Hurricane Rita thread

[kato]

Inbound lane of I-45, the causeway, into Galveston will be closed at 6 pm tonight.

 

[Becba]

Hubby just got his boat into Fourchoun (sp) in LA. He said they had to wait hours so many boats could be moved out to make space for them. He runs a 250plus foot boat and they move smaller ones further inland. Said they are stacked 5 abreast where he is. Glad to see they are getting everyone back to shore and making room.

Luckily he may come home in a couple of weeks because he has been so stressed having to run from 2 bad hurricanes he needs a break. Said he had 35 knot winds in the gulf.

Just hoping this one drops down to a lower catagory before it hits.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Hopefully the time of the high tide won't coincide with the storm surge. I haven't see any estimates yet of how high it could be. As the probable track is determined, before landfall, we should begin hearing about that.

Galveston Bay entrance, south jetty
23 September 2005 - 24 September 2005
29.3333° N, 94.7000° W

2005-09-23 07:07 CDT Sunrise
2005-09-23 12:58 CDT Moonset
2005-09-23 13:56 CDT 0.24 feet Low Tide
2005-09-23 19:13 CDT Sunset
2005-09-23 23:06 CDT Moonrise
2005-09-24 00:16 CDT 2.70 feet High Tide
2005-09-24 07:08 CDT Sunrise
2005-09-24 13:57 CDT Moonset
2005-09-24 14:59 CDT 0.32 feet Low Tide
2005-09-24 19:12 CDT Sunset
2005-09-24 23:57 CDT Moonrise

 

[Gabby]

K-toe - or anyone, give me some idea where some of these cities are located per the link below, i.e., Galveston, Houston, etc. Can't tell from this map. Also, maybe San Antonio would be a good place to head - wouldn't hurt to call and make a reservation somewhere. San Antonio is a great town to visit too, if you haven't been there lately.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/145605.shtml?5day

Poco... Houston is on the coastline...as is Galveston... if you can find dallas on your map... you can go south and you will see Houston right on the coast, also Galveston is an Island -- the causeway is the only route in/out of Galveston Island... Beaumont/Nederland/Port Arthur is only a little ways up towards Louisiana from Houston... I have family in that area----

 

[poco]

Poco... Houston is on the coastline...as is Galveston... if you can find dallas on your map... you can go south and you will see Houston right on the coast, also Galveston is an Island -- the causeway is the only route in/out of Galveston Island... Beaumont/Nederland/Port Arthur is only a little ways up towards Louisiana from Houston... I have family in that area----

Thanks, I kinda knew all that - I was just trying to figure out where these cities were in reference to this line.........
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/145605.shtml?5day

 

[Buzz Mills]

From the earlier report:

RITA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 13 MPH AND THIS MOTION IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 140 MPH...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. RITA IS A EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS AND COULD REACH CATEGORY FIVE INTENSITY IN
THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES FROM THE
CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 140 MILES. THE WIND FIELD ASSOCIATED WITH RITA IS FORECAST TO
EXPAND DURING THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.

Everyone has their eyes on Rita, waiting for it to begin to make its turn towards the North. Then the prediction of where it will make landfall will start to be a little more accurate.

 

[kato]

They are showing local radar and the part of town we live in it shows we could have +74 mph winds.

 

[Details]

From what I remember seeing last night, and what I saw this morning, looks like it's possible tracks are starting to veer closer to New Orleans - last night it wasn't close, today, NO is just about within the possible track balloon (CNN).

 

[Buzz Mills]

Rita may end up being LARGER THAN KATRINA. It's getting BIGGER.

Hurricane Rita Satellite Imagery (Patience Required)
http://tinyurl.com/6fmsy

 

[Shadow205]

Latest update has it at 923mbs which is where Katrina was when it made landfall. Not a good sign at all.

 

[kato]

Rita may end up being LARGER THAN KATRINA. It's getting BIGGER.

Hurricane Rita Satellite Imagery (Patience Required)
http://tinyurl.com/6fmsy

Buzz:

Just want to thank you for all your frequent updates.

 

[TexMex]

poco, it's hard to tell by that map. San Antonio is probably still full of Katrina evacuees also.

I talked with a woman this morning who said the closest hotel room she could find was in SAN ANGELO!! That's almost to Abilene---7 hours from my house...

 

[kato]

I talked with a woman this morning who said the closest hotel room she could find was in SAN ANGELO!! That's almost to Abilene---7 hours from my house...

Man! That's way up in the panhandle. People might have to start going into OK.

 

[TexMex]

From what I remember seeing last night, and what I saw this morning, looks like it's possible tracks are starting to veer closer to New Orleans - last night it wasn't close, today, NO is just about within the possible track balloon (CNN).

Here are the latest models....looks like NO will be OK---will probably get some rains......


http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200518_model.html


coming in between Corpus and Galveston

 

[Shadow205]

Is there someone on here who is actually looking/needing a hotel room? If so I will try and help you find one. Just checked Austin, there are NO rooms there. Let me know and I'll tell you what I find.

 

[Shadow205]

No Vacancies in SanAntonio!

 

[kato]

No Vacancies in SanAntonio!

Probably because alot of Katrina evacuees went there.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Comparisons:

KATRINA REMAINS A VERY LARGE HURRICANE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND
OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE
WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230 MILES.

RITA---HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES FROM THE
CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 140 MILES. THE WIND FIELD ASSOCIATED WITH RITA IS FORECAST TO
EXPAND DURING THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. (Note: The next National Hurrrican Center update at 4:00PM CDT should show a fairly large increase in size).

 

[TexMex]

Probably because alot of Katrina evacuees went there.

I'm sure some of the NO evacs are still there, plus people from Galveston, Brazoria county area then all the folks from Houston---what's the population of the greater Houston area now? Probab;y 4 MILLION? Lot's more than the 500,000 approx in New Orleans......

 

[Details]

Sounds like Texas is much better organized than Louisiana was. The mayors and governor need to call for people to share hotel rooms, as well as cars out of the city.