Doin' It Again - Hurricane Rita

Another cat 5 headed for the Gulf Coast. I'm glad to be well away from the projected path this time, but Houston is going to be rather close and on the east side. Jar, aren't you down close to the Mexican border? That would seem to be substantially to the west side so maybe you won't see much damage in your town, but this thing is another monster. On this track, if it holds together after landfall the way Katrina did, Dallas could be in for some serious trouble. Hard to believe!Here's the latest track projection map, from Weather Underground:

Yaro writes:

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Worry not! FEMA will save us!

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Well, they do have plenty of ice for the Texas hurricane victims. It's stored just nearby in PORTLAND, MAINE!!!Seriously, this is another one to literally freak out over. All levity aside, my heart goes out to the people of Texas, particularly those poor souls who went to Houston after enduring the American equivalent of the Black Hole of Calcutta. I had already said that I can't imagine what they've been through, but to add something like this on top of it! None of us can imagine the sort of dread they must be feeling.Life ain't fair, is it?

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

There aren't enough names beginning with 'Q' available to be rotated, so (I think) by international agreement that letter is skipped. So is 'Z', unless I'm mistaken, and there may be one or two others.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

Here's an interesting graphic, from The National Weather Service.  Like they said at Crooks and Liars, you just can't make this stuff up:

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

schraf writes:

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Makes you wonder what all those religious people who blamed New Orleans' "sinful" lifestyle for Katrina are going to say now that Rita is heading for Texas.

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Can you think of anything that gets destroyed regardless of where these things make landfall? Oil rigs!

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

I've noticed, dammit!

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005

RAZD write me:

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and of course if it swings a little wide you get it full bore?

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Well, we sure got a hell of a lot of rain and storms. The wind wasn't as strong as what we got from Katrina. I think we in Vicksburg have been close enough to both of these recent blows to observe the difference of being on the east vs west sides, even though the difference was distorted by proximity.With Katrina we were on the west side of a fairly nearby hurricane. We had almost a full day of near-hurricane-force winds which caused lots of damage, but relatively little rain. With Rita, we were on the east side of a more distant storm. Although the winds weren't nearly as violent, the rain was hard and non-stop for hours.The apartment I live in began to flood early today. A few gallons of water soaked my living room carpet in one corner. Apparently it leaked down from a flower bed directly above (this is a basement apartment). I've spent quite a bit of time today working with a wet-vac, but no damage was done. Believe me, though, it's a little startling to wake up to wet carpet while an intense thunderstorm is raging outside.I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned about this. Perhaps some more soil needs to be packed into that flower bed, but the rain today came from a direction directly opposite of usual. It was nonstop for so long that I don't really think it's likely that the apartment will flood again, or that it would be any worse than this if it did.

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"I think younger workers first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." George W. Bush, May 4, 2005