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Hurricane Irene: looking Like Major Disaster for Northeast

That sort of thing is going to happen when you build a city below sea level.....

Case in point... The Galveston Hurricane.

It wouldn't have happened at all if the levies had been properly constructed.
 
It wouldn't have happened at all if the levies had been properly constructed.

I dont think the levies would have caused the hurricane not to hit the gulf coast bordering states.

Its not like the levies would have caused the storm to magically move somewhere else.

There still would have been alot of damage... and deaths.
 
Really?? Tell that to the families of the 26 people that have died so far. I'll bet they think it was a pretty tragic event.

I think u helped make his point that media was more concerned with "what if" the storm hits NY at this strength while it was hitting NC.
 
Anyone remember Hurricane Floyd?

As a matter of fact, I do. Hurricanes, along with tornadoes, hailstorms, windstorms, and any other type of destructive storm are how I make my living.
 
As a matter of fact, I do. Hurricanes, along with tornadoes, hailstorms, windstorms, and any other type of destructive storm are how I make my living.

Umbrella salesman?
 
Caine said:
That sort of thing is going to happen when you build a city below sea level.....

Case in point... The Galveston Hurricane.
Galveston is below sea level?

Which Hurricane?

Caine said:
I dont think the levies would have caused the hurricane not to hit the gulf coast bordering states.

Its not like the levies would have caused the storm to magically move somewhere else.

There still would have been alot of damage... and deaths.

No, the levies wouldn't have prevented Hurricane Katrina, but if the levies had of held the damage and deaths wouldn't have been anywhere near as severe as it was, especially in the 9th ward.






If you want to see the devastation of a storm surge, at the link below are some before and after pictures of Bolivar after Hurricane Ike 3 years ago.

Hurricane Ike Before and After Pictures
 
Turns out, it was essentially the prediction data that was off. The media simply responded to the information given.

Weather forecasting is still a rather inexact science. There's an old saying that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon can ultimately create a tornado in Texas. While that isn't entirely true, the point is that in a chaotic system such as weather, even a miniscule change in the initial conditions can have a huge effect on the eventual outcome. That's why weather forecasts more than three days out are highly unreliable, even with as much computing power as we have nowadays.

That being said, I maintain my position that it is always better to overestimate a storm than to underestimate it.

Just ask the residents of Vermont.
 
The prediction data was pretty damned accurate, all told. Nailed the course, missed the intensity by about 10mph.
 
Many small towns in Vermont are simply gone. Highways and roads have been washed away in floods. Many are trapped in towns that are cut off from the rest of the world, and supplies are having to be delivered by helicopter. The preparation for the storm seemed wrongly focused on New York City, but there are plenty of people in other places who are suffering because of Irene.
 
Finally got my power back today. Had the essentials running off a generator, but no internet.

Stayed in my house because I didn't want to leave my dog behind. The water came right up to my driveway at high tide (at the same time as the height of the storm), but it would've needed a couple or three more feet to get into my house, and there wasn't much chance of that. The road was flooded however, and it took two days for that to drain enough to drive out. My basement was flooded too, but I pumpled that out by eod sunday.

Aside from flooded basements, I haven't seen or heard of much damage to housing besides flooded basements, but the roads are a mess. Not that there's much traffic around here. They even had to shut down the Palisades Tpk and a part of Rt 9W. The wind wasn't as bad as they made out that it might be, but there are a lot of trees down due to the ground being so wet. It's four days later and the water is still draining out of the ground, which is still soggy.

My car almost got smashed by a tree. I had moved it to higher ground, but once the storm had passed and the rain died down, I moved it into my driveway. Later that day, when I went out, I saw that a tree had fallen right where my car had been parked. For once, crap didn't happen to me.
 
Finally got my power back today. Had the essentials running off a generator, but no internet.

Stayed in my house because I didn't want to leave my dog behind. The water came right up to my driveway at high tide (at the same time as the height of the storm), but it would've needed a couple or three more feet to get into my house, and there wasn't much chance of that. The road was flooded however, and it took two days for that to drain enough to drive out. My basement was flooded too, but I pumpled that out by eod sunday.

Aside from flooded basements, I haven't seen or heard of much damage to housing besides flooded basements, but the roads are a mess. Not that there's much traffic around here. They even had to shut down the Palisades Tpk and a part of Rt 9W. The wind wasn't as bad as they made out that it might be, but there are a lot of trees down due to the ground being so wet. It's four days later and the water is still draining out of the ground, which is still soggy.

My car almost got smashed by a tree. I had moved it to higher ground, but once the storm had passed and the rain died down, I moved it into my driveway. Later that day, when I went out, I saw that a tree had fallen right where my car had been parked. For once, crap didn't happen to me.

Glad you made it through relatively unscathed. :thumbsup:
 


Yeah, kinda what I thought, I was just trying to see what he was trying to say when he said, in response to a remark about Hurricane Katrina, about building a 'city below sea level, case in point... The Galveston Hurricane'.

I didn't understand the comparison of New Orleans to Galveston.

Galveston is not below sea level (granted not by much). The seawall was built after the 1900 storm as a barrier to storm surges. The seawall doesn't hold any water back like a levee would.

Without the seawall, the storm surge of 1900 devastated Galveston. In the 2008 Hurricane Ike, the seawall once again proved its worth. Although Galveston suffered severe damage, it wasn't anything like the damage to Bolivar, a short ferry ride away. Without a similar seawall, Ike practically wiped Bolivar off the map (before and after pics in link in post #208).
 
Galveston is below sea level?

Galveston is just as much below sea level as New Orleans. i.e. not all of New Orleans is below sea level. Why do you think the French Quarter didn't flood?

Which Hurricane?

Hurricane Ike. Water was 6 foot deep in the Galveston County courthouse.



No, the levies wouldn't have prevented Hurricane Katrina, but if the levies had of held the damage and deaths wouldn't have been anywhere near as severe as it was, especially in the 9th ward.

Had Katrina not shifted 50 miles to the east, the levees wouldn't have failed.






If ye the devastation of a storm surge, at the link below are some before and after pictures of Bolivar after Hurricane Ike 3 years ago.

Hurricane Ike Before and After Pictures

Do you even know where Bolivar is?
 
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Hogs eat acorns? I thought it was squirrels? I think they do pretty well.
Yep, wild hogs eat acorns.

Acorns are also a favorite food of deer. Find an oak tree dropping a lot of acorns and you have a good spot for a blind. ;)

.
 
apdst said:
Galveston is just as much below sea level as New Orleans.
New Orleans has levees. What keeps the Gulf out of Galveston?

apdst said:
Hurricane Ike. Water was 6 foot deep in the Galveston County courthouse.
OK, it flooded. Is there a point to this?

apdst said:
Had Katrina not shifted 50 miles to the east, the levees wouldn't have failed.
It did. They did.

apdst said:
Do you even know where Bolivar is?
Had a place in Crystal Beach 'til I sold it many years ago.


'a short ferry ride' from Galveston in my post would have been a clue for most...;)
 
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