What are you doing to save fuel?
Here's the part of FEMA's National Situation Update for Saturday, September 24, 2005 relating to hurricane Rita:
At 5a.m. EDT, the center of Hurricane Rita was located near latitude 29.9 north and longitude 93.9 west or near Port Arthur, Texas.
Rita is moving toward the northwest near 12 mph. A gradual turn toward the north and a decrease in forward motion is expected during the next 24 hours. This motion should bring the center of Rita farther inland over southeastern Texas today.
Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph with higher gusts, which make Rita a Category Three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Rita should weaken today as the center moves farther inland. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 85 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 205 miles. The minimum central pressure was 937 Mb or 27.67 inches.
Coastal storm surge flooding of 15 feet above normal tide levels, locally up to 20 feet at head of bays and nearby rivers with large and dangerous battering waves, can be expected near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. Tides along southeast Louisiana and Mississippi coasts in areas affected by Katrina could be 4 to 6 feet above normal and be accompanied by large waves and residents there could experience coastal flooding. Large swells generated by Rita will likely affect most portions of the Gulf Coast.
Since Rita is moving slowly and is forecast to slow down further over the next few days, rainfall totals of 10 to 15 inches are expected over eastern Texas and western Louisiana. Maximum rainfall totals in excess of 25 inches may occur over localized areas. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches are possible over southeastern Louisiana, including metropolitan New Orleans.
Isolated tornadoes are possible today and tonight over far eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and Mississippi.
A Hurricane Warning remains in effect from Sargent, Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana. At 5 a.m. EDT, the Tropical Storm Warning is discontinued south of Port O’Connor, Texas, but remains in effect for the southeastern coast of Louisiana east of Morgan City to the mouth of the Pearl River, including metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartain, and from the south of Sargent, Texas to Port Aransas, Texas. (National Hurricane Center)
Hurricane Rita's wind-driven storm surge topped one of New Orleans' battered levees and poked holes in another, sending water gushing into already-devastated neighborhoods just days after they had been pumped dry. An initial surge of water cascaded over a patched levee protecting the impoverished Ninth Ward on Friday, flooding the abandoned neighborhood with at least 6 feet of water.
Leaks beneath another levee that was repaired with rock and gravel after Hurricane Katrina flooded homes with at least a half-foot of water. Meanwhile, wind-whipped waves pushed water from Lake Pontchartrain over a seawall, and rain runoff with no outlet pooled in city streets.
The rain in New Orleans was expected to continue throughout the night, but meteorologists were already turning their attention west to the communities in the storm's crosshairs such as Lake Charles and Cameron.
The flooding came as Rita began lashing the Gulf Coast with rain and wind, and up to 500,000 people in southwestern Louisiana headed north. Some who fought hours of gridlock to get out of Texas were frustrated to find they had to keep going to stay out of the storm, which was expected to make landfall early Saturday.
Late Friday, southwestern Louisiana was soaked by the storm's outer bands. Ranches and marshlands were under water in coastal Cameron Parish. Empty coastal highways and small towns were blasted with wind-swept rain.
Lake Charles, not far from Rita's predicted path along the Texas-Louisiana line, was a virtual ghost town, as were the coastal parishes. Before nightfall, squalls were flattening sugar cane fields and knocking over trees near New Iberia, about 110 miles west of New Orleans. There were fears the storm would stall after coming ashore, dumping as much as 25 inches of rain over the next several days.
In New Orleans, water poured through gaps in the Industrial Canal levee, which engineers had tried to repair after Katrina's floodwaters left 80 percent of the city under water. The rushing water covered piles of rubble and mud-caked cars in the Ninth Ward, rising swiftly to the top of first-floor windows. It spilled east into St. Bernard Parish, where ducks swam down Judge Perez Drive.
The storm surge was both stronger and earlier than expected, apparently coming through waterways southeast of the city, said Col. Richard Wagenaar, the Army Corps of Engineers' district chief in New Orleans. Water poured over piles of gravel and sandbags in the damaged Industrial Canal levee despite efforts to build it up.
Farther north, water 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) deep was streaming into homes south of Lake Pontchartrain, spouting from beneath two gravel-and-rock patches on the London Avenue Canal levee. Corps engineers said they expected the leaks.
Officials with the corps said other levees around the city appeared secure. The problems would set back repairs at least three weeks, Wagenaar said, but June is still the target for getting the levees back to pre-Katrina strength.
