Will Rita get retired???

[arkess7]

hummmm.......i agree about the pressure....definately historic....so i guess that any hurricane or tropical storm that reeks havoc on human life gets retired BTW thanks for all the info

[Swimdude]

Ok.

Did 1/3 of y'all REALLY vote "NO" for retirement?!

Goodness gracious, this thing was the THIRD STRONGEST Atlantic storm ever recorded! AND it made landfall. AND it caused extensive damage.

She's retired. Period.

[f5]

she was almost as strong as the 1935 labor day hurricane before that katrina was historic in terms of pressure this one had a lower pressure than Katrina they also happen to have the same wind spped.The only difference is that Rita didn't surge nuke an entire coastline like Katrina did.

[Stormcenter]

She'll be retired, without a doubt. You don't need any reason other than a low pressure of 897. There's no way that the 3rd most powerful hurricane (by pressure) in Altantic basin history doesn't get retired.

Thank you Mac. In my opinion a needless post because we all know once she reached cat 5 strength her named was retired. End of story.

[HurricaneBill]

Dennis was just a tad bit more destructive than was Rita. It leveled a large percentage of Cuba, which is what it will most be remembered for. It Cuba twice as a near cat 5

Plus, it was the deadliest hurricane to hit Cuba in decades. Usually Cuba has little or no fatalities. Dennis killed 16 in Cuba.

[wxmann_91]

Dennis was just a tad bit more destructive than was Rita. It leveled a large percentage of Cuba, which is what it will most be remembered for. It Cuba twice as a near cat 5

Plus, it was the deadliest hurricane to hit Cuba in decades. Usually Cuba has little or no fatalities. Dennis killed 16 in Cuba.

And it killed over 50 people in Haiti due to mudslides and flash flooding.

However, if you just focus on the U.S., Rita may be just more destructive than Dennis. Both produced the same amount of damage in the Keys, so discount that. Now, both made landfall (thankfully) in a sparsely populated region. However, Dennis was small, and Rita was large. Dennis produced damage from Gulf Shores, AL to St. Marks, FL. Rita produced damage from Houston, TX all the way to New Orleans. That's twice the area of Dennis. The mass exodus out of Houston/Galveston, NOLA flooding Round 2, and the extensive storm surge flooding from Port Arthur to New Orleans, along with the media overhype and the 897 mb pressure. Dennis, on the other hand, had some powerful surge in St. Marks and Navarre Beach, but it moved much faster and was smaller, so surge was not as large as it was in Rita.

[AussieMark]

Why is pressure reading being used as a reason to retire a hurricane for. Its the impacts that decide not how low the pressure is.

On Wikipedia they have an estimate of $4-6 Billion insured.

that would be like $8-12 Billion so if thats the case she will be retired based on that.

[tornadochaser86]

yea 3rd lowest pressure she 's definately getting retired

[AussieMark]

yea 3rd lowest pressure she 's definately getting retired

Why does a pressure decide if a hurricane is going to be retired or not. If its not damaging its all relative.

Rita will be retired from the damage she did and any deaths that may of occurred. Not because some 2-3 days ago she reached the 3rd lowest pressure

[AussieMark]

the is from the NHC site

The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the WMO committee (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.

no where in that do they state if a hurricane becomes record breaking one way or another the storm is removed from the list

[DoctorHurricane2003]

Um wxmann91 I'm quite offended by what you said about Dennis's landfall location...it is NOT a sparsely populated area by any means.

[wxmann_91]

Um wxmann91 I'm quite offended by what you said about Dennis's landfall location...it is NOT a sparsely populated area by any means.

Sorry, I should've known that Rita and Dennis struck populated areas, I meant relatively sparsely populated areas (compared to had Dennis struck just west where it would've smacked P'cola and Rita west of Port Arthur/Sabine Pass).