***Lili is now a Category 4--Mebs???***

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From what I heard on TV, looks as if Lili is moving fast and will have destructive winds for hundreds of miles inland--like in your state. Fingers crossed. . .

I tried to reach my son but had to leave a message. I hope he's evaccing somewhere east. Quite a surprise to see the rating jump from a 2 to a 4.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002

Answers

It seems like no one is absolutely sure what Lili is going to do. If I were anywhere near it, I'd be headed inland.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002

FoxNews

Lili Upgraded to Category 4 Hurricane

AP

NEW IBERIA, La. — Hurricane Lili became a potentially disastrous Category 4 storm Wednesday afternoon as it continued on its collision course with America's Gulf Coast, and officials in Texas and Louisiana were warning residents in its path to move inland before it's too late.

About 330,000 people in Texas' Jefferson and Orange counties were told to evacuate early Wednesday after a tidal surge of as much as 18 feet was expected to pound the surf.

Evacuations also were ordered along the low-lying areas southwest Louisiana.

Officials at the National Hurricane Center said Lili had sustained winds over 135 miles per hour and could grow even stronger as it approached the coast. A Category 4 hurricane packs sustained winds over 131 mph with a storm surge of 13 to 18 feet above normal, and low-lying escape routes are often covered with water 3 to 5 hours before the storm hits.

Mobile homes in the hurricane's path could be completely destroyed.

Coastal residents of Louisiana were scrambling for higher ground and barricading their homes and businesses, and Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster declared a state of emergency, less than a week after Tropical Storm Isidore blew through the region. That storm flooded hundreds of homes and caused an estimated $100 million in damage.

"We're as ready as we can be," Foster said early Wednesday. "But you're never fully prepared. There's only so much you can do."

Lili, which was expected to make landfall Thursday, entered the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as a Category 2 hurricane with wind of 110 mph. Forecasters said that by Wednesday morning it had reached Category 3, with sustained winds of 120 mph and higher gusts of more than 140 mph.

Shortly before 2 p.m. EDT, the storm was elevated to Category 4 status.

The Department of Health and Human Services sent 210 volunteer doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to Jackson, Miss. and Shreveport, La., Wednesday, said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

AP AP Tuesday: An unidentified man fights against the wind in Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Earlier, Lili barreled through the Caribbean, killing seven people in Jamaica and St. Vincent and driving tens of thousands of Cubans from their homes.

Compared to Isidore, "Lili will have greater impact, but in a smaller area," Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Wednesday on CBS' Early Show. "It's not as large as Isidore, but it is much more powerful."

Forecasts showed Lili heading for the middle of Louisiana's coast, and officials warned that areas could be inundated with as much as 20 feet of water.

"It would take us under water, it would be disastrous," said Ruth Fontenot, mayor of New Iberia, a historic Cajun town of 35,000 about 10 miles from Vermilion Bay and 25 miles from the Gulf.

At nearby Avery Island, the home of Tabasco hot pepper sauce, McIlhenny Co. officials prepared for a possible shutdown of bottling operations.

"We boarded up and battened things down," said Tony Simmons, executive vice president and a great-great-grandson of Tabasco inventor Edmund McIlhenny.

"We're bottling right now and we're not anticipating anyone running out of Tabasco," Simmons said Tuesday afternoon. Avery Island is the company's only bottling plant.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Lili was about 365 miles south-southeast of New Orleans.

A hurricane watch was declared for the Gulf Coast from northern Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River, meaning hurricane conditions were possible within 36 hours. A tropical storm watch was in effect from the Mississippi River to Pascagoula, Miss.

In Texas, officials advised the 250,000 residents of the Beaumont-Port Arthur area and 80,000 residents of neighboring Orange County to head inland early Wednesday.

NHC/NOAA NHC/NOAA Wednesday: Satellite imagery shows Lili fast approaching the Louisiana coast.

"The latest forecasts still have this thing running down our throat," Beaumont Mayor Evelyn Lord said late Tuesday.

NASA postponed Wednesday's shuttle launch because of the storm. The space agency said it did not want to take a chance of launching Atlantis from Cape Canaveral, Fla., only to have the hurricane bear down on Houston, home to Mission Control. NASA said Monday would be the earliest the launch could occur.

In Grand Isle, a vulnerable barrier island south of New Orleans, workers raced to repair a 2,500-foot beach levee washed out by Isidore. Officials ordered a mandatory evacuation beginning Wednesday morning.

Nearby, Port Fourchon was also shutting down and evacuating. Officials estimate about 16 percent of the nation's crude oil and 17 percent of the nation's natural gas comes from rigs and platforms that require access to the port.