In New Orleans, forecasters said the hurricane could bring 4 to 8 inches of rain, enough to put the patched levees at more risk. An added fear was that another strong storm surge would push water through the walls in other places. Still, the city may have escaped worse damage because it was not in the direct path of Hurricane Rita, said Tim Destri of the National Weather Service in Slidell.
A mandatory evacuation order was in effect for the part of New Orleans on the east bank of the Mississippi River, including the Ninth Ward. A spokeswoman for Mayor Ray Nagin said officials believed the neighborhood had been cleared of residents. (Media sources)
Amendment #5 for FEMA-1604-DR for the State of Mississippi added 31 counties for PA.
Amendment #3 for FEMA-1603-DR for Louisiana, Amendment #4 for FEMA-1604-DR, and Amendment #5 for FEMA-1605-DR for Alabama making the USCG Vice Admiral Thad Allen as the Federal Coordinating Officer for all three declarations. (FEMA HQ)
Please see the following message for the remaining stories.
Here's the EPA's Response Activity for Saturday, September 24, 2005 relating to hurricanes Rita and Katrina:
Hurricane Rita Preparations - EPA worked closely with the state of Texas to prepare for Hurricane Rita. EPA has pre-deployed three EPA response personnel and four contractors to the Regional Response Coordination Center in Austin, Texas. The pre-deployment team is co-located with other federal and state personnel to coordinate planning for Hurricane Rita response priorities. A full EPA Incident Management Team consisting of 18 EPA personnel will stage in Dallas, Texas on 9/24. The team will deploy to the impacted area as soon as the storm passes (anticipated to be 9/26). Additional response and contract personnel are standing by and will be brought to the scene once an initial needs assessment is complete. The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and EPA contacted chemical and refinery industry along the hurricane's path concerning their plans to secure and shut-down their plants. The Risk Management Program (RMP) under the Clean Air Act requires facilities to develop an emergency plan and coordinate their activities with local officials. Additional measures are being taken to prepare for response actions at chemical and petroleum facilities. EPA is currently mapping the facilities and sites expected to be impacted by Hurricane Rita. These maps will be used to conduct a Rapid Needs Assessment that will be conducted shortly after the storm passes. EPA has also listed these facilities in the Agency’s Rapid Assessment Integrated Database (RAID) which prioritizes targets for the reconnaissance phase of the response. Chemical products stored at the larger facilities to assist responders are also being identified. EPA is currently mapping Superfund hazardous waste sites expected to be impacted by Hurricane Rita. Teams of project managers are prepared to deploy to affected Superfund hazardous waste sites as soon as the storm passes. These teams will conduct thorough assessments and, if necessary, they will also sample the sites to determine any impact.
Public Outreach – FEMA has requested EPA, and other federal agencies, to provide a recorded message of information for broadcast over XM radio and TV to the evacuee shelters. EPA senior personnel are doing the interviews.
Hurricane-Related Fuel Waivers - In the continued effort to minimize potential fuel supply disruptions caused by Hurricane’s Rita and Katrina, on 9/22 EPA expanded the waiver to allow conventional gasoline (CG) to be sold and distributed in the Houston-Galveston reformulated gasoline (RFG) covered area to cover the Dallas-Fort Worth RFG area through midnight on September 30. In a related action, EPA granted a third waiver to extend the 9/9 waiver to allow regulated parties to distribute and sell CG in the Richmond, Virginia RFG covered area through midnight on 9/30. Retail outlets and wholesale purchaser-consumers will be allowed to continue selling or dispensing this fuel after 9/30, until their supplies are depleted. EPA and the Department of Energy will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with state and local governments to evaluate and respond to changing circumstances. More information on hurricane-related fuel waivers (http://www.epa.gov/compliance/katrina/waiver/index.html).
Gulf/Mississippi Water Sampling – Hurricane Rita is not expected to delay the deployment of EPA’s ocean vessel, the Bold, scheduled for a 9/26 mission to survey the waters of the Mississippi Sound and the Gulf of Mexico in the plume of the Mississippi River. The surveys will take about three weeks to complete.
