Hurricane Rita - what would you do if ...

[Newt]

An update with a picture that is scary to say the least. As of now, sustained winds of 165mph with gusts over 200mph so well into the Cat5 range.

 

How about the wave heights though.

 

[Newt]

Holy Ice Hockey!!!!

 

Pressure is now at 898mb or lower making Rita the 3rd strongest Atlantic Hurricane in history and she is still a couple of hours from the large pool of very warm water that should allow some additional strengthening.

 

Worse news

quote:

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The latest runs of two key computer models, the GFS and GFDL, now indicate that the trough of low pressure that was expected to pick up Rita and pull her rapidly northward through Texas will not be strong enough to do so. Instead, these models forecast that Rita will make landfall near Galveston, penetrate inland between 50 and 200 miles, then slowly drift southwestward for nearly two days, as a high pressure ridge will build in to her north. Finally, a second trough is forecast to lift Rita out of Texas on Tuesday. If this scenario develops, not only will the coast receive catastrophic damage from the storm surge, but interior Texas, including the Dallas/Fort Worth area, might see a deluge of 15 - 30 inches of rain. A huge portion of Texas would be a disaster area. The models are not suggesting this at all, but is also possible that Rita may not make landfall on Saturday as expected, but pull up just short of the Texas coast and pound it for days as it waits for the next trough to pick her up. We'll have to wait for the next set of model runs due out by tomorrow morning to know better.

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[severus]

Good Lord. I guess Katrina didn't cool the Gulf enough. I hope that monster falls apart soon.

[Leon Roskilly]

I can't think too much on this, when I consider the possibilities, my blood runs cold.

 

Hurricanes are unpredictable, and the models don't have many examples like this to work upon, so we could be in for some surprises either way.

 

I'm hoping and crossing things.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Newt]

If you think of an F3 tornado the size of the state of Georgia, you pretty well have Rita as she was last measured. Should be recon flight data available in another hour or so that will tell us if she has gotten stronger (probably) and firm up the track some.

[Leon Roskilly]

Local live news video streaming at:

 

http://www.click2houston.com/index.html#

 

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

I just hope that lessons have been learned and real preparations have been made this time. Anyone that needs evacuating is evacuated, and that the various governments and government agencies are prepared to respond quickly to whatever may happen.

 

Good luck Texas and the Gulf Coast!

[Leon Roskilly]

The evacuation is not going well, the roads are jammed.

 

Heard one mother complaining her daughter had taken 11 hours to travel 33 miles.

 

Packed cars, bored kids, no food or water available, no toilets, engines overheating, gas stations out of gas, folks falling asleep at the wheel.

 

The nightmare, phase 1

 

TL - leon

 

[ 22. September 2005, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[Westie]

No words can really describe what is going on over the water at the moment. It's just terrible watching it all unravel. Good luck to anyone there or with family/friends/relations in the areas which may be affected. It's nature at its most powerful and most cruel.

 

[ 22. September 2005, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: Westie ]

[n4lly]

This bouy is recording 29.5 ft waves

 

web page

 

 

Galvestone's sea wall is 17' tall and in some

places only 7'

 

[ 22. September 2005, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: n4lly ]