Hurricane Rita targeting Texas Gulf Coast
This looks really bad, folks. - ferg (in Austin, TX) [snip] 000 WTNT63 KNHC 212351 TCUAT3 HURRICANE RITA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 650 PM CDT WED SEP 21 2005 ...RITA BECOMES THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE ON RECORD... DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT AT 623 PM CDT...2323Z...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO BELOW 899 MB...OR 26.55 INCHES. THE DROPSONDE INSTRUMENT MEASURED 32 KT/35 MPH WINDS AT THE SURFACE...WHICH MEANS IT LIKELY DID NOT RECORD THE LOWEST PRESSURE IN THE EYE OF RITA. THE CENTRAL PRESSURE IS PROBABLY AT LEAST AS LOW AS 898 MB...AND PERHAPS EVEN LOWER. FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES... A PRESSURE OF 898 MB IS ASSUMED... WHICH NOW MAKES RITA THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN. SOME ADDITIONAL DEEPENING AND INTENSIFICATION IS POSSIBLE FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS OR SO. RITA CURRENTLY RANKS BEHIND HURRICANE GILBERT IN 1988 WITH 888 MB AND THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE WITH 892 MB. [snip] http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCUAT3+shtml/211955.shtml - ferg -- "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson Engineering Architecture for the Internet fergdawg@netzero.net or fergdawg@sbcglobal.net ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:01:53AM +0000, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) wrote:
This looks really bad, folks.
- ferg (in Austin, TX)
[snip]
000 WTNT63 KNHC 212351 TCUAT3 HURRICANE RITA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 650 PM CDT WED SEP 21 2005
...RITA BECOMES THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE ON RECORD...
As far as biggest damage to the Internet goes, the obvious target is Houston. Most southern crosscountry paths go right through it, and many networks rely on it heavily in the construction of their rings heading north. At least Google doesn't seem to think it would be that bad in terms of flooding and storm surge: http://www.wxresearch.com/houhur.htm But if the power can't be sustained etc a lot of networks are in for a world of hurt. Looks like folks buying longhaul from (3) may be the best positioned as far as Houston goes, it looks like traffic from Atlanta and further north would go directly in to Dallas as a primary path. http://www.level3.com/userimages/DotCom/en_US/images/ir_full.jpg -- Richard A Steenbergen <ras@e-gerbil.net> http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)
On Wed, 21 Sep 2005, Richard A Steenbergen wrote:
But if the power can't be sustained etc a lot of networks are in for a world of hurt. Looks like folks buying longhaul from (3) may be the best positioned as far as Houston goes, it looks like traffic from Atlanta and further north would go directly in to Dallas as a primary path.
The current hurricane forcast path continues past Houston, through central Texas and past Dallas/Fort-Worth. While the hurricane will weaken after it makes landfall, the possibility of thunderstorms, tornadoes and other destructive weather exists along its path. As far as telelcommnications, Houston is more important than New Orleans. And Dallas is probably more important than Houston. But that's why you build diversity and redundancy. Houston is inland. Hopefully after Allison and the Houston floods in 2001, folks have learned where to locate generators and critical equipment. But there is always a limit to how prepared you can be. 24/72/168 hours of backup power? Some Gulf Coast telecommunication buildings were completely destroyed down to their building foundation. But facilities can be rebuilt. People are a different story. Remote monitoring should keep you up to date about the facility's status, while you re-locate your staff to a safe location. If you want cool pictures, leave a web camera in a window and evacuate. Pictures aren't worth your life.
participants (3)
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Fergie (Paul Ferguson) -
Richard A Steenbergen -
Sean Donelan