Air Monitoring – On 9/23, EPA in coordination with Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, released results of air screening samples collected from multiple locations across New Orleans on 9/11 and 13-19. Because samples were not collected with standard monitors, the mix of particles in the screening samples cannot easily be compared to EPA's standards. However, to provide the public with a point of reference, EPA has compared the results to its Air Quality Index (AQI) for inhalable coarse particles, also known as PM 10. The AQI is an index of daily air quality that focuses on health effects that the public may experience in a few hours or days after breathing the air. The screening samples show particle pollution at levels considered moderate or "code yellow" under the coarse particle AQI on September 13, 14, 18 and 19. Coarse particle pollution is considered "moderate" when the 24-hour average level is between 55 and 154 micrograms per cubic meter of air. At these levels, unusually sensitive people should consider not engaging in vigorous exercise. For more information, see "Particle Pollution and Your Health" (http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=particle.cover). From 1999 to 2004, New Orleans averaged three "moderate" PM 10 days a year, based on measurements taken every six days. These data were collected using a portable, battery-powered monitor that often is used in emergency response situations, because it gives immediate readings. EPA does not use data from these types of monitors either for compliance purposes or for generating routine air quality advisories. These initial results represent the beginning of extensive sampling efforts and do not represent all air conditions throughout the area. As this is a dynamic situation, general conclusions should not be made regarding air quality based on results from this snapshot of data.
Public Information – On 9/19, EPA posted on its Web site an extensive list of questions and answers (http://www.epa.gov/katrina/faqs.htm) regarding flood water, drinking water, wastewater, human health, air issues, sediment, oil spills and superfund sites, asbestos, debris, and fuel waivers.
Sediment Sampling – On 9/22, EPA continued posting analytical results of sediment sampling from New Orleans. On 9/16 based on the initial results of this data, EPA recommended avoiding all contact with the sediment, where possible, due to the presence of E. coli and fuel oils. In the event contact occurs, EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly advise the use of soap and water, if available, to clean the exposed areas, and the removal of contaminated clothing.
EPA-CDC Report – EPA and CDC formed a joint task force to advise local and state officials of the potential health and environmental risks associated with returning to the City of New Orleans. The initial Environmental Health Needs & Habitability Assessment issued 9/17 identifies a number of barriers to be overcome and critical decisions to be made prior to re-inhabiting New Orleans. The report is available on the EPA web site at http://www.epa.gov/katrina/reports/envneeds_hab_assessment.html
Debris Assessment and Collection – EPA is conducting air monitoring at debris burn sites in Louisiana. EPA teams continue collection of household hazardous wastes (HHW) and orphan containers in the hurricane affected area. In addition, EPA personnel continue to offer technical assistance in the disposal of hazardous waste and other debris left behind by the storm. As of 9/22, EPA has collected over 37,550 HHW/orphan containers throughout the affected region.
Drinking Water Assessment – In the LA affected area, there are a total of 683 drinking water facilities that served approximately 2.8 million people. As of 9/22, EPA has determined that 534 of these facilities are operational, 19 are operating on a boil water notice and 130 are either inoperable or their status is unknown. In the MS affected area, there are a total of 1,368 drinking water facilities that served approximately 3.2 million people. EPA has determined that 1,228 of these facilities are operational, 100 are operating on a boil water notice and 40 are either inoperable or their status is unknown. In the AL affected area, there are a total of 72 drinking water facilities that served approximately 960,682 people. EPA has determined that all 72 of these facilities are operational. It should be noted that “operational” facilities may still be in need of repair or reconstruction.
Wastewater – In the LA affected area, there are a total of 122 Public Owned Treatment Works (POTW). As of 9/22, EPA has determined that 87 of these facilities are operational and 35 facilities are either not operating or their status is unknown. In the MS affected area, there are a total of 118 POTW. EPA has determined that 114 of these facilities are operational and 4 facilities are either not operating or their status is unknown. In the AL affected area, only 1 facility is not operating with 7 others having operational difficulties. It should be noted that “operational” facilities may still be in need of repair or reconstruction.
Superfund Sites - There are 16 NPL sites in the hurricane affected area of LA, 6 in AL and 3 in MS. 16 of the sites in LA have had initial assessments. Initial Rapid Assessments have been made on the 9 sites in AL and MS. EPA is still in the assessment phase, and will continue to monitor all the impacted NPL sites.
Hurricanes Rita & Katrina
FEMA Budget So Complex It Defies Consensus
FEMA's size varies enormously depending on whether or not there is a disaster, and it takes a disaster to get much money flowing. This makes it hard to find the resources for adequate planning.
Ga. Schools to Close Two Days to Save Gas
Most of Georgia's public schools will close Monday and Tuesday to conserve fuel in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Gov. Sonny Perdue has also asked people to conserve fuel in other ways.
