This is not looking good for Lake Charles, LA

[KeepItReal]

If the Northeast eye wall area is the worst impact zone, Lake Charles is the biggest city in that area.

[Roxy66]

1. Live News Feed from Lake Charles

http://www.kplctv.com/

[KeepItReal]

7. They have a guy outside still able to communicate via cell

Whoa.

[KeepItReal]

19. Partial roof collapse in their building now.

'luck y'all

[geomon666]

2. They're getting 100+mph wind gusts right now. n/t

[incapsulated]

3. Poor LA

I could tell they would get the worst of this. Then this thing is going to stop dead and dump rain for days.

:(

[Roxy66]

4. This guy on FOX is in Lake Charles...idiot is going to blow away

[maddezmom]

5. Barge has broken loose and headed for I-10

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. Man, I weep for Louisiana.

:cry: Enough is enough.

[geomon666]

8. Lake Charles is getting nailed.

[KeepItReal]

10. Part of Airport in Lake Charles has collapsed.

In the Arrivals Area

[Roxy66]

9. Reporters on KPLT just said they hope they all survive

[geomon666]

11. Part of the airport terminal has collapsed.

In the Arrivals area. Just reported.

[Roxy66]

12. They are confirming now....calling airport

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Were any people still in the airport?

:(

[Roxy66]

16. They are waiting for the confirmation from their reporter

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. OK. Thanks. I sure hope it was empty! n/t

[Tatiana]

57. Oh God!

How much more can one state take?

I hope everyone is safe :(

[aaronbees]

13. Prayers to people there...

I've always wanted to visit Lake Charles. Hope they make it through in mostly one piece. We're bracing for heavy rains on Sunday and Monday up here in Texarkana ... Rita is predicted to stall right over this area. :( Still, we'll have it easy compared to those poor towns on the LA/TX coast. So much devastation ...

[Roxy66]

15. They are on the 5th floor of a Hospital

and the water in the toilet is splashing up

[spuddonna]

17. Part of the roof may have collapsed at the hospital they're in...

Man I hope those people stay safe...

[cynatnite]

20. They said part of the roof of the building has collapsed n/t

[geomon666]

18. The roof is collapsing.

Good grief.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

21. This is such a bad thing, is Rita still a Cat 3? God the damage is

unbelievable to me.

[geomon666]

24. Yes.

There were reports of wind gusts of 140mph.

[spuddonna]

22. And they're talking to a sheriff...

Asking him how he's doing... "hunkering down".

[Roxy66]

23. Part of roof has collapsed...scary

[Ouabache]

25. That's really too bad, I always think of this song lyric for Lake Charles

ARTIST: The Band
TITLE: Up on Cripple Creek
Lyrics

When I get off of this mountain
You know where I want to go
Straight down the Mississippi river
To the Gulf of Mexico

To Lake Charles, Louisiana
Little Bessie, girl that I once knew
And she told me just to come on by
If there's anything she could do

{Refrain}
Up on Cripple Creek she sends me
If I spring a leak she mends me
I don't have to speak she defends me
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one

==================================================================/
One of my favorite songs.

[Roxy66]

26. This isnt even the worst yet

[cynatnite]

27. Sounds like they'll be forced to evacuate n/t

[Bluebear]

29. How can they remain so calm??

Amazing.

[Roxy66]

32. They are scared shitless

[Bluebear]

33. Of course they are, but to be able to keep broadcasting!

I think I would be better off-camera in this cituation!

[Roxy66]

30. Are the anchors going to stay there? Everyone else is going down a few

levels

[KharmaTrain]

31. They're Getting Ready To Evacuate At KPLC

They're broadcasting from the local hospital. Some of the roof has already torn away...and the worst winds still are several hours away.

Amazing they're able to keep going..

[incapsulated]

34. Where are they going to go?

Is it safe to drive anywhere? Is anywhere safe? What a horror. :(

[geomon666]

35. It wasn't the roof.

Thankfully.

[spuddonna]

36. Now, they are saying it appears a window broke...

The weatherunderground radar is showing a really big band hitting NO...
http://www.weatherunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200518_n0z.html?extraprod=n0z

[KharmaTrain]

37. Yes...They're Holding Tough

It appears their transmitter and antenna are still up and going...if it isn't the power going out, it's the winds taking the tower down (even though most of the NOLA towers withstood Katrina very well).

I guess it was a plate glass window...thank goodness.

It looks real nasty now on CNN...but they're on the other side of the eye wall...imagine what's going on outside those studios.

"...an easy 90..."

[Roxy66]

38. They are on generators right now...Kudos to all of them

[KharmaTrain]

40. Technically This Is Really Amazing

The most reliable utility are phone and cable lines. Many of the newer areas have these cables buried so they can't blow down during these type of storms. Now I doubt there are too many people in the area watching considering no one has electricity.

The Internet is another story. This signal looks like it's on a fairly wide bandwidth stream...and handled locally. Usually these sites go down when the local power goes out. This is a small station doing this with 99% inspiration.

[spuddonna]

49. Yeah, the microwave transmitters seemed to be doing really well...

I wonder if they lost the feed because the tower was damaged... Our prayers for those people. The one guy said his parents were watching... :(

[geomon666]

39. This is kind of weird for me.

I'm listening to these reporters talking about the wind and trees uprooted and they're in total awe. They can't believe their eyes. And I'm sitting here, almost 25 years old and I've seen it all from hurricanes from living in Miami. They talk of the trees bending over and I'm like, 'been there, done that.' Like I said, it's weird.

[Feron]

51. I'm still in awe over watching...

the gigantic longleaf pine in my backyard uproot. But then again, we normally do not get the stronger hurricanes. :)

[geomon666]

41. They're off the air

Be safe.

[Roxy66]

44. What was the last thing they said ? I had the sound down

[geomon666]

47. One of the guys was talking about how...

this is as bad as he'd ever seen in his career as a weather man and then blackness.

[nonconformist]

60. What a creepy last line! nt

[Roxy66]

42. Did you guys just loose the feed?

[I_Make_Mistakes]

43. Yep, hope all is okay with those guys.

[spuddonna]

46. I hope they're all safe... :(

The 'tornado chaser' guy was saying he'd never seen anything like it - the winds they're seeing now, and compared them to F2, F3 tornados... and then the feed went dead!

[KeepItReal]

48. Agreed

<eom>

[NorthernSpy]

45. City authorities tell residents to write their names on their arms in ink!

From South Africa's Mail and Guardian:

At Lake Charles in Louisiana, police told anyone planning to stay to write their name, date of birth and social security number on their forearms in waterproof ink so they can be identified if killed.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=251874&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

:think:

[cynatnite]

50. Did you see the blue bands on their wrists?

I know I saw one guy wearing one. It's for identification if they get killed.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

52. I saw it but where did you find out about the id thing?

[cynatnite]

54. One of the reporters on CNN, I think it was

He had one and he's over by a hospital...must the same place where these guys are at. The reporter explained what it was.

[geomon666]

53. Ok this is creeping me out.

[Roxy66]

55. The "The End" up in the left corner is spooky

[I_Make_Mistakes]

56. Yeah, but think about it, the communications were doomed to go

out eventually. I am actually surprised at how long they lasted. I don't want to take a stance on this, Katrina punched much harder, I just hope their networks went down.

And thanks for the blue wrist band explanation, weirded me out a little bit.

[Roxy66]

58. Casino splitting in half, Airport terribly damaged, Overpass collapse

It's bad....on Fox (Sorry) there is glass breaking where Rick Leventhal (or something like that) is staying.

[maddezmom]

59. Highway overpass collapsed near lake Charles

according to Fox