Friday, September 23, 2005

The Wall Of Water

Watching the Weather Channel here ate 4:30 EST it looks like Rita will make landfall around Port Arthur, Texas around noon tomorrow. The storm should hit at mid tide with a later arrival pushing toward low tide. They are forecasting a 20' storm surge with twenty to thirty foot waves on top of that, in other words, a 50' wall of water similar to the tsunami in the Indian Ocean last year. The water could reach inland as much as 20-30 miles with local flooding on top of that.

They are having great trouble evacuating the Texas Gulf Coast. Rick Perry really screwed the pooch by waiting so long to begin contraflow traffic. It has been roughly 19 hours to Austin and around 12 -14 hours to Dallas. They are advising people just leaving Houston not to bother.

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