Hurricane Rita

[sfaJack 0]

People here are in panic mode.  My father said all the grocery stores are out of water and canned goods and I had to get my prescriptions at Walmart today and you would have thought it was Christmas time.  Parking lot was jammed, the lines were all the way to the back of the store.  Carts were filled with bottled water, canned goods, paper products and batteries.  I honestly don't think it'll get really bad just because we are further north, but whatever.  I'll do whatever I need to so I don't get bitched at.

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Same here. I was in Wal-Mart (in Humble) yesterday at 3:00, and the wolves had already descended and pretty much destroyed the grocery section of the store. The lines weren't too long, but they had like 30 checkout lanes open. It was insane...and this is the north end of town that shouldn't be too affected by the storm.

 

The local media isn't helping by constantly comparing this storm to Katrina though.

[TSA09 0]

That's my feeling about being on the north side. We are far enough away that we'll probably get flooding like we did with Allison. That would be the only reason I'll head up with my parents in The Woodlands just to avoid my car being flooded out. But like you said, the media here isn't helping. I'm not saying this storm isn't bad but the media is blowing it way out of proportion. Oh well, it least I don't need to go to the store.

[Eclipse 0]

I just heard something about this hurricane doing a direct hit on Galveston, a city that had to deal with a REALLY bad hurricane back in the 1900's.

 

The U.S is gonna be REACHING REALLY deep into their pockets this year for disaster relief. Are there even gas/oil refineries in that area of Texas?

[sfaJack 0]

The U.S is gonna be REACHING REALLY deep into their pockets this year for disaster relief. Are there even gas/oil refineries in that area of Texas?

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Yep.

 

Here

 

Houston-area refineries say they're prepared

By TOM FOWLER

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Hurricane Katrina's visit to New Orleans was bad news for the nation's energy industry. If Hurricane Rita makes a similar visit to Houston it could be even worse.

 

 

There are 10 refineries in the Houston area representing as much as 13 percent of the nation's refining capacity. These facilities and countless chemical plants, located on the bays and bayous in Harris and Galveston counties, are at risk from storm surges like those that came with Katrina.

 

One worst-case scenario modeled by Houston engineering firm Dodson & Associates predicts that a Category 5 storm coming ashore near Freeport could send a wind-driven surge of water up Galveston Bay and into the Ship Channel. Such a storm would swamp many of these facilities, according to the study. The city is home to the nation's largest refinery, Exxon Mobil's Baytown facility, which processes 557,000 barrels a day.

 

Hurricane Rita may not pack the same punch as the storm envisioned in the study, and Houston is not below sea level like most of New Orleans. But with four refineries still out because of damage from Katrina, any lost capacity could add to high gasoline prices.

 

But it's been more than 20 years since the Houston-area felt the full brunt of a hurricane.

 

"People think there was a national impact from Katrina," said Chris Johnson, president of Dodson & Assoc. "But if a storm that size hits here it will be a bigger deal."

 

When Katrina came ashore in Louisiana last month, flooding and downed power lines crippled many onshore oil and gas facilities, including more than 10 percent of the country's refining capacity.

 

The last time Houston was hit by a large storm was August 1983's Hurricane Alicia. The storm came ashore on Galveston Island as a Category 3 storm, knocking out more than one-third of the area's power.

 

Facilities such as Exxon's Baytown refinery and most units at what was then Arco Chemical's Channel View plant remained operating throughout, however.

 

Designed to handle surges

Refineries and chemical plants are designed to handle heavy winds, and facilities built along the coast take flooding into consideration as well. But no one can predict how well they'll handle a hurricane.

 

The power lines that feed refineries are susceptible to high winds. Two large power plants run by Texas Genco sit on the south shore of the Ship Channel. The power company said they have been designed to handle storm surges.

 

Royal Dutch Shell's 1,500-acre chemical plant and refinery complex in Deer Park sits between 10 feet and 25 feet above sea level, said spokesman David McKinney. During 2001's Tropical Storm Allison about

 

4 inches of water accumulated over many parts of the property, but since then the company has upgraded stormwater pumps and improved drainage.

 

In Texas City, home to BP's refinery (processing 437,000 barrels a day) and a Valero facility (210,000 barrels a day), 15-to-20-foot seawalls are designed to keep storm surges at bay.

 

"We've looked at some modeling that shows the industrial sector, including our site, to be in a reasonably good position," said Neil Geary, BP Texas City's communications manager.

 

Valero's plant is right on the water.

 

"If we had Katrina-like storm surges at the 20-foot level, we'd see some local refinery flooding," said Valero spokeswoman Mary Rose Brown. She said the company's St. Charles, La., refinery was hit hard by Katrina, but good planning allowed it to recover quickly.

 

In Freeport, managers at Dow Chemical's 5,000-acre production facility are watching Rita warily. The massive facility hasn't seen a major storm since Hurricane Carla in 1961, said spokesman Dave Winder, which brought significant flooding. There have been improvements made to the levy system since, which now reaches about 16 feet high and is expected to withstand a Category 3 storm.

