NEWS: Hurricane Rita - Category 5

Wow I'm looking at I-45 the Gulf Freeway and it's empty. I love it, no freeway noise. My house has never been this quiet. All my neighbors are gone. I think I'll get drunk and enjoy the calm!

I'm staying here next to this concrete sound wall for the freeway. I'm not in the storm surge zone but it ends on the other side a few hundred feet away. If the world comes to an end I'll let you know.

I think it'll blow through to the east so Houston should bite the bullet this time. I need to conserve my full tank of gas. With Houston supplying 23 percent of the US gas I'm sure they'll figure out a way to raise the price another buck or two.

Originally posted by TexasConspiracyNut
Wow I'm looking at I-45 the Gulf Freeway and it's empty. I love it, no freeway noise. My house has never been this quiet. All my neighbors are gone. I think I'll get drunk and enjoy the calm!

I'm staying here next to this concrete sound wall for the freeway. I'm not in the storm surge zone but it ends on the other side a few hundred feet away. If the world comes to an end I'll let you know.

I think it'll blow through to the east so Houston should bite the bullet this time. I need to conserve my full tank of gas. With Houston supplying 23 percent of the US gas I'm sure they'll figure out a way to raise the price another buck or two.

good luck mate, keep us posted how conditions get over there

Meanwhile, that worthless bitch Governor Blanco of Louisiana continues to show her disdain for her own constituents

Blanco: those staying should "write their Social Security numbers on their arms"

At this point if somebody isn't going to get a rope, they at least need to get a gag. Maybe we can stop the flood of ignorance spewing from her mouth.

Valhall,

I couldn't agree more with your characterization of Blanco, but I think that's a common tactic to scare people into evacuating.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Valhall,

I couldn't agree more with your characterization of Blanco, but I think that's a common tactic to scare people into evacuating.

Yeah, another really good tactic is to send buses and issue orderly evacuation plans at appropriate times.

Wait - that makes sense...forget it.

Originally posted by Valhall
[Yeah, another really good tactic is to send buses and issue orderly evacuation plans at appropriate times.

Wait - that makes sense...forget it.

Agreed, It would have been great if she'd done that during Katrina, but it appears they've provided these things for Rita...I think here she's speaking to those who are absolutely refusing to leave even when they are provided means to do so.

I haven't heard Governor Perry state anything so callous. Let's face it, if you refuse to leave and you end up dead, writing a Nazi style tattoo number on your fore arm isn't going to help anybody but the lazy bureaucrats that have to scoop your body out of the surf.

I say let her work for her money. Hide all your ID...make her guess.

[edit on 9-22-2005 by Valhall]

OOPS! My bad. The lazy bureaucrats won't scoop anything, somebody else will do the hard work. They'll just want the Nazi number when it comes time to call you dead.

[edit on 9-22-2005 by Valhall]

Originally posted by ValhallYeah, another really good tactic is to send buses and issue orderly evacuation plans at appropriate times.

Wait - that makes sense...forget it.

you can't force people to leave. you can try and scare them with inked arms but anyone who thinks about that for a minute or two will know that the numbers should become illegible after the waterlogged skin bloats with death. If that doesn't do it, the dogs and cats eating your flesh after 3 weeks of starvation should do the trick.

No problemo. It will suck when the power goes out though. It's 98 F right now but it should cool off for a day or so after the big blow.

Right now the evacuation for the people in the mandatory evac zones and the storm surge areas has cleaned the central city of Houston out and 90 percent of the people in the coastal zones south of town including Galveston are gone except for the folks in Liberty County east of here, they started late because they thought the storm wouldn't go so far east so quick. They cant find gas, that's the big problem there. The evac routes west and north of Houston are going to be backed up for about 12, 18 or so more hours. The north and south bound lanes on the freeway are all going north now.

People are running out of gas and breaking down in older cars mostly. They need water and gas. FEMA and the mayor are supposed to get the water and free donated gas through to the DOD for air delivery and also with the county diesel supply trucks that have been converted to gas delivery trucks.

That's the big problem now, 1.2 million people under mandatory evacuation and another half million Houston residents dragging up. The traffic on the freeway was gridlocked outside my door from about 5 PM yesterday till about 3 hours ago.

Popping the top now.

She is a worthless governer I think.

Here...this is a better idea than the callous suggestion made by Blanco.

Everyone in Louisiana should write this number on their forearm:

1-866.310.7617

That way they call Blanco every time they find a body.

