Rita... Here We Go Again (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

Lots of folks on the Third Coast are arriving in my neighborhood, we call it South Central Texas.
They may wish they'd gone on up to the Metroplex.
The San Antone forecast for Saturday is now:
Rain and thunderstorms likely. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Cloudy, with a high near 92. Windy, with a north northwest wind 25 to 30 mph increasing to between 35 and 40 mph. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

The good news is that it became a CAT-5 well in advance of reaching the coast which means it will likely lose quite a lot of power before Saturday.

The worse scenario is when a hurricane reaches CAT-5 just prior to landfall, but in this case it is highly unlikely to be able to maintain that level of energy for more than 24 hours, and certainly 60 hours. I think Katrina was only able to remain a CAT-5 for less than 12 hours and was on the verge of being a CAT-3 when it hit New Orleans.

Still, even a CAT-3 can do massive dammage. Anyone know what the tide will be like Saturday morning?

 

[BrettB]

Since we're injecting humor into the thread now as a sort of psychological balm, I'll make note that we have one Henry Gale contributing to our hurricane Rita thread.

Everyone be safe.

 

[Colton]

RITA'S RAGE!!! Bigger and badder than Katrina!

- Colton

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Here's a recent wire story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

I'm glad to see the news media is not trying to instil panic in the public. :rolleyes

RobertR, I'd rather put up with earthquakes than hurricanes. At least historically, earthquakes here have occurred during periods of mild weather. If your house can't be occupied, you can then camp outdoors for a while. But hurricanes by definition take place during periods of very bad weather.

 

[Justin_S]

I have relatives down in Baytown. They have a lovely house right on the bay, so I fear it may be doomed. Anyway, they're coming up here (I'm just south of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex) tonight along with some relatives I have in Houston.

I really hope Galveston survives this. That place is like a second home to me.

 

[Malcolm R]

One of the news sites had a headline yesterday: "Rita Begins to Roar"

 

[Robert_Z]

Colin, what I read was very vague and simply said catastrophic flooding in the Texas hill country. Sounds dire, but unless we get like 3 feet of rain, I can't imagine how this could be any different than any other storms in terms of rain.

As far as I know, hurricane rain flows into drains, dries with the sun and soaks into soil as fast as any other rain.

Basically, if you live in the area and have flooded or come close before, it will probably happen again. As you said, maybe the "catastrophic" events will occur at lakes/rivers, possibly further up the hill country.

 

[David Galindo]

My sister just moved to Houston, and now we're moving her back temporarily. Man, how crazy.

But it looks like everyone is ready for this storm...government, rescue crews, shelters...so perhaps it wont be as big a catastrophe as Katrina.

 

[Robert_Z]

This is a difficult decision for my parents. They live near Corpus Christi.

I told them to evacuate up here, but I just saw on the local weather broadcast that Rita is expected to pass only 50-75 miles east of Austin and it will still be a category 1 hurricane at that time. Geez.

If the storm does follow this course, my parents will be a lot safer down there (although Corpus already ordered mandatory evacuation).

Heck, I am thinking about evacuating Austin. I live in one of these dime-a-dozen houses, which I doubt can stand up against hurricane-force winds, or even tropical storm winds for that matter.

 

[RobertR]

I don’t disagree with you, Dennis. I’d rather deal with an earthquake too, especially because California has worked hard to make buildings here more resistant to earthquake damage, as well as the fact that earthquakes are much shorter in duration. I’m just saying that if a “Big One” hits, people here are going to be asked the same questions about living in a place that’s subject to big natural disasters.

 

[Robert_Z]

Maybe not in terms of lives lost, but in terms of $$$, it may be bigger. You know, when you hear on the news that hurricane ___ caused X amount of damage. Rita may set a record.

 

[Malcolm R]

It's rather disconcerting that two of the Top 5 most intense hurricanes ever recorded happen within 3 weeks of each other.

 

[James St]

Make that 898 mb. Thats not even in the eye. This one may break the record...

 

[Jay Taylor]

So we’ll finally get to use all of those names that start with Delta & Gamma?

Just kidding of course.....

 

[Blu]

How did Rita explode into such a powerful storm so quickly?

 

[JohnS]

Blu,

well for the last day or so, the news said it has to do with the warmest part of the water in the Gulf.
Which I heard was about 90 degrees.
Thats what pushed it to CAT 5

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

Actually, I think that this might be helpful. Just three weeks ago, an awful ot of people that could have evacuated chose not to because they were pretty sure that it wouldn't be that bad. Even the near apocalyptic prediction from the National Weather Service didn't sway many people. As long as there is plenty of time to evacuate, why not encourage people to do so? Besides, it's not like this isn't the third most powerful hurricane on record or anything.

 

[Cees Alons]

This monster seems to be heading straight towards Crawford, Texas.

Cees

 

[Henry Gale]

It's an ill wind that blows no good.
John Heywood

Thanks Cees...even though it's going through my home first that does bring a smile.