Rita stories
Major Developments Stemming From Rita
No reports of deaths from Rita's strike -U.S. govt, Signs Encouraging From Texas Oil Patch, Feds Mobilize Massive Rita Relief Effort, Quotes About Hurricane Rita, Texas plans staggered return for Houston evacuees, Rita Floods Gulf Coast Towns, Sparks Fires, Battered New Orleans copes with floods again, Rita's Victims Wealthier Than Katrina's, Bush Pleased by Federal Rita Preparations, Hundreds Rescued From Flooded Homes in La., Rita Shutters 150 Wal-Mart Facilities, Pentagon Sending 500 Soldiers to Louisiana, Fires Cause Damage in Galveston, Houston, Rita damages estimated at up to $5 bln, Rita downgraded to Category 1, Bush Monitors Hurricane Rita From Colo., Fires Hit Galveston's Historic District Rita Hits Near Civil War Battleground, Bus Company Had History of Safety Problems, Refiners Applying Katrina Lessons to Rita, Best-Laid Plans Weren't Enough in Texas, Hurricane Rita Affecting Bird Migration
Hurricane Rita did not create as much damage as feared, and no deaths were reported, thanks to evacuations. Damage was an estimated $2.5 billion to $5 billion. Gas prices are likely to be high until refineries have been checked and power to them restored if necessary. The Federal Emergency Management Agency mobilised a good deal of government assistance.
Quotes included, "It's just stupid to be out in this." -- Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith, who was blown over while reporting from Beaumont on Friday night.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked evacuees to be patient, wanting to avoid the kind of traffic snarl-ups which characterised the evacuation, to allow the debris to be cleared from the roads, and to allow fuel to get in before the residents.
Falling poles brought down power lines causing sparks which set off fires in several towns and cities, including Galveston's historic Strand District.
Parts of New Orleans were under 8 feet of water again, and the Army Corps of Engineers planned to drop sandbags on a 30-foot-wide (9-meter) waterfall at the Industrial Canal.
A larger proportion of the people in Rita's path would have had their own car compared to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
President Bush sat out Hurricane Rita in the situation room at the U.S. Northern Command headquarters. He planned to visit the Texas emergency operations center in Austin later on Saturday.
The Pentagon was sending about 500 active-duty soldiers to Louisiana on Saturday and had about 27,000 National Guardsmen were ready to respond.
Hurricane Rita was downgraded to a category 1 storm by 11 a.m. EDT.
Sabine Pass, Texas, is near Port Arthur and includes the site of a Civil War battleground. It was nearly destroyed by a hurricane in 1886, and was hit again in 1900 and 1915.
The charter bus that burnt out during the evacuation of Houston, killing 24 elderly people, belonged to a company with a history of financial and safety woes. It was likely an old one pressed back into service for the emergency.
Learning from Hurricane Katrina, refiners distributed satellite phones to key personnel and positioned RVs, trucks, generators and cash before Hurricane Rita struck.
Texas had planned a staggered, orderly evacuation for Hurricane Rita but the roads jammed solid, more contraflows needed to be set up, earlier, and many ran out of gas. There are still lessons to be learnt for the evacuation of any city, but there are never going to be enough roads.
Migrating birds can usually sense barometric pressure and wind direction and avoid hurricanes. Hurricane Rita struck the Texas coast at what is usually a peak period, celebrated in Corpus Christi by an annual Celebration of Flight, which has been cancelled. Destruction of habitat for resident birds is a concern.
Katrina stories
Insurer Estimates Katrina Losses at $800M
The largest insurer of commercial property in the Gulf Coast region estimates that its Hurricane Katrina losses will be at least $800 million.
A Look at Katrina Victims in Shelters
About 73,000 hurricane refugees are in shelters in 22 states and Washington, D.C.
Other stories
Calif. Rep. Tries to Make Point About ANWR
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Committee, needs to save $2.4 billion over five years. He says he can do it by selling oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Holdouts Dim Prospects for Nuke Test Ban
The nuclear test ban treaty, ratified by 125 countries, is unlikely to ever come into force because 11 nations, including the United States, have not ratified it. The United States was one of 6 states which boycotted a conference which ended Friday.
Ind. Man Agrees to Transfer Exotic Animals
An Indiana man who keeps rare and endangered tigers and other animals in poor conditions has agreed to hand some of them over to rescue groups.
Fish and Wildlife Assigns Bull Trout Area
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to designate more than 100,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana as critical habitat for the threatened bull trout.
Breeding Super Buffaloes
Researchers in the Philippines are close to cloning a genetically enhanced water buffalo to boost farmers' productivity levels.
Index of topics in this series.
[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization. External Websites are "At Your Own Risk," and no endorsement is expressed or implied.]
