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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Hurricane Isabel
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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-16-2003 02:01 AM
Those things usually have slow forward movement; Isabel's is now (checking) 7 mph. It's downgraded to a Category 3, but that's still a monster for the east coast. Even if it's just a rain-a-cane (inundations of rain more than damaging wind) when it arrives, the developed areas won't be able to handle the volume of water. There was one here a few years ago (Danny?) that just moved into the bay & sat there, raining for days on the coast. A lot! 25" in 7 hours!
On the other hand, they usually intensify just before striking land. Then too, there are the ones that hang out for a LONG time off the coast & grind everthing down with wind & rain before actually making landfall & a big finish.
I saw on the news people freaking out all over the east coast & boarding up, even with it so far out & unable to tell where it would strike. Better safe than sorry, I suppose, Camille suddenly developed into a Category 5 a short-ish time before landfall.
This is an interesting page with some pictures from Camille, which was more of a "dry" hurricane:
http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricanecamille.htm
Times have changed! Camille was the first "modern" hurricane, with forecast technology & mass communication being able to reach enough folks to move them out of there effectively. Previously, the force was a sort of guesswork, & not everyone would get the message or be disposed to believe it (some hurricanes could be "rode out", but they weren't all the same intensity!)
Another interesting change in the times & getting folks to evacuate: for Hurricane Audrey (1957), a storm with VERY destructive winds & incredible flooding made even worse in a time before planning & construction for possible massive tropical storm drainage was done, the most deaths were the result of *snake bites* - the survivors of the actual storm, swimming or in homes, high grounds, etc., were killed by water moccasins borne in or poisonous terrestrial snakes driven from their usual habitats.
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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man
Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 09-16-2003 02:21 AM
According to the news, it is going to be a nasty one.
Vice Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Second Fleet, ordered 40 ships and submarines based in the Norfolk, Va. area to head to sea Tuesday to avoid being battered against piers by high winds.
About 30 vessels, including two aircraft carriers, that cannot be moved were "being battened down as tight as possible, tightening all the hatches," said Lt. Scott McIlnay, a Navy spokesman.
Also Tuesday, the Air Force will fly about 60 planes from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton to Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, said Capt. Jeff Glenn, spokesman for the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley.
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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-18-2003 01:00 AM
Jason Black is correct about the media latching onto a story because it sells hard interest. I look at the crystal ball & I see... I see... lots of ads for generators on your TV. And I know of one very high profile US cable station which is closely watched during weather disturbances putting out BS - a hurricane was expected to hit Gulf Shores, AL then shifted east towards Pensacola FL, the reporter tried to follow it, found that the police had closed the highways going into FL, traffic was backed up, & a radio guy in a station van stopped in traffic leaning against the van smoking a cigarette SAW the reporter hop out of the cable station's satellite truck furious that she couldn't get into FL, had the camera guy set up, & in dead calm weather reported "I'm here in Pensacola Florida, in the eye of the hurricane!"
And who is that doofus on the Weather Channel who goes to where the hurricanes are coming, stands outside so the wind whips his raincoat & blows his hair, & breathlessly says "The hurricane is coming here!" What is the freaking point? Everybody where the hurricane is coming is staring at him on the TV & saying, "Dumbass, get out of the rain!"
On the other hand, a category 2 can do HUGE damage. Hurricane Georges was a category 2 at landfall & created extensive damage in coastal Mississippi. It would be far worse in the more built-up east coast area. Aside from the initial damage, which is what you'll read of in reports, there was much more damage as a result of not being able to get enough contractors & workers in fast enough to fix damaged roofs, etc. Many buildings had extensive damagage resulting from water & rain in weeks after the hurricane came, & had to be demolished.
There was a year or 2 when consecutive category 2 storms hit southern (coastal) Baldwin County Alabama, which is fairly rural away from the coast. Some buildings destroyed, some OK, but it took a long time to get down there because the wind damage of trees snapped (PINE TREES snapped! They usually just bend horribly, unlike oaks, etc.) and across the roads for miles, etc. And that's just the roads, not considering all the wreckage everywhere there wasn't a road. Right place at the right time has a lot to do with it, & also how much material is nearby to create destructive windblown debris.
The east coast usually gets lucky with low storm surges, but if it's a very rainy hurricane, the problems all pile up & become catastrophic over a short period of time.
Mapquest shows Mike Fitzgerald's Castle Hayne as only 10 miles from the coast. I've been in many a hurricane, but in buildings built as bomb shelters (double block walls). Many houses have made it through many hurricanes, many make it through just one, & many just go after many years when the right one comes to them. It's spinning the Wheