I just heard that Rita has hit 175 sustained MPH!

[MoonRiver]

OMG! :wow: Then I also heard the mayor of Corpus Cristi say that hospital patients in his city were just being moved higher. :wtf: is going on??????????????????????/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. a major storm is coming in

and the feds are failing already, that is what is going on

[MoonRiver]

2. The mayor isn't a fed, but maybe a puke.

That would explain it.

[Zynx]

14. Mayor of Houston is a Dem.

[MoonRiver]

18. I don't understand why people in the hospital aren't being evacuated.

Dem or not this is inexcusable.

[readmoreoften]

43. Can't evacuate everyone.

The only people they are not evacuating are those whose evacuation would be more dangerous than riding out the storm. For those on massive life support systems, or people with seriously compromised immune systems. Think about it, it's a hospital.

[txindy]

19. Yes, but they're talking about Corpus, not Houston.

The mayor of Houston took charge and got people OUT.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

39. Whoa! Read the latest entry on Jeff Master's WunderBlog!.....

<http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html>

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. We'll have to wait for the next set of model runs due out by tomorrow morning to know better.

[txindy]

41. Oh, bloody h*ll. Rita would blast us until TUESDAY?!

The state will be devastated. Galveston will be obliterated. All low-lying areas, even the interior ones, will be underwater. Houston.... I can't even imagine it.

[Bouncy Ball]

42. Oh.

My.

[stepnw1f]

3. Gusts 215 mph (nt)

[MoonRiver]

4. That will smash out the windows of the higher hospital floors.

I'm sure the people they're moving "up" are those on Medicaid. :mad:

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. Holy fucking shit

175!

[MoonRiver]

7. When I read about the 1900 Galveston flood (Cat 4)

reports said that people's clothes, and sometimes even skin, were stripped from their bodies. My mind can't get around what this monster could do. I hope as many as possible people and animals have all gotten out of there by Friday.

[Zynx]

9. Problem really is debris at that speed.

A shard of glass at 175 mph would cut right through a person.

[MoonRiver]

12. Yeah.

omg :cry:

[NNN0LHI]

35. I have seen photos of pieces of hay that were embedded into...

...cement home foundation bricks from a Cyclone (Thats what they called them back them. It was actually a Tornado.) that tore through my town in the early 1900's. The pieces of hay were embedded into the bricks several inches deep. And they didn't even bend. When I seen those photos I realized that innocent sounding things we could not imagine could become deadly missiles in 150+ MPH winds.

Don

[kedrys]

6. Oh fuck.

We're in Houston. Long story, but we can't leave. We're hunkering down as well as we can. :scared:

[Kool Kitty]

23. Please do all you can to stay safe.

This storm could be worse than Katrina. Please, please be careful.

[kedrys]

29. Thanks, We're boarding up the windows tomorrow

and we have supplies for a few days. We'll do our best.

[Digit]

24. Please leave, please stay safe

This is serious stuff.

[kedrys]

30. We would leave if we could

I don't want to get into the details, but we just can't (nothing to do with the pets). We're really not thrilled about it. I don't expect the rain to be a problem; it's the wind that's freaking us out.

[Kool Kitty]

34. Please keep in touch if you can.

You'll be in our thoughts and prayers. (I know that if there was a hurricane headed for us now, we couldn't leave, either. We just plain couldn't afford it. Sad but true.) Damn. I wish I could teleport you all up here.

[Digit]

44. Hitchhike, post to a local newsgroup asking for help, call Salvation Army

At least TRY. You can do it without money. Aren't there buses to take you out of harm's way? I could have sworn I heard there were buses taking people to shelters.
If you decide to stay, perhaps move heavy furniture around you and cushion it with your mattresses on the inside. Make a little cocoon in a room without windows.
I am going to be worried about you, so please let us ALL know you have made it, k?

[kedrys]

46. I promise to stay in touch

We have two cars with full tanks, enough cat carriers to go around, vittles and water for everyone for several days. We'll be boarding up windows tomorrow. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

On edit: we are NOT in one of the evacuation zones.

[Digit]

49. The fact you are not in an evacuation zone eases my mind somewhat...

but do...PLEASE be careful.
All of our thoughts and prayers are with you.

[MoonRiver]

26. Stay safe. And keep in touch. We're here.

:grouphug:

[kedrys]

31. Thanks. I'll stay online as long as I can.

I'll check in from time to time. We do expect the power to be down for several days after the strike.

[tblue37]

32. My brother lives in Angleton.

I spoke to him today. He will stay with friends in Austin until it is over.

I am so relieved. I didn't think he would bother to evacuate.

[flowomo]

8. Not likely to be that intense when it hits land...

it's feeding off the hot mid-Gulf waters.... they cool as you get closer to shore. Just as likely to be a 3 as a 5 when it lands.... according to NOAA. But the rain could be bad.

[Zynx]

11. NOAA predicting it to be pretty darn strong on landfall:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL1805I_sm2+gif/023809P_sm.gif

[flowomo]

33. oh yes, don't dispute that, but not as big/powerful as now:

"DURING THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS...IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE
HURRICANE WILL MAINTAIN ITS STRENGTH. THEREAFTER...THE OCEAN HEAT
CONTENT IS NOT AS HIGH AND THE INTENSITY CHANGES WILL BE CONTROLLED
MAINLY BY EYEWALL REPLACEMENT CYCLES AND DECREASING HEAT CONTENT.
SOME WEAKENING IS ANTICIPATED BUT RITA IS FORECAST TO MAKE LANDFALL
AS A MAJOR HURRICANE...AT LEAST CATEGORY THREE."

[kestrel91316]

10. One of my college classmates is now a pediatric neurosurgeon in

Corpus Christi. That hospital is right off the bay. I hope he doesn't have to ply his trade fixing head injuries from flying debris because of Rita.

[Zynx]

13. Corpus Christi should be relatively fine with this track.

It's a long ways south of Houston.

[MoonRiver]

16. Ask him why they are not evacuating EVERYBODY from that hospital.

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Silverhair]

25. If the forecasters are right, and the eye hit Houston, then...

Corpus Christi will be OK. It is about 215 miles to the left (less dangerous side of the storm's track) of Houston. Lot of rain, some winds.

[MoonRiver]

28. OK? OK? 175 MPH sustained winds?? The spread of this cane is HUGE.

If I were mayor I'd be getting the hospital patients O-U-T, ASAP.

[Silverhair]

47. At that distance from the eye, on the left side,the winds would be

about that of a normal thunderstorm, even with this monster.

According the this, Corpus has less than a 20% chance of CAT 1 level winds. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/023809.shtml?hwind120

So the mayor is making the right decision. If the hurricane changes course, he can still order an evacuation.

[kestrel91316]

38. Yep

[kestrel91316]

37. Lol, I am not currently in contact with him, but I know second-hand

he is there. The track is to the north, CC will be ok.

[Deja Q]

15. This is better than NASCAR!

:woohoo:



:yoiks:



(and you know I'm being sarky...)

[flowomo]

36. as in Cutty Sarky?

u hittin' it again? or did you mean "snarky"?

[RONSTOO]

17. 897 mb

fuck

[NNN0LHI]

20. If this keeps going they may need to add a Category 6 hurricane n/t

[AgadorSparticus]

21. just heard Rita described on TWC as a tornado the size of georgia

:wow: This is outrageous.

[MoonRiver]

22. I heard that too. No words.

[Kool Kitty]

27. God almighty. How is this possible?

I can't comprehend this, how can a storm get this strong so fast? This is terrifying. How will the people handle this? You already know that you can't count on the feds to help.

[Jersey Devil]

40. Worst I can recall in the NE was Donna in 1960

Hurricane Donna
Aug. 29-Sept. 14, 1960

Max. winds: 160 mph Min. pressure: 932 mb Category: 5

Powerful Hurricane Donna roared into the northeast Caribbean at peak intensity late on Sept. 4. It then rampaged across Puerto Rico and the Bahamas before swiping southern Florida on Sept. 10 with 135 mph sustained winds and peak gusts to 175 mph in the Florida Everglades. Donna then turned tail and, crossing the Florida Peninsula, raced northward along the East Coast, lashing every state from South Carolina to New York with hurricane-force winds before slamming into New England on Sept. 12 with winds gusts up to 130 mph at Block Island, R.I. Hurricane Donna crossed Long Island with a 100-mile-wide eye. In New Haven, Conn., a barometer measured a minimum surface pressure of 966.8 millibars, or 28.55 inches. Only three people perished in New England.


http://www.usatoday.com/weather/huricane/wdonna.htm

[wellstone_democrat]

45. Donna: my first clear childhood memory

NE born and raised and a tree came through our bathroom window upstairs. Launched right out of the neighbor's yard somehow. Very frightening.

[rainbow4321]

48. UTMB in Galveston also will leave some patients..."critically ill"

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/rita/stories/092205dnnatrita.7b8db2ae.html


The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston said all except the sickest patients were being taken inland, and staff backed by generators on the third-floor could tend to those who couldn't be moved.

A spokesman for the Harris County Hospital District in Houston said workers were making sure emergency facilities are stocked and ready for patients after the storm.

Ben Taub Hospital, the district's main facility, has stayed open during past storms and hopes to continue that tradition, spokesman John Martinez said. "We're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best," he said.