Speaking of the Astrodome, I heard just the other day on the national news that they were down to 2000 refugees left at the Astrodome. The rest have been given temporary housing (apartments, hotels, spare bedrooms, etc).

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Not sure where the 12Z run of the GFDL? Didn't expect that out yet...should have been a couple hours still. Anyway...I can't find it or the 06Z run at any of the model animation sites, so I can't really comment on them other than the track (which can be seen on that track above).

However, take a look at the Cyclone Phase plot from the 00Z GFDL run - it shows why we will see rapid strengthening before it reaches Florida - look at the SSTs:
http://moe.met.fsu.edu/cyclonephase/gfdl/rita18l/fcst/archive/05091900/3.html

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(I know this is all off topic...but hey...Geology is related to Meteology...both earth sciences!

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And if we're talking about the "big ones" ... here are a couple links for the Seattle area:
Earthquake: http://www.pnsn.org/NEWS/PRESS_RELEASES/SCENARIOS.html
Vucanism - look at the "Hazards Map" on that page: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Rainier/Hazards/OFR98-428/framework.html
Elsewhere Vulcanism - 2 of the biggest vulcanic systems in the world are in the US: http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov/index.html and http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/ - look at the size of the crater at Yellowstone (YVO): http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/images/2000-rbs-1.3ysrp_large.jpg