Hurricane Irene Safety Concerns

[Atticus Finch]

To be completely honest, Katrina didn't demolish New Orleans. It was the poor state of the levies. If the levies had held up, the devastation never would have happened.

To a large degree, this is true. But New Orleans wasn't the only community to be affected by Katrina. Entire towns along the Gulf Coast were wiped clean by this storm, and it wasn't because their levies failed. It was because of the huge tidal surge that preceded the storm. And it was because of the cat four winds that accompanied the storm.

AF

 

[Old Rogue]

In my fifty-five years of living in perhaps the most hurricane prone area on earth, I've also seen quite a few tropical systems. I have to admit...I think the media is generally guilty of overblowing hurricanes. Note I said media...not NOAA, the NHC, Weather Underground or any of the other mainstream weather professionals.

I think the most guilty group is local broadcast media. Local television station managers understand that "tracking" hurricanes boosts viewership...and they are not shy about sensationalizing pending storms in order to keep viewers glued to their sets. Just as soon as one storm has passed, they will begin harping on the fearsomeness of the next storm. Our local weather person is already devoting most of his nightly segment to TS Katia, and Katia is about ten days away...even if it were move in a straight line directly here. It is worth noting that the NHC's five-day track forecast error is currently averaging 250 miles. There is no ten-day forecast error because nobody with good sense would make a ten day forecast. But that fact sure hasn't stopped our local guy! In the five days since Irene visited, Skip has managed to convince most locals that Katia will be here next Saturday!

So while I think everyone should pay attention to the pros at the NHC...I wouldn't always suggest that folks swallow everything they hear in the media about hurricanes...at least not on on local television.

Just my two cents.

AF

You're right Atticus. Just as I was reading your post the 11:00 Channel 12 newscast came on and led off with Skip talking about Katia.

 

[Silver Dollar]

To a large degree, this is true. But New Orleans wasn't the only community to be affected by Katrina. Entire towns along the Gulf Coast were wiped clean by this storm, and it wasn't because their levies failed. It was because of the huge tidal surge that preceded the storm. And it was because of the cat four winds that accompanied the storm.

AF

You're definitely right about that. Biloxi was trashed, Gulfport, Miss. and Mobile Ala. were also heavily damaged by the wind and storm surge. That's the good ol' northeast quadrant I was talking about. I spent more time in that part of the storms I went through than I care to admit. After a while, it makes a mental case out of you. I neglected to say earlier that I used to be one of those "what's the fuss about" people until Hurricane Andrew kicked my butt. After that, every time a weather disturbance came near the Gulf, under the bed I went. Maybe that's why I'm still unbalanced.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

This goes to saying the reality of one fact, you can never underestimate nor beat mother nature.