 

Exxon officials did not provide details of the Baytown refinery's storm protection by Tuesday evening.

 

Since Monday, most local companies have taken precautions, such as removing scaffolding, tying down loose items that could become airborne in heavy winds and removing things that could clog storm drains.

 

Most refineries and chemical plants need to decide whether or not to shut down processes about 72 hours before a storm hits, which in this case would be today, says David Harpole, a spokesman for Lyondell Chemical, which operates a number of local refineries and chemical plants.

 

"Protecting workers and the community are top priorities, but companies work to protect their physical assets, too," said Chris Miller, a spokeswoman for chemical maker Rohm and Haas. "That could mean bringing them down in an orderly shutdown, working off raw materials onsite, not accepting additional materials and shipping products out ahead of the storm."

 

 

Higher ground

Houston has a number of advantages compared with New Orleans. No parts of Houston are below sea level, so a storm surge would recede relatively quickly. But if a storm brings heavy rains to the west part of the city, bayous and streets could fill further.

 

"I've seen Buffalo Bayou downtown flowing upstream due to storm surge," Johnson said. "Combine that with heavy rainfall to the west and you've got a serious problem."

 

All the models they keep talking about down here show the direct hit being more towards Matagorda, about 100 miles south of Houston. That would be better than a direct hit, but it still puts most of the Houston area on the dirty side of the storm.

[Guest /-lester-/]

How about they just name it Hurricane HOLY SHIT and call it a day?

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BULLETIN

HURRICANE HOLY SHIT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL182005

0300Z WED SEP 21 2005

 

HURRICANE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 23N TO 27N:

THIS HURRICANE IS A MUSHROOM CLOUD LAYING MOTHERFUCKER, MOTHERFUCKER. YOU BETTER MOVE.

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You better move

[Dangerous A 0]

Here is a map of the path of Rita...

 

 

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4082...ita5_map416.gif

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Damnit why can't it go hit the empty town. I've got pals in Houston. =/

 

Not to mention that a lot of refugees decided that they wanted to make the area their new home, so I guess we'll be finding out how much of the looting is by out-of-towners.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

Welp... it's a category 5 and hasn't even gotten past the halfway point of the gulf.

 

And I'm all for calling the Hurricane HOLY SHIT... I can see that on the Situation Room between the talking heads.

 

Talking Head 1: HOLY SHIT is moving towards Galvaston at slow rate right now and HOLY SHIT will make landfall on the Texas coastline sometime Saturday morning.

 

Talking Head 2: This storm, HOLY SHIT, may be the most devestating storm to hit the coastline since Camile. You though Camile was bad Galveston? Wait till you see HOLY SHIT!

 

Talking Head 1: You might say that HOLY SHIT is about to hit the fan.

 

Taking Head 2: .....

[Dangerous A 0]

Damnit why can't it go hit the empty town. I've got pals in Houston. =/

 

 

My brother, who is also one of NoCalMike's best friends lives in Houston. I just got off the phone with him and told him he needs to get out of that city asap.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

I live in Houston on the Northeast side, I have to work tomorrow morning and then I'm out of here. I'm heading to my Grandfather's house outside Cameron, TX which is more in Central Texas so I won't have to worry about it.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

It's almost tornado season. BRING IT ON!

[Guest /-lester-/]

Ritaaa is now thw third strongest hurricane on record

[A Happy Medium 0]

I live in the Dallas area, and the way this storm works is even making me worry.

 

Some of the outer bands of rain are probably going to come up here as Rita makes landfall. Plus, it will most likely be a tropical storm when it hits us. This is going to be fun. I hope the nearby lake doesn't flood.

[LJSexay 0]

so Rita is bigger and potentially more catastrophic compared to Katrina?? oh hell. These are terrible, historic times.

[Perfxion 0]

NO may get flooded, even with the storm completely passing them.

 

I45 being used to ease traffic, having both NORTH and SOUTH bound traffic going north to ease problems. Yet, NO GAS left in Northern Houston area.

 

Storm is slightly weaking with top MPH speeds of sustained winds being at 170

 

In other words, this area is completely fucked unless this drops down to a cat3

[Red Baron 0]

 

So this is an image of what Rita can do, and all the oil refineries that are in Rita's path.

[TSA09 0]

Well I'm logging on from my parent's house with some update.

 

-All stores have closed for the most part. The gorcery stores shut down at 1PM today.

 

-People are running out of gas in a hurry. Going to the store again today, we saw at least 15 cars stopped on the side of the road due to empty tanks. A lot of the tanker trucks with gas are stuck in the traffic and cannot get to the heavy congested areas to fill the gas stations. A lot of stations are totally empty and are closing, stating they will not get any more gas until the hurricane passes. They had people on the news this morning at 3AM filling anything they could with gas (big water cooler water tanks, gas cans, milk jugs...basically anything that could hold fluid)

 

-Most people in Houston are trying to head north to Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and are becoming very unsucessful. For a 30 minute drive to places, it is taking 3 hours to get to where you need to go. Some have tried going to Louisania but that might not be the safest place since the storm could turn and head to Lake Charles or NO depending on what the pressure system does.

