Models show Rita hitting TX or LA coast early Saturday as major hurricane; More levees fail in New Orleans, water pours in; 24 evacuees die in bus fire; New forecast track model, animation; Rita may dump 20 inches of rain; Nearly 2 million flee TX, LA; NASA pulls ‘ride out’ crew from space center; Scientists: You can’t modify hurricanes; Rita could devastate gulf refineries; N.O. spooks; NWS officials gave dire, accurate warnings before Katrina hit
Developing Stories Related To Rita: More levees fail in New Orleans; water pours in | In Ninth Ward, waist high and rising | New Orleans streaming video from WWL-TV and WDSU-TV | Houston streaming video here | N.O. weather/cams | 24 evacuees die near Dallas as bus bursts into flames
Models Show Rita Hitting TX Or LA Coast Early Saturday As Major Hurricane: Hurricane Rita’s forecast track has shifted eastward and many computer models (linked to later in this section) place landfall anywhere from near Galveston to SW Louisiana. Rita is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Saturday and then move to the north before slowing down and spinning over either East Texas or Louisiana, bringing up to 20 inches of rain across E. TX and W. LA. Latest Data/Models: NOAA Rita Page | National Hurricane Center‘s forecast track & strike probabilities | New: Forecast track and WRF radar animation … Story | Wunderground computer models and other models (See ‘frame 1′ links) | More in the red column
Rita Stories: Nearly 2 million flee Texas, Louisiana | NASA pulls ‘ride out’ crew from space center | Scientists: You can’t modify hurricanes | Rita could devastate gulf refineries | Raining in New Orleans, which may see up to 5 inches of rain | N. Texas could be spared | Busy hurricane season could run out of names | Latest Rita stories
Other Weather News: Severe storms hit Metro Detroit, cause flooding
Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Thursday: 1. Houston 2. New Orleans 3. Corpus Christi 4. Austin 5. Dallas/Fort Worth … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.
