RSSIts Official, Hurricane Rita is a Cat 5
Hurricane Rita now has winds in excess of 165 miles per hour and is a CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE.
Washington Post: Rita Swirls Into 165-Mph Monster in Gulf
As many as 1 million people were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast,
and hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated Wednesday as Hurricane Rita turned into a Category-5, 165-mph monster that could slam Texas by the weekend and inflict more misery on New Orleans. Forecasters said Rita could be the most intense hurricane on record ever to hit Texas, and easily one of the most powerful ever to plow into the U.S. mainland. Category 5 is the highest on the scale, and only three Category 5 hurricanes are known to have hit the U.S. mainland _ most recently, Andrew, which smashed South Florida in 1992.
One can only hope that after what was witnessed during and after Hurricane Katrina that people will heed the warnings and evacuation orders to leave the areas in the path of Hurricane Rita.
Houston Mayor Bill White has called for residents to leave low-lying areas of the city as Hurricane Rita approaches. Mr White has warned there are not enough government vehicles to evacuate everyone in the affected areas, and urged friends
Reuters: Texans evacuate as Hurricane Rita strengthens
“We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm, but we’ve got to be ready for the worst,” said U.S. President George W. Bush, who was heavily criticized for an ill-prepared federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
Determined not to repeat the mistakes of Katrina.
Texas prepared for Hurricane Rita on Tuesday by ordering the state’s first mandatory evacuation, declaring the state a disaster area and moving supplies to inland cities in anticipation of evacuees. Using a law passed this year, Galveston County officials ordered a mandatory evacuation of its coastal communities beginning at 6 tonight. Elderly residents living in nursing homes and assisted living centers were to be evacuated by bus before dawn today.
CNN: Texans flee colossal Rita, Category 5 storm is third most intense ever.
Many heed the warning as what they had previously witnessed with Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast area.
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — As more than 1 million people scurried to get out of the way of Hurricane Rita, the Category 5 hurricane grew more turbulent, becoming the third most intense storm in history, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday night.
Officials said the barometric pressure near the eye of the storm was 898 millibars or less, a lower reading than Hurricane Katrina, which slammed into the Gulf Coast August 29.
Hurricane Rita, Category One, then Two … Now Four
Hurricane Rita is now a category 4 hurricane an now tracking to hit the Texas and western Louisiana shore line.
Radar tracking:
Infrared ImageWater Vapor Loop
Hurricane Strike Probability Map
The United States Gulf (Texas) brace for what looks like yet another category 4 hurricane.
New Orleans to face more possible flooding from Hurricane Rita.
Forecasters said the storm that swiped Florida on Tuesday could strengthen to a Category 4 and hit Texas by the end of the week. But a slight turn to the right was possible and engineers feared additional rain could swamp the city’s levees.
Evacuations orders in preparations of Hurricane Rita in the Gulf
Update: Hurricane RitaTracking models
Discussion Forum for Hurricane Rita
Tropical Storm Upgraded to Category 2 (was 1) Hurricane (Rita)
The National Hurricane Center upgraded Rita Tuesday morning from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane.
… projected that it would intensify and produce dangerous “battering waves” and flooding in the Florida Keys in a matter of hours before heading westward into the Gulf of Mexico toward the region devastated by Katrina. As of 11
a.m., Rita was traveling at about 15 mph with sustained winds of 85 mph in the northern eyewall, with the prospect of impacting the Keys “directly,” the center said. While the Keys have been closed to tourists, there were reports that about 80,000 residents had remained in the area with hopes that they can safely ride out Rita’s fury.
In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry (R) recalled all emergency personnel helping with recovery from Hurricane Katrina to prepare for Rita, including almost 1,200 Texas National Guard members, wire services reported. “The time is now to begin mobilizing our resources and implementing our plan to ensure an orderly response before Texas is hit,” Perry said. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said emergency officials told him to be prepared to take in evacuees from Texas because of Rita.
CNN: Wind, rain lash area as Hurricane Rita gains strength
Rita strengthened rapidly on Tuesday to a Category 2 hurricane as it lashed the Florida Keys with flooding rain and strong wind and sparked fears the storm could eventually bring new misery to the Gulf Coast.
Rita went from a tropical storm with top sustained wind of 70 mph early Tuesday to a hurricane with 100 mph wind by early afternoon as it passed just south of the Keys, the National Hurricane Center said.
UPDATE: AP
Rita strengthened rapidly to a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday as it raked the Florida Keys with flooding rain and sparked a flurry of storm preparations across the Gulf Coast.
Reuters: New Orleans jittery as new storm threatens Gulf
Hot Southeast Real Estate Market; Katrina Disaster has a Silver Lining
With the relocation of so many people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the infusion of Federal and Insurance money, the real estate market has been busy throughout the southeast. Many of those who have fled the Gulf Coast are not planning on returning, and are renting and buying new homes at a record pace.
The exodus of Hurricane Katrina evacuees seeking homes and places to run their businesses is rocking already-hot real estate markets throughout the Southeast.
From Pensacola, Fla., to Houston, legions of people and companies that fled the disaster are snapping up houses, apartment rentals and office and warehouse space as soon as they discover it. Real estate investors also are buying homes and renting them out.
The surge of buyers and renters — plus some bidding wars — are driving up sales and rental prices 10% to 50% in residential and commercial markets, say dozens of shell-shocked real estate agents and economic development officials across the Gulf Coast region.
“There has been huge demand everywhere,” says Al Mansell, president of the National Association of Realtors. “These people all need short- and long-term housing.”
and now for some irony, the New Orleans real estate market is also on fire.
Oh No Not Again, Here Comes Tropical Storm (Hurricane) Rita
Tropical Storm Rita forms near Bahamas
Tropical Storm Rita, the 17th tropical storm of the busy Atlantic hurricane season, formed near the Bahamas on Sunday and prompted an evacuation
order for tourists in the lower Florida Keys. Forecasters said Rita could be a hurricane by late on Monday, when it was expected to be in the Florida Straits between the Keys and Cuba. The Bahamas, southern Florida, the Keys, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands were all under storm alerts.
Forecasters said Rita’s path could take it into the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Infrared Loop of Tropical Storm Rita.
