Here we go again...
NOAA's National Hurricane Center is forecasting that Hurricane Rita will make landfall along the Gulf Coast, probably along Galveston, Texas sometime early Saturday morning.
Galveston is already ordering a voluntary evacuation of the island and is considering a mandatory evacuation as early as Thursday or Friday. According to the Houston Chronicle, they will not force people from their homes.
Of course, it is still to far out to make an accurate prediction. Early forecasts are calling for Rita to be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall. However, current Gulf of Mexico temperatures are still in the mid-to-upper 80s, similar to Hurricane Katrina when it emerged over the Gulf from Florida.
If the storm slows over the warm waters, it could build just as quickly as Katrina did...and become just as deadly.
In February, the Houston Chronicle did a series of reports predicting the damage from a Category 5 storm if one were to strike just southwest of Galveston Island (in other words, the majority of Galveston Island and the Houston Ship Channel would be in the Northeast Quadrant, the most damaging section of the storm. It was this quadrant of the storm that did the most damage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast).
Interesting reading. I hope and pray my former hometown is spared the wrath of Rita.
Galveston is already ordering a voluntary evacuation of the island and is considering a mandatory evacuation as early as Thursday or Friday. According to the Houston Chronicle, they will not force people from their homes.
Of course, it is still to far out to make an accurate prediction. Early forecasts are calling for Rita to be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall. However, current Gulf of Mexico temperatures are still in the mid-to-upper 80s, similar to Hurricane Katrina when it emerged over the Gulf from Florida.
If the storm slows over the warm waters, it could build just as quickly as Katrina did...and become just as deadly.
In February, the Houston Chronicle did a series of reports predicting the damage from a Category 5 storm if one were to strike just southwest of Galveston Island (in other words, the majority of Galveston Island and the Houston Ship Channel would be in the Northeast Quadrant, the most damaging section of the storm. It was this quadrant of the storm that did the most damage to the Mississippi Gulf Coast).
Interesting reading. I hope and pray my former hometown is spared the wrath of Rita.
posted by Warrior Gorilla at
10:06 PM
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