Rita is still a Category 4 today...still extremely dangerous, and would get out of coastal regions that she is forecasted to make landfall at.

Category Four Hurricane: Winds 131-155 mph (114-135 kt or 210-249 km/hr).


RITA IS GOING TROUGH THE WEAKENING PHASE OF AN EYEWALL REPLACEMENT
CYCLE AND DATA FROM THE NOAA RECONNAISSANCE PLANE INDICATE THAT
WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO 125 KNOTS...AND THIS MAY BE GENEROUS.
www.nhc.noaa.gov...
www.nhc.noaa.gov...

if she regains strength and ups to a category 5 , where and when will this happen. i recall hearing the warmest water in the gulf was in the west. so wouldnt it most likely gain more power before landfall? the water temp is 87 currently.here is a link with the weather conditions in galveston. www.wunderground.com...

[edit on 22-9-2005 by elitegamer23]

Originally posted by elitegamer23
if she regains strength and ups to a category 5 , where and when will this happen. i recall hearing the warmest water in the gulf was in the west. so wouldnt it most likely gain more power before landfall?

The water in the gulf next to landfall is 1 to 2 degrees cooler than where she is now and it is expected from local forcasters at KPRC and others that the storm will make landfall at Port Aurthor east of Houston as a CAT 3 or low 4 and head in toward Winnie, Chambers County and turn and stall around Dallas as a tropical storm with 35 MPH winds dumping rain over much of east Texas for several days like Allison did in June of 2001.

Well the Mayor of Houston, Bill White just had his 7:00PM new conference and he needs 200 voluteers to drive Metro city buses to get ready for a last minute evacuation of people stuck in gridlock wherever the storm hits which is expected to be in Chambers and Liberty Counties east of here.

Liberty county has no gas to pass out and the Houston residents not in the flood zones that evacuated used most of the gas around here so there isn't any to give them if it is needed.

Also first of all he is thinking of using the buses to pass out water and supply a cool place for motorist to go to after being stuck in traffic for the last day or two west and north of town with many of them having nothing to drink and also alot are running out of gas too. Most of the stations are out. He wants to pass gas out too. This is what he wants to do first.

He wants to get them off the freeway before the thing hits and he described that as a death trap. He said he wanted to help Liberty County all he could also and those people not in a flood zone here should use common sense because there is no more gas here. The mayor said the city doesn't have enough gas to supply to the people trying to get out of town because so many peoply not in flood zones took off too.

If you can help the number for the person in charge of the Metro Bus Barn, Dave Johnson, at Metro is 713-290-2881

Hey everyone checking in from houston. I'm in the galleria area which is just slightly south west of the city and i can see the 610 loop from my place. I'm on the second floor.

It is crazy. they didn't do a good job of telling people who should leave and who shouldn't. There was a run on gas, fist fights people arrested for parking cars infront of pumps and selling the next spot. Most gas stations in the city are out of gas. EVERYTHING IS CLOSED. My parents are in an apartment on the 27th floor of a 27 floor building so i'm hoping the windows dont blow out there.

Now its just watching a slow moving bullet spiral towards you. Thousands of cars have run out of gas and eventually the city cops and busses used to get these people out will run out too as all the refineries are.

luckily with the lesson of katrina people left early so there is still about 24 hours before the tropical storm force winds hit the city so there is still time, but this was only marginally better. More it was the fact that 5 million people live here and many own their own cars and without gas we are stuck. food and water are also at a premium, and batteries.

Your parents sould come down. The wind that high over there is much, much stronger than ground level. Tell them to come down. Also the windows in that place are big. They break easy. I know that area well having helped build it 25 years ago..

Southeast side is dead.

you should be OK at ground level.

I just saw something in NOAA's website that is a bit disturbing. It appears to me as if another storm is in the making right behind Rita.



If you look to the right of Rita a cold front from the north and a warm front from the south seem to be converging to form another hurricane. As if we didn't have enough problems.... But who knows, i could be wrong.

Well the city of Houston never came through on the gas. There is no gas for anyone in north or west Houston. People are using the restroom in the station parking lots, 1 and 2. There's plenty of diesel though. Most shipments of gas are due Saturday or Monday.

This is why I stayed home to get drunk.

I just can't imagine how bad it will be if Rita plows up I-45 as Joe Bastardi has predicted. All those people stuck in there cars without gas or supplies. It's a sickening thought, but maybe they're better off there than in Houston.