A rain maker is all we need...no winds that can disrupt power. The temperature forecast for next week is even more brutal. Can't imagine being without AC next week because of a power outage.
Wow. All models pointing south. This path would be a rain killer for us. Strange that is has been moving NW for a while now it would have to turn W to WNW to go south of Corpus.
The winds around the center were rotating so fast that the clouds starting forming what looked like steps, thus the "stadium effect." At one point the winds in Rita were approaching 200 mph. It essentially was a giant tornado.
Regarding the horrific traffic jam during Rita on Hwy 59 N, many people died on that Friday before the storm hit. A State Trooper friend said it was close to twenty, many from heat stroke, heart attacks, and the like. My wife and I brought food and water to the stranded from morning until dark. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Most people were not prepared at all, they had nothing and couldn't get supplies because most places were closed. We filled up our van with food and water from Sam's. It was amazing.
when we got home that weekend...back from dallas...i immediately sat down and wrote out an account of what we experienced. the other day, my younger boy and i were watching a documentary speculating on what it would be like if aliens attacked. they talked about the Rita evacuation, specifically. he was just under 1 year old when we evacuated...not an easy trip with a little one.
Yikes. I've traveled twice to Europe with very young kids and just recently drove to WI and back with a 2 and a 3 yr old but the idea of taking a 1yr old through Rita traffic scares the heck out of me. EDIT: the 1st thing I did for Ike was get my wife and kids out of the house asap before any traffic could develop. I followed later.
he actually did really well. he slept a ton. his older brother, however, ate too many m&m's and threw up in the backseat. ahhh, good times...good times.
Between Houston and Lufkin, it was essentially one giant traffic jam; I don't know how far it went from there. Did it go past Lufkin? It was like a nightmare. Many stranded in Lufkin thought they would spend the night in Wal Mart, but they closed their doors in the afternoon. Many weathered the storm on the street. I lost over sixty trees at my house. Three felll on my house. It literally took two years to clean up and there are still trees down in the woods around my house from the storm. I'm guessing that we had 100 mph gusts with steady winds of 60-80 range. We are 125 miles from the coast. That's just ridiculous. Ike was almost as bad up here.
i'm fine with sticking around for a storm, unless it's cat 4. i'm not fine with sticking around for the nightmare of 2 weeks after still not having power. no, thanks. you stay.
I stay for the storms and then GTFO afterwards for some creature comforts and to avoid the creatures.
I don't think we can put this one to bed just quite yet. Depends on where the high pressure over the southern states ends up tomorrow. I really like to get these storms, little damage, lots of rain. However, in the last few hours this one appears to be "wrapping up." Or getting stronger.
Dang! I don't recall reading about that. Rita weakened when she came across inland, right? It would have been much worse if she stayed as a cat 5 ashore.
