A cat 5 with the distinction of being the third most intense storm on record... and it still has more open water to move across...

Fill up the cars now... we are in for another hit.

 

they actually said that if it stays on course they predict the eye will pass right over the mid-cities

 

Sustained winds up to 175mph and the current projected path has the storm going right up near Austin still with cat 1 hurricane force winds.

 

well on WB33 they say if it stays strong we here in the DFW area will probably get Tropical Storm warnings

 

the noaa site shows it pretty much bisecting the dfw area. as a rule of thumb, the most powerful portion of a hurricane is the northeastern area of the mass. rita will most definitely dump a shitload of rain....(i've seen predictions of 4-9"). and more than likely flooding in areas...i bet it will flood the crappy humps of dirt that are supposed to hold back the mighty trinity down here in my neck of the woods. good thing im not on the ground level....downtown hasn't impressed me with its storm draining capabilities!

 

This is just nuts. My sister was ordered to evacuate from Pearland yesterday. She packed and got into her car at 4:30pm yesterday and by 4:30am, she still had not made it to Woodlands. Because they were running low on gas, she and her boyfriend had to turn around and head back to Houston. Apparently, all the gas stations down there are running out of fuel. I-45 is just packed and lots of cars are becoming stranded.

 

Latest and greatest path... oh and btw I-45 is open North only

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_a...html?5day?large

 

Hmm, I'm guessing the more easterly path bodes well for Austin and DFW areas... Houston and Galveston are still in bad places, though.

I've been reading the Houston forum a bit - some people are talking about having to go to almost ten different gas stations to find one that has any gas.

 

I just saw on channel 4 that the drive from Galveston to Dallas is taking 22 hours!

 

Gas stations are out in some Austin locations, some only have premium remaining. There are long lines at the discount stations while Costco and Randall's closed the pumps last night. Gas prices spiked over 10 cents overnight and the signs are changing every few hours. The shelves are bare where the bottled watter and "D" cell batteries once were.

You would think the strorm was on Lake Travis.