 

I am in a flood area, but high enough up that none of my possessions should get flooded out. My only concern was my car which is why I got out when I did. I left at 5AM this morning just to avoid any traffic that there could be on the back roads (since people were calling in the road stations and telling people alternative roads to take to get to certain places) We have limited cell phone use since there are so many people in the area all on their cell phones. It is hit or miss if I can make calls from my cell phone or have people call me. I am able to get through on the land line here with little to no problems yet.

[Paul Stanley 0]

Please pray for my family & others down there.

 

 

 

Edit: Actually, that's kind of selfish.

 

Please pray for everybody.

 

I was born in Lubbock, but spent most of my years in south TX.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

So can we expect more insane gas prices in the coming weeks?

[Red Baron 0]

So can we expect more insane gas prices in the coming weeks?

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Yes, and worse. For you Americans I think they are predicting $4-$5 a gallon depending how worse it can get.

 

What pisses me off that they can jump a price a dollar in seconds but to lower the price it takes weeks/months to where it was before.

[the max 0]

I'd say so, Bruiser. Get a bike.

 

I'm glad I don't own a car and don't have to buy gas for my work truck. The worst diesel got down here was 3.69/gal.

[Red Baron 0]

 

Here's a chart on gas prices dating back 90 years.

 

What I don't understand is that gas is hiking up, but before gas prices never really jumped after hurricanes and other natural disasters. So why now?

[DerangedHermit 0]

 

Here's a chart on gas prices dating back 90 years.

 

What I don't understand is that gas is hiking up, but before gas prices never really jumped after hurricanes and other natural disasters. So why now?

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Because the oil barons are smoking Franklins.

[Dangerous A 0]

Damnit why can't it go hit the empty town. I've got pals in Houston. =/

 

 

My brother, who is also one of NoCalMike's best friends lives in Houston. I just got off the phone with him and told him he needs to get out of that city asap.

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Good news is my brother made it out of Houston today after leaving early yesterday and made it to a friend's house in San Antonio.

[sfaJack 0]

Thought I'd add an update here...

 

Several folks in my neighborhood (in NE Houston) are sticking it out, including me. The family across the street tried leaving for the mother's parents' house in Louisiana this morning, but made it exactly six miles down the road in an hour and a half before coming home. They said there's no way they'd have enough gas to get anywhere, so might as well stay home. We're tenatively planning a huge block party for Sunday afternoon/night, provided the storm is over by that point. Those same neighbors even went to Kroger a mile away and came back LOADED up with beer. Yay.

 

The good news that has been mentioned now is that the storm has apparently taken a sharp, unexpected turn north, putting its landfall point somewhere between Port Arthur and Lake Charles, sparing Houston and Galveston of the feared direct hit and putting us on the "better" west side of the storm. We'll still probably get lots of wind and rain, but maybe the destruction of some areas that was feared won't happen. Obviously, with nearly 36 hours to go before landfall that can change, but we're all hopeful at this point.

 

The freeways are a wreck though. I was thinking of going to my aunt's house in Austin very early this morning, but it was taking up to 20 hours to make it that far at the time and that just didn't seem to be a good idea, especially with no gas to be had anywhere. I'm glad I stayed here because there are people stranded with either empty gas tanks or overheated engines everywhere.

 

About 33 hours to go...

[TSA09 0]

Damnit why can't it go hit the empty town. I've got pals in Houston. =/

 

 

My brother, who is also one of NoCalMike's best friends lives in Houston. I just got off the phone with him and told him he needs to get out of that city asap.

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Good news is my brother made it out of Houston today after leaving early yesterday and made it to a friend's house in San Antonio.

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He's lucky, most people can't get very far now. Glad he made it out and is safe.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

So can we expect more insane gas prices in the coming weeks?

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Yes, and worse. For you Americans I think they are predicting $4-$5 a gallon depending how worse it can get.

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Well thank God I'm Canadian.... wait a minute... I'm really not! FUCK!

[Vampiro69 0]

It is so nice not to have to worry about Hurricanes up here.

[CanadianChris 0]

So can we expect more insane gas prices in the coming weeks?

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Yes, and worse. For you Americans I think they are predicting $4-$5 a gallon depending how worse it can get.

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Well thank God I'm Canadian.... wait a minute... I'm really not! FUCK!

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Wouldn't matter. We're getting assraped just like everyone else. It's expected to hit $1.60/L tonight, which works out to just over US$5/gallon.

[SuperJerk 0]

Thought I'd add an update here...

 

Several folks in my neighborhood (in NE Houston) are sticking it out, including me.

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"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT!"