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

[Jeff Ulmer]

Yes, it does. I don't see why the last letters of the alphabet can't be used, since it appears that the frequency of their use would be limited.

On the bright side, it looks like people are actually heeding the warnings this round and getting the hell out.

 

[Francois Caron]

Funny you should mention it.

The premise of the book is that a conventional explosion at the top and a nuclear explosion at the bottom would create a pressure zone that would destabilize and dissipate the typhoon.

EDIT: Now MSNBC brought up the same subject! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9440978/

 

[Craig S]

Well, I finally made to my parents' house about an hour & a half ago - 22 hours after I left. I made the mistake of taking the Sam Houston tollway (Beltway 8) east to try to get to 59 and up through east Texas. It was horrendous. I was on that highway for some 3-4 hours and we were making about 4 miles an hour. Fearing it would be well past midnight before I got out of the Houston area, I u-turned (the Beltway was empty going south) and got onto I-10 east, which for the most part was smooth sailing. This was an option my Dad presented - east to Lafayette and north on 49 to Shreveport. I was lucky to find a room at the Super 8 in Orange. Got up at 6 this morning to hear the storm had shifted north and they were evacuating THAT area. I high-tailed it out of there and mad it hear with no problem.

My cats are completely traumatized. They haven't eaten or drank anything (or used the litter box) since we left. This includes 7 hours in the hotel where they had free access. They're just hiding out in the cat carrier. They're still there now even though there's food and water right outside the door. Hopefully after a few hours to get used to new surroundings they'll perk up.

I've been mentally preparing myself for the last day to being (as one of my neighbors put it) the proud owner of a slab.

I hope everyone out there in the path of this storm has gotten or is getting to safe ground.

 

[Cees Alons]

Rita is downgraded to cat 4.


Which reminds me of carrying umbrellas.
If you go out not even giving a second thought to taking an umbrella with you, you will get soaking wet now and then. But when you decide to take one when leaving your home, it won't even start to rain.

So, taking due precautions is the first step of making a disadvantage not happen at all.




Cees

 

[Haggai]

But as with the last round, there are reports about people who are having trouble getting out for various reasons, even though they're trying to: not enough buses for people who don't have cars, plus gridlock on the roads and empty gas stations.

 

[Brian Johnson]

Here's a good motion satellite clip of the approaching hurricane.
To me it looks like it's going to head north & hit Lousiana again.
Good luck people.


Link

 

[Craig S]

Yeah, it's looking like the TX-LA border may be the landfall point. That would severly lessen the storm surge damage to Houston/Galveston, as they would be on the left side of the storm. However, it could put much of I-10 from Beaumont into Lousiana (the road I drove last night) under water.

Also, the models are now showing the storm will likely stall/drift once it gets inland, probably in east Texas or west/central Lousiana. This will cause massive flooding problems. (Of course, where am I right now...?) It then may drift southwestward BACK to the Houston area - just like Allison 4 years ago, which devistated the Houston area with massive flooding. So the area may escape the huge storm surge, only to be treated to 2-3 days of flooding from rainfall. :frowning:

This storm just truly sucks.

The area around the Texas-Lousiana border just ordered evacuations this morning. Here's hoping those folks get out, as it now looks like they may take the brunt.

 

[Jim Sentry]

Since NO is now vacant and already destroyed maybe we should hope it hits there again.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

This should be a really small minority since it's nearly impossible to live in Houston without a car. And while traffic will undoubtedly be horrible leaving Houston (as Craig S encountered), there is also lots and lots of time available to make the trip since Rita isn't expected to make landfall for a couple of more days (unlike Katrina which snuck in pretty quickly).

 

[Dan Mc]

We made it to Baton Rouge a little after midnight. Took us about 9 hours, but I'm not complaining. Good to hear you made it Craig, how close are you to the bay? Our house is about 2 miles inland, right next to Kemah, so we're pretty worried. It looks like we may avoid the worst of it though, it's tracking more towards Beaumont/Port Arthur and slowly losing strength.

 

[Craig S]

Glad you made it out, Dan. My house is in the Landing about a mile on the west side of I-45. The latest tracks are indeed encouraging for our area, if not for those folks to the northeast. Although my Dad just told me they were talking on the news just now about a "wobble" to the west...

I have a good friend who's in the LCVFD, and he's on the rideout team for the station at Bay Area and 518. So, I'll have first-hand reports after the storm.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

ALERT... In the last 15 min Rita made a strong shift heading directly West. Of course it can easily make yet another shift, but on radar it is the largest directional shift since it started heading towards the East of Galveston Bay.

 

[Brian Johnson]

No kidding. Due west. Check out my link above. ^^
Looks like it's heading towards Corpus Christi now. With all that extra time over the water hopefully it will lose some strength.

Well. Weather.com is still saying it's going to continue west/northwest.

 

[Craig S]

We should see how the NHC interprets this shift in a few minutes. I expect the track forecast to shift back southwest down the cast towards Galveston Bay.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Not much change in the NHC's projections:

[url=http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL1805W+gif/211604W_sm.gif] [/url]


Perhaps they still consider the westerly shift to be only temporary, but it looks more substantial then their current predictions suggest.

 

[Craig S]

Here's what the NHC has to say about the shift/wobble west:

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Looks like Rita will likely be a CAT-3 by the time it reaches the coast.




There is another 'batch' of warm water in the Gulf between Rita's current position and Galveston Bay, so there is still a small chance that wind speeds will pick up again, but let us hope that will not be the case.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

That is interesting. NOGAPS even has it making a direct trip along the Texas Triangle (Houston, Dallas, Austin).

 

[Kirk Gunn]

That's good news for less wind damage, but unfortunately the storm surge will probably resemble a Cat 4/5 since it's already got the momentum built. Good luck to all the HTF'ers that fled !

 

[Cees Alons]

I just read that it looks like the surge isn't that impressive. Of course it can still build.


Cees