CATEGORY 5 INTENSITY WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM SUSTAINED - 165MPH!!

[Mr_Spock]

DATA FROM RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT RITA HAS REACHED
CATEGORY FIVE INTENSITY WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM SUSTAINED SURFACE
WINDS OF 165 MPH. THIS WILL BE REFLECTED IN THE 4 PM CDT ADVISORY

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCUAT3+shtml/211955.shtml?

[riverwalker]

1. just on CNN: Rita now Cat 5 n/t

[Usrename]

5. Cafferty was on a rant about Rita monopolizing the news,

just when he mentions the war in Iraq, BAM, Wolf interupts him with "BREAKING NEWS, BREAKING NEWS, THERE'S A HURRICANE!!!"

:rofl: This is too weird. It's the most bizzarre...

[charlie]

2. The evacuees in Houston

must feel like the unluckiest people on earth right now.

[JanMichael]

6. I think they have been moved; and to be honest, I have some very ugly

ideas as to "why" they were moved so quickly--

I think that the jackasses in the admin. are going to use this storm, and the space formerly occupied by Katrina tax payers...uhhh...refugees...to shelter Houston's own.

I think moving them was a Rovian chess move...

But! You ask..."shouldn't they have been moved to avoid the trauma of another storm?"

No! I answer....They should have been moved to a more humane and decent living quarter situation a long fucking time ago. Like...say....three weeks?

Stephanie

[charlie]

10. Some chose to resettle there, though

The ones that were "scaring" Babs. It would be the cruelest twist of fate if they were forced to relocate again.

[Igel]

17. Most of the people in the cattleyard shelters were

given 6-month vouchers for apartments or moved to smaller shelters. Thankfully. Many in smaller shelters were also given apartments.

If Tx has a home-grown refugee problem, they should be sheltered close to home. This isn't NOLA: we flood, we drain quickly. In a few days' time, the refugees can return home to survey the damage, retrieve what they can, even move back if power's restored and the damage isn't severe. Why move them a 1000 miles when they have a need to be kept close?

9th-ward NOLA folk still can't go back, 3 weeks after, with no return date announced.

I'm curious as to what the 150k people that nobody much gives a damn about--that majority-black population that fled to Texas on their own ahead of Katrina--are doing. Did they head back to Louisiana between then and now? Move on? Find apartments? Move into shelters?

[NNadir]

3. Don't worry. Rick Perry has it under media control.

This spin won't damage any one's political future.

[ewagner]

4. Interesting graphic

shows upper air circulations which MAY be steering this monster.

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/atlantic/winds/wg8dlm1.html

[iconoclastic cat]

7. Freaking Shiva! Is that another one forming behind Cuba? n/t

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

12. I believe that's Tropical Storm Philippe...heading north

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT17/refresh/AL1705W_sm2+gif/144702W_sm.gif

Not a threat (hopefully).

[undergroundrailroad]

15. That is an interesting graphic.

Stay safe.


Undergroundrailroad

[Modem Butterfly]

8. These things often lose intensity as they come toward shore

Hopefully, Rita will too.

[ewagner]

9. Good discussion

going on here:

http://flhurricane.com/cyclone/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=55570&page=0&fpart=12&vc=1

[derby378]

11. How many millibars?

I've heard reports of 908 mb - can anyone confirm?

[Nay]

13. Weather guy being interviewed on NPR 10 min ago said it was at

900 mb even.

[Mr_Spock]

14. 900??? Holy shit?

This could already be bigger than Katrina x(

[bigwillq]

16. 900? Really?

Wow, that didn't take long. It was only at 930 last time I checked a few hrs. ago. WOW!

[Nay]

18. Yeah, it was one of the scientists in one of the 2 planes doing the

measuring. He said it had surpassed Katrina in that area as he was speaking. Scared me, that's fo sho. I think gas is going to go to $5 here in a few days, and there will be no more Galveston. I shudder to think of the damage that seems more and more likely to come to pass.

[bigwillq]

21. I'm just hoping that residents of

the states that are likely to get hit--get out as soon as possible and make all the necessary arrangements to leave and to secure home and property.

And I'm hoping Federal, State and Local leaders do a much better job with this one. We again know that this huge storm is coming. There's no way we should not be ready.

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. Really? Should Bush do something before it hits?

This time?

[Hardrada]

20. Houston,

You have a problem.