Comments on: Update on Gustav and its cousins

By: V the K

V the K — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:22:21 +0000

Hurricane Gustav was all set to hit New Orleans as a Cat 5, but when it found out Sarah Palin was waiting for it with her moose rifle, it dropped to a Cat 2 and turned the other way.

By: Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:22:26 +0000

Northeast hurricanes are faster moving and weaker than their southern brethren. Down here, we like to take our time, even with natural disasters.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:43:09 +0000

Who are we kidding? This intense weather coverage is a bunch of nonsense. 65-75 per mile winds are not that big of a deal. I suspect that if the Democrats were convening—the MSM would ignore these relatively moderate storms. The MSM dares the GOP to object. If it does, the Republicans will be charged with being cold and unfeeling.

By: sanssoucy

sanssoucy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:45:11 +0000

Busy couple of weeks! Wheeeeee!

Week after week of weather alarmism! Post after post of scaring anyone who’ll read!

Gawrsh. What fun. Beats working for a living, eh?

By: JL

JL — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:59:50 +0000

I’m with Sullivan. I grew up in the North East & New England in the 50s. WE had hurricanes. I remember going out in the quiet part of one hurricane that passed directly over our place on Cape Cod. I could see blue sky in the eye.

We were there for Carol and Hazel and mmmm Diane? I’m a bit foggy on the names — my 91 year old mother can help me out later. (The folks got married right before the big one hit in September 1938.) I remember heading back home to NY after one of the big ones (boats pushed up on the hill at Onset, MA, the pier gone etc.).

There was a bridge out on the Wilbur Cross / Merritt Parkway … I think the big one over the river by the Sikorsky plant maybe? The traffic was diverted and ended up going through Norwalk. The mayor was on the radio bemoaning all the “sightseers….” It took us 14 hours to get home — bumper to bumper some of the way and then going the backroads to do what was a 5 hour trip.

By: KG2V

KG2V — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:30:31 +0000

I’ve been through a few NYC coast huggers too, but not as many as Alan (as I was born in the early 1960s)

A cat 1-2 hit won’t be too bad, when you get into the cat 3 storms is where NYC would get “fun”. The real problem from a logistics standpoint is if they have to evacuate Far Rockaway and the parts of Coney Island that are further from the shore. There are a STACK of nursing homes there that would cause problems, but most of them are actually designed to lose the basement and first floor and keep going (generators on the roof etc)

NYC has online maps of when you evacuate – they call them “level 1 2 and 3″. So long as it stays at level one, it would be “easy”, level III would be a nightmare

By: LenS

LenS — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:22:34 +0000

The fourth picture on the WSJ site is powerful. Seeing the Industrial Canal filled to the top of the walls demonstrates the sheer vulnerability of so much of New Orleans.

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:20:36 +0000

Hopefully Alan. We don’t want it to be major and get people to stop liking Ike.

By: Alan Sullivan

Alan Sullivan — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:49:21 +0000

Heh. Very good with the names.

If Ike comes at Florida, later on, it will have to move through a cool wake churned by Hanna. That could reduce intensity a little.

By: roux

roux — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:45:04 +0000

I’m in Baton Rouge…. Probably as bad a Betsy ’65. I was just a kid then but I remember lots of trees down and Gustav certainly did that.

I had to work through the storm and we lost power about 11:30am CDT. It’s been a long day of trying to keep equipment cool and dry. I’d say 90% of the BR has no power. I know for sure that almost every hospital is on emergency generators. I don’t expect them to get power to sometime Tuesday.

Good thing about evacuations this time is that they didn’t let most evacuees come to Baton Rouge like Katrina. We could not have helped them at all this time.

Curfew started at 8pm and will last until 6am. I think the cops are pretty serious about it too.