INLAND FLOODING PROBLEM LOOMS AFTER LANDFALL

This is a repost from www.hurricanecity.com where I wrote on this earlier today.

I really believe that as much as people want to make Rita.. Katrina The Sequel she has her own story and that story may indeed by the flooding AFTER landfall.

Yes, there will be storm surge.

Yes, she may trash the oil rigs.

Yes, she may cause devastation as a Category 3 or 4 upon impact along the coastal areas.

But...she is forecasted to stall out or "loop" after landfall. She is already slowing down.
Steering currents are weakening and there are no fronts lined up to snatch her water away and propel it up NE across regions which usually receive tons of tropical rainfall from such systems. This is not Katrina heading towards the NE areas of the US... nope...

She is way inland baby... something to think on.. maybe.

And, the more time that goes by this morning and the more I think on it.. the more I am worried on it.

It's not always what you expect that will get you.. but what you don't expect sneaking up on you while waiting for something else.

big prob to think on:
Flooding inland Texas/la area
Posted by bobbistorm on 9/23/2005, 11:16 amUser logged in as: Bobbistorm

A really big concern that has not been dealt with much (especially by the media) is that the mass of humanity that has evacuated from everywhere close to the Gulf is sitting inland right now in areas that will most likely have huge amounts of flooding after Rita makes landfall and the "steering currents collapse."

To me that is sort of a Floyd like problem. All the focus before the storm was landfall, barrier islands, the shoreline and then inland flooding became the real story.

Not to mention.. most people are stranded where they are waiting for the roads to open up, go home and find gas to get back in long, long traffic lines down to their "homes" if they have homes left (which most will have considering the large geographic area where people left in case...) and they may be stuck where ever they are while the area suffers flooding from very heavy rains.

IF Rita stalls out inland over Tx/La border.. that is a lot of tropical moisture to get dumped in one area.

from the 11 AM discussion at the NHC:

UPPER-AIR DATA SHOWS THAT THE HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM CONTROLLING THEMOTION OF THE HURRICANE IS ALREADY NORTH AND EAST OF RITA AND ISCENTERED OVER ARKANSAS AND TENNESSEE. CONSEQUENTLY...RITA HAS TURNEDMORE TO THE NORTHWEST AND IS NOW MOVING 310 DEGREES AT 9 KNOTS. NOSIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN TRACK IS ANTICIPATED BEFORE LANDFALL NEAR THEUPPER TEXAS OR SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA COAST EARLY SATURDAY. ONCEINLAND...THE STEERING CURRENTS ARE FORECAST TO COLLAPSE AND RITA ISEXPECTED TO MOVE LITTLE OVER NORTHEASTERN TEXAS AND SOUTHWESTERNARKANSAS. RITA BY THEN WILL LIKELY PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINS. THEOFFICIAL FORECAST FOLLOWS VERY CLOSELY THE MODEL CONSENSUS.RITA IS A LARGE HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTENDOUTWARD A GREAT DISTANCE. A SOND DROPPED FROM A RECONNAISSANCEPLANE MEASURED 56 KNOTS SURFACE WINDS ABOUT 120 N MI WEST OF THEEYE.FORECASTER AVILA