Hurricane Rita

In addition to food, water, ice, generators, batteries, and boarding up, don't forget one very important precaution as well: make sure your weapons are loaded, your permits are up to date, and that you have enough ammunition.

No, I am not trying to be funny. If you cannot evacuate and secure your property, and you have to stay behind, know that looters will be out and about. Much more so than in New Orleans, since these parts of Texas are more affluent. And believe me, they will not just take your stuff, they will kill you and your family for it. So please, be ready, just in case you need to defend yourself and your loved ones.

But may you not need to do so. God be with y'all.


Rebel [><]
Survivor of Andrew, Erin, Opal, Frances, Jeanne, Ivan, and Dennis, so far

 

Hotel chains are canceling reservations as far away as the West border of the state to keep rooms open for evacuees.

The flooding is the most dangerous part of this for most of Texas. The Colorado River divides Austin, The Trinity River divides Dallas Fort Worth, The Colorado, Trinity and Navasoto Rivers all have streams and tributaries and creeks that flow in the Houston area. The rains from this storm are expected to create massive flooding all up and down the rivers.

These are the biggest population areas of Texas. Port Arthur has 400,000 people, Houston Metroplex has 5.2 Million, Galveston has over 60,000......

 

They are reporting now that the hurricane, though diminishing a little in force, may be veering a bit eastward of its yesterday-projected landfall. The patched levees in New Orleans cannot take more than a "few" inches of rain. If it is veering eastward, it could drop enough drain there to force breaches and to put that city under water again. Regardless, 20% or more of our refineries are going to be hit and out of comission for a week or 2--> gasoline will almost definitely reach $4 a gallon, maybe even 5.

 

Don't you mean "refugees". Oops, sorry, just a mild attempt to lighten the topic a bit with a can of worms (Johnv ducks to avoid tomatoes).

We should of course lift up the people potentially affected with prayer.

 

Stay safe, all of you. You're in our prayers.

 

Just got off the phone with my cousin who works for Hazmat, and who lives in the path. The Galveston seawall is 17 feet high, they are expecting surges closer to 30 feet. They are talking about 10 to 14 inches of rain in one to two hours. The storm-surge alone is supposed to go 20 miles inland.

If the hurricane goes up the Houston ship channel even if it doesn't destroy the refineries itself, it will destroy the channel and thus shut down the refineries because it will dump too much silt for the ships to get into port.

They have told my cousin's crews to expect it still be a Hurricane Category 1 when it hits Dallas/Ft Worth, if it stays on the galveston/houston path. If it veers off that path, they expect it do even more damage because it will damage Galveston, Houston, and Port Arthur.

There is a 15 hour difference in Tampa and Houston, but the hurricane right now is big enough to cause bad weather and high winds in both places.

My cousin's daughter usually has a 30 minute drive from her home to the airport. It took her almost 13 hours to get there today, but she flew into Amarillo tonight.

 

That must be some "hum-dinger" of a storm---Katrina only placed a storm surge in Gulfport/Biloxi somewhere close to a mile inland---give or take a few feet

Fat chance that the refineries will be wiped out-put out of commission, flattened, etc.--and as far as silt in the channel goes---there are such things as dredge boats that can clear the channel within hours---if the 'cane just flat out flattens the refineries there---as in like a pancake flat---I'd have to see it to believe it---we got 116 mph sustained winds---and sure there was tree damage here and there----and the wind did bend our flag pole just a little bit(only because I didn't think to lower the flag)---but all in all---barring the surge that passed through Gulfport---and the flood in New Orleans(man induced---"whoops--there went the levee!!)---it was nothing worse than damage I've seen from a 30 second tornado that came through here a year ago!!!!

 

A growing concern is that Hurricane Rita could stall over northeast Texas and that some places could get 25 inches of rain, and that what's left of the storm could drift back toward Houston after a few days.

I may end up on the east side of the storm if it stalls in northeast Texas. I went through 30 inches of rain back in 1967 with Hurricane Beulah on the Texas coast near Corpus Christi. I don't want to go through 25 inches now.

 

Blackbird,

The surge reports were from a weather channel.
The channel report was from my cousin's husband who was asked to crews ready to stand by to clear the channel if it does become blocked by silt.

I'm no expert. He is.
As to the barges and things - I don't have any idea how long it would take. I DO know that not all ship channels are built the same, and I also know that a barge has to survive the hurricane before it can be used to clear a channel.

I hope the "dooms day" predictions are wrong, but I also know that they call the conference center "three rivers" for a reason, and I know that when you're in "downtown" Houston with its skyscrappers its hard to believe you aren't in New York city.

I know that tropical storm Allison didn't have the winds, but the rain alone did over 2.5 Billion dollars worth of damage.

 

One of my employers is an expert in storm research, and he agrees with Dr. Frank.

 

Let me be the calming voice.

Galvaston/Houston sit ABOVE sea level, unlike NO. I believe I heard that it sits 8 feet above sea level. Add to that the 17 foot seawall and you get protection from 25 foot of that 30 foot storm surge.

The 14 inches of rain on the other hand with nowhere to go will cause probably more flooding than than the storm will. Even that won't be as bad as NO where one of the levies has already burst and water is now pouring back into parts of the city.(God's madder at them than He is Texas ) http://www.foxnews.com/index.html

Bro. James, please keep us updated as you are able. God be with you as you undergo this experience. I will be praying for you.

 

Watching MSNBC and they are saying that the eye wall appears to be collapsing on itself.

 

C4K - Is that good or bad??

 

If true that would be great news - it would mean the hurricane's intensity was falling apart.

Down to Cat3 now. Maybe, just maybe it will not be near as serious. The signs are looking better.

 

Ok, then, C4K...makes sense.....that's great! Thanks!

 

Barometric pressure is also rising, another good sign.

The problem is that the water is already moving, storm surges will still be serious.

 

This will be our designated Hurricane Rite thread. It will be exempt from the three page limit.