LOOP, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port about 20 miles off the coast, also closed. It is the biggest U.S. crude oil import terminal, handling about 1 million barrels of crude a day, or 11 percent of U.S. imports.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service said 121 platforms and 42 rigs had been evacuated.

Meanwhile, New Orleans officials mulled over possible evacuation problems.

Officials talked about closing Interstate 10, a major evacuation route out of the city, if the highway floods as it did during Isidore.

Many Gulf Coast residents had nothing on their minds but getting away from Lili.

Tony Buffington, a Mormon leader in New Iberia, said he and his wife called more than 100 church members to tell them to get out. The Buffingtons planned to leave with their family and friends.

"I'm packing everything tonight. I packed my mom's house today. And I'm going to sit up all night and watch what happens to the hurricane on my computer," Cindy Buffington said.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002


wwl-tv

Metro Area Hunkers Down

Saturated Ground Prompts Flood Watch

Posted: 2:19 p.m. CDT October 2, 2002

Updated: 3:16 p.m. CDT October 2, 2002

NEW ORLEANS -- Although Lili was expected to make landfall Thursday on the central or southwest Louisiana coast, many residents in the metro area were preparing for at least 24 hours of life on the "dirty side" of a Category 4 hurricane.

Schools and city offices were closed in most parishes Thursday, and residents were stocking up on supplies for the second time in a week after Tropical Storm Isidore hit the city Sept. 26.

The Superdome was being prepared as an emergency shelter but had not yet been opened as of Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Residents were ordered not to drive down flooded streets, which causes a wake and can push water into homes, but Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee warned residents not to take matters into their own hands, as has happened in previous storms. Instead, he urged homeowners to take down license plate numbers and turn them over the police.

Voluntary evacuations were ordered for many low-lying areas, with mandatory evacuations set or imminent for much of the coast.

Gov. Mike Foster on Tuesday declared a state of emergency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross established emergency centers in several locations.

Forecasts indicate that the metro New Orleans area can expect frequent thunderstorms Thursday, with a chance of tornadoes and winds from 40 to 50 mph.

A flood watch also is in effect, because while the area likely will get about half the rain it got during Isidore, the ground is already saturated, WDSU NewsChannel 6 chief meteorologist Dan Milham said.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002


One of the weather talking heads said there would likely be severe weather as far as Ohio from this storm. . .

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002

Yes, our talking heads are whinning about possible heavy winds and rains flooding out Football Friday Night (when all the high schools play) and possible problems on Saturday, too.

We'll know better in about 36 hours whether we'll have tornados & bad thunderstorms. Whatever we get will be *nothing* like what they're getting in N.O.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002



8:48 pm EDT. Looks more and more like New Orleans will receive the brunt.

Git, where is your son?? (Crossing fingers REAL hard...)

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002


they're telling us in Clevland to be prepared for wind and rain on Friday.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2002

Son is across the lake from NO, the North Shore, little place called Covington.

Seems Lil has weakened, winds down from a high of 145 to about a 100. Very good news. But the surge is going to be a problem, I think. Can't quite tell, but it seems the center is going to be about 50-75 miles west of NO. I was there when they had 60 mph gusts one tinme, sheared bricks off a building like corn off the cob! Nothing much more serious than that, fences down, gutters stripped, that kind of thing, pretty minor. This time, ground is saturated from Isidore, many large trees also weakened by Formosan termites, big gust of wind and the tree goes down and takes power lines with it. THey may be without power for a while.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002


Just heard there's a flash flood warning for the North Shore, where rain has been falling at 4"/hour. Long as there're no tornadoes. . . Center of Lili is about a hundred miles west of NO.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002

Radar pictures on the 6 am news this morning showed lots of water coming down in the Covington area.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002


well....

guess this one lost quite a bit of it's strength before it ever hit land

i at least thought we were gonna get some rain out of it....but all we got was a few sprinkles

just as well.....we're still doing ok after that 6 and 3/4 inches we got not long ago

from what i heard some of the meteoroligists saying, after isodora and lili.....there shouldn't be much "fuel" (warm water) left in the gulf for us to get anything else big coming out of the gulf this year

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002


I heard one of the met heads speculating that Isidore brought in so much water from the deeper and colder areas of the Gulf and dumped it close to shore that Lili couldn't get the energy she needed from the colder water. Makes sense to me--the shallower waters on the coast should have been perfect fuel otherwise. Yep, glad you missed out on any severe weather. Haven't heard from the offspring but I know there are lots of power lines down. No sweat. He has the same instinct for self-preservation as his old lady.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002

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