Industrial canal again.

They just dried out and it is now flooding back up to the roof lines.

The Lake level has been rising. The Industrial canal is same level as the lake.

Just another foot and New Orleans will go under water again.

They are evacuating where I am here, lake is starting to come inland up here on the North Shore.

how are you on the internet?!??!

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Local News video of where water breached the 9th ward area east of the Industrial canal again.

They just dried out and it is now flooding back up to the roof lines.

The Lake level has been rising. The Industrial canal is same level as the lake.

Just another foot and New Orleans will go under water again.

They are evacuating where I am here, lake is starting to come inland up here on the North Shore.

how are you on the internet?!??!

He's telekinetic.

 

[handoverfist]

Left Houston yesterday at 6 am. Reached Dallas at 9 pm. Freakin 15 hr drive :Q Normally a 3-4 hr drive.

I need a :beer: or 6

 

[SaltBoy]

My wife and I are now in Killeen. We eventually ended up leaving Spring at 5:00 PM and got here at 5:00 AM, when it should have taken about only 3 1/2 hours.

I think we really got lucky with the traffic, too.

I'm kind pissed, though. Now I wanna go back and ride out the storm, but my wife says no. Call me crazy, but this is a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime experience! My house is well on the safe side.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Medea

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: jndietz
cnn makes me laugh on line.

whats up with that bus exploding?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/23/rita/index.html

A lot of oxygen tanks were on board. Just a spark set off a chain reaction.

http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/nati...tories/092305ccRitajcBus.bd97bc3e.html">Bus of evacuees explodes near Dallas, 24 dead</a>

fixed link:
http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/nati...tories/092305ccRitajcBus.bd97bc3e.html

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Local News video of where water breached the 9th ward area east of the Industrial canal again.

They just dried out and it is now flooding back up to the roof lines.

The Lake level has been rising. The Industrial canal is same level as the lake.

Just another foot and New Orleans will go under water again.

They are evacuating where I am here, lake is starting to come inland up here on the North Shore.

how are you on the internet?!??!

I am in a fortress 7 stories above street level.

Remember that building seen in the Helicopter evacuations you saw on TV? That building.

Automatic fill is not working on generator so have to manually go outside every 1 1/2 to fill the tank.

Storm surge is already at least 6 feet here, New Orleans is re-flooding.

I have some pics and Video and will try uploading in a bit.

 

[cthulhu]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Dozens of blocks in a New Orleans neighborhood are now under water.

The water is pouring over a patched levee, in the form of a waterfall at least 30 feet wide. A National Guardsman says, "Our worst fears came true." He says if it keeps up, the levee will breach, and he says it "will fill the area that was flooded earlier."

I just saw the video. That sucks. The westbank, where I'm at, seems to be ok.

 

[ViRGE]

1pm:

Winds: 125mph
Pressure: 931mb

 

[Chaotic42]

Anyone know what I-10 West to Mississippi looks like? Yesterday it was so bad that people couldn't come in to work.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Local News video of where water breached the 9th ward area east of the Industrial canal again.

They just dried out and it is now flooding back up to the roof lines.

The Lake level has been rising. The Industrial canal is same level as the lake.

Just another foot and New Orleans will go under water again.

They are evacuating where I am here, lake is starting to come inland up here on the North Shore.

how are you on the internet?!??!

I am in a fortress 7 stories above street level.

Remember that building seen in the Helicopter evacuations you saw on TV? That building.

Automatic fill is not working on generator so have to manually go outside every 1 1/2 to fill the tank.

Storm surge is already at least 6 feet here, New Orleans is re-flooding.

I have some pics and Video and will try uploading in a bit.

Are you going to be stranded there, Dave?

 

[conjur]

Rita is a Cat 3 now. Watching the WWL TV feed.

 

[serialkiller]

Originally posted by: conjur
Rita is a Cat 3 now. Watching the WWL TV feed.

sweet!

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: jndietz

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Local News video of where water breached the 9th ward area east of the Industrial canal again.

They just dried out and it is now flooding back up to the roof lines.

The Lake level has been rising. The Industrial canal is same level as the lake.

Just another foot and New Orleans will go under water again.

They are evacuating where I am here, lake is starting to come inland up here on the North Shore.

how are you on the internet?!??!

I am in a fortress 7 stories above street level.

Remember that building seen in the Helicopter evacuations you saw on TV? That building.

Automatic fill is not working on generator so have to manually go outside every 1 1/2 to fill the tank.

Storm surge is already at least 6 feet here, New Orleans is re-flooding.

I have some pics and Video and will try uploading in a bit.

Are you going to be stranded there, Dave?

Depends on whether the Causeway Bridge holds up or not.

 

[conjur]

Hopefully it will. The storm is still moving NW but weakening...down to Cat 3.

 

[alien42]

is it still possible for rita to put on the brakes and build strength before hitting land?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: alien42
is it still possible for rita to put on the brakes and build strength before hitting land?

It's possible but it looks like dry air is getting in from the NW side. That will keep it from getting stronger.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: alien42
is it still possible for rita to put on the brakes and build strength before hitting land?

It's possible but it looks like dry air is getting in from the NW side. That will keep it from getting stronger.

The eye and convection are looking better; I wouldn't put it past Rita to put on a few more MPH.

 

[ViRGE]

4pm Update:

Winds: 125mph
Pressure: 930mb

Rita should land at the LA/TX border with winds of 125mph at daybreak Saturday

 

[ViRGE]

Motion estimates predict Rita will stall over the AK/TX border, possibly dumping feet of rain.

 

[ajpa123]

Rita is picking up speed now.

Moving 12mph as opposed to 10mph an hour ago.

 

[AbsolutZero]

Extrapolating current speed and direction puts it at the TX/LA border at 1am CDT, a little sooner than expected. Google satellite maps show very few structures and roads along this part of the coast other than Beaumont/Port Arthur.

Edit: Speeding up. More like 1230am CDT now. NHC 4pm CDT advisory still says the eye will make landfall around sunrise (6am). Text

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: preslove
How built up is the texas coast? How flat/high is houston compared to the sea?

houston is "Alt.: Highest, 120 ft.; lowest, sea level"