Another Hurricane for the Gulf Coast?

[eddielee]

Tropical storm Ernesto is slowly gaining strength over the Caribbean sea. The computer models and NHC forecast is a bit disturbing. On Thursday of next week Ernesto is predicted to be a category 3 (major) hurricane headed for a landfall on the central Gulf Coast. Of course it's too early to tell for certain what's going to happen. If I lived on the Gulf Coast, I'd keep a sharp watch on Ernesto. I think by next week it will be big news.

[Guest]

i hope everything will be fine. Cross fingers.

[GL]

Yep. Saw that one on last night's weather report. Unless there has been a change, last night the NWS had predicted a track right into the Texas coast but the weather guys here in town thought it would track into Florida. So who knows? Either way, caution abounds.

[pausanias_usa]

I hate to say this, but -- we need the rain

[DiverDude]

Baton Rouge has been getting about 2-3 inches every day. You can have Ernesto.

[Orlandude]

[Txgoodoldboy]

I live in the area of Texas that was hit by hurricane Rita, last year. I check out the Weather Channel everyday. Yesterday, it looked like Ernesto might be headed this way. Today, it looks like it might be headed more towards New Orleans. You never know, when they are this far out, and hurricanes can make crazy turns, or sit in the Gulf and gain strength, or fizzle out.

Central and North Texas are very dry. And it usually takes a storm to break the drought. They could probably use a good tropical storm. But I don't want, what we got last year.

I live outside of Beaumont, Texas. The school, close to my house, has a TV weather station. And it is a staging area for emergency workers. During Rita, they clocked winds of 165 mph.

[Styrker]

I still LOVE!! What the MAYOR of NEW 'O ' said... YOU CAN'T BUILD a NEW WORLD TRADE CENTER after all these YEARS..BUT ....REBUILD a NEW 'O'......

[douseiai]

I hate to say this, but -- we need the rain

ditto... central texas is in drought mode

[spydog]

yes we could, douseiai

[spooger]

Baton Rouge has been getting about 2-3 inches every day. You can have Ernesto.

DD got it right.......keep Ernesto away....we do not need tons more rain....OR another big hurricane!!!!

[GL]

ditto... central Texas is in drought mode

And the sad truth is that this neck of Texas will not see any appreciable rain until we get a tropical storm or a hurricane. It's one of those "Be careful what you wish for..." scenarios.

[guyinfwb]

yes, we are keeping an eye on Ernesto as it looks like a gulf coast hit for sure and I live in ft walton beach fla which would be just east of where the projections have it coming in now around the Mobile area or even east of that.......they have it tracking more northerly so thats not good news for us not that we would like to see it hit somewhere else of course.........We had Ivan and Dennis that past couple of years and further west was Katrina so we dont need need Ernesto to hit ........the big problem is not too much area on the gulf coast isn't heavily populated on beach front.............well we will see where it does go ........guess the old tale of male named storms don't make it past the Virgin Islands ha ha, hmmmmmmmmmmmm so what is that saying ha ha.........anyway we will batten down the hatches it it comes to that and pray it comes ashore under a cat 3 and into an area of not too much population.............

[blooeyz]

flee, flee

[mike_n_herrin]

well i'll hope that folks get the rain they need while hoping no one gets hurt.

[GL]

Ernesto is now a hurricane.

Ernesto upgraded to hurricane status
By HOWARD CAMPBELL, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 1 minute ago

Ernesto became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season Sunday with winds of 75 mph, and forecasters said it would strengthen as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it could menace a wide swath of coastline including New Orleans.

The storm could grow into a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Category 3 Hurricane Katrina struck the city a year ago Tuesday.

"It's over nice warm Caribbean waters, and far enough off the coast of Haiti that it is still strengthening now," said Ron Goodman, a forecaster at the center.

The storm, moving northwest at 10 mph, was projected to make landfall in Haiti on Sunday afternoon, dropping heavy rain that could cause deadly mudslides in the heavily deforested country. Ernesto was expected to cross west-central Cuba on Tuesday night before continuing into the Gulf of Mexico.

"There will be probably be a restrengthening after it leaves the Cuban coast to a Category 2, and Wednesday night it will be west of Fort Myers as Category 3. That's the current thinking," Goodman said.

Ernesto was expected to bring rain and wind to southern Florida by early Tuesday, and the hurricane center encouraged the Florida Keys to monitor the storm. It was projected to strengthen off western Florida on Wednesday but the location of any U.S. landfall was unclear.

Emergency officials in Haiti evacuated some residents low-lying areas in the northwest city of Gonaives, which was devastated by Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004.

The storm was expected to pass Sunday afternoon near the tip of Haiti's southwestern peninsula, where officials said there was heavy rain but no reported damage. "There's no plan to evacuate now but if there's more rain later we may have to," said Adel Nazaire, coordinator with Haiti's civil protection agency.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller put the country's security forces on alert and said at a news conference Saturday that all the island's shelters were open.

"Ensure that the children are not left alone, and make it easier for rescue workers," she said.

Jamaica issued advisories by radio and television for residents in low-lying areas across the island to be prepared to evacuate if necessary.

At 8 a.m., the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was centered about 115 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and 210 miles southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba.

Heavy showers hit Kingston on Saturday afternoon, causing traffic jams as motorists tried to reach stores. People waited in long lines at supermarkets, filling grocery carts with canned goods, batteries and candles.

"It's nature and we can't stop it from taking its course," said taxi driver Patrick Wallace, 55, as he left a supermarket after stocking up on canned goods.

In Haiti, emergency officials went on local radio to warn people living in flimsy shantytowns on the southern coast to seek shelter in schools and churches. The hurricane center said Haiti and the Dominican Republic could get up to 20 inches of rain in some places — which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

"These people could be in great danger," said Adel Nazaire, a coordinator with Haiti's civil protection agency. "Flooding is the biggest concern because a lot of residents live along the rivers and the sea."