RSSPost Hurricane Rita, The Aftermath
As Rita grows weaker and slower, flooding, wind and rain still an issue for the Gulf Port region.
LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (CNN) — The remnants of what had been
Hurricane Rita dragged closer to their demise, but residual winds, flooding threats and darkness have forced an end to search-and-rescue efforts in southwest Louisiana.
Wind whipping at 30 mph is heaving water from Vermilion Bay and the Vermilion River onto land. Rescuers say they will wait until those conditions subside before resuming rescue missions.
The storm surge that created flooding should begin subsiding along the southeast Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, though tides could be 4 to 6 feet
above normal with large waves, the National Hurricane Center reported.
AP; Perry, Blanco Fly Over Cities Hit by Rita
Hurricane Rita’s imprint — washed-out towns, wind damage and trapped residents — became ever-more apparent Sunday as authorities took stock of the wreckage and Houston braced for the return of nearly 3 million evacuees. While Rita didn’t match the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina, it still left a massive trail of destruction in Texas and Louisiana. The storm caused “tens of millions of dollars” in structural damage in the Houston area alone, Harris County Tax Collector-Assessor Paul Bettencourt estimated.
Texas officials set up regions that would reopen to evacuees on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and Gov. Rick Perry urged Houston residents to respect the schedule laid out for an “orderly migration.” Commercial airline service to the city also resumed Sunday; many flights in were booked. Houston Mayor Bill White, wanting to avoid the gridlock that occurred as people fled from Rita, asked gas station attendants, convenience store clerks and grocery store workers to come back quickly. “There is some fuel available in tankers, but they can’t deliver it if you’re not there,” he said.
Houston Chronicle: Thousands getting jump on three-day plan for return
Hoping to beat gridlock as over 2.5 million evacuees try to make their way back to Houston and the Gulf Coast, thousands have begun their journeys home.
Hotels are one of few industries benefiting from Katrina (Hurricanes)
The recent hurricanes that have affected the Gulf Coast and Florida have been responsible for many bad things. Loss of life, property damage, increased gasoline prices to name a few. It has affected the airline and shipping industry as well. However, for the hotel industry is has created a boon.
ORLANDO (AP) — Hurricane Katrina may be blamed for rising gas prices, squeezing airlines’ bottom lines and agriculture shipping delays, but it has been a boon for one industry: the nation’s hotel sector.
The lodging industry’s leading research firm on Thursday raised revenue growth estimates for the year by more than a half-percent as a result of Katrina, adding to what already was expected to be the sector’s best year since 2000 when the industry profited $22.5 billion on $113.7 billion revenue.
Schools closed in the state of Georgia.
“It’s again trying to be transparent, forthcoming about information and asking people to relax and to understand that while we are taking this action to conserve fuel, it is best handled in the spirit of calmness and rationality,” Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.
And with that statement the Governor closed schools in the state of Georgia for the coming Monday and Tuesday. This action, done in haste, will create thousands of parents to be driving their children around the town to malls and other entertainment establishments to keep the children who are out of school entertained.
And on that note, Georgia is far from the top rated state when it comes to education in the country, the closing of the schools for two days, does not help the cause. Four school systems — Floyd County, Haralson County, Rome city and Thomasville city — decided to remain open. These seem to be a places that have their head on right.
Hurricane Rita has made Landfall at 2:30 AM
As Jim Cantore said, “It was not a Katrina, but it was a good storm. They were two different storms. The biggest issue will be getting 2.5 million people back into the city.
From the Weather Channel
Hurricane Rita’s eyewall, containing wind gusts of at least 90 to 115 mph, has absolutely punished coastal and interior areas of southwest Louisiana along with portions of Jefferson and Orange counties across the border in Texas. Hurricane Rita made landfall at 2:30 am CDT just east of the Texas/Louisiana border in western Cameron Parish between Sabine Pass and Johnson’s Bayou. With the likelihood of a tremendous surge along with the torrential rain, there were immediate reports of flooding in Cameron and Lake Charles, Louisiana. In fact, there is almost no doubt that a powerful surge has overcome a good portion of Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Along with the surge, mighty waves of 20 to 30 feet battered the upper Texas coast and coastal Louisiana. Winds have gusted to 112 mph at Cameron, Louisiana while Beaumont, Texas has gusted 105 mph and Port Arthur has gusted to 116 mph. There is also now a report of terminal collapse at the Lake Charles Regional Airport. Rainfall has obviously been torrential across parts of east Texas and the southern half of Louisiana. Around 8 inches of rain has already fallen over Beaumont, Texas while Baton Rouge, Louisiana has picked up well over 7 inches.
Towns hit most heavily, according to first accounts, included Beaumont, Lumberton and Port Arthur in Texas and the area around Lake Charles and Abbeville in Louisiana, which President Bush singled out in a morning appearance from a government command center in Colorado Springs as “hard hit.”
The densely populated Houston-Galveston area was in relatively good shape, with some blown out windows and widespread power outages.
As Hurricane Rita Nears, The Devastation begins
As Hurricane Rita closed in on landfall the wrath of her destruction was already being felt in the previously battered areas of New Orleans. The rain soaked and flooded areas of New Orleans were simply no match for Hurricane Rita as the steady rains created a breach in the patched levees that sent flood waters back into New Orleans.
Hurricane Rita’s steady rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city’s lowest-lying neighborhoods in a devastating repeat of New Orleans’ flooding nightmare. “Our worst fears came true,” said Maj. Barry Guidry of the Georgia National Guard. “We have three
significant breaches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly,” he said. “At daybreak I found substantial breaks and they’ve grown larger.”
The main concern from The Army Corp of Engineers is the following:
Forecasters say anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of rain could fall in New Orleans as Rita passes Friday and Saturday, dangerously close to the 6 inches of rain that Corps officials say the patched levees can withstand.
CNN: New Orleans’ 9th Ward floods. Storm surge pours over damaged levees; 30 city blocks inundated.
Posted September 24, 2005 by Scared Monkeys Illegal Immigration, Natural Disaster, weather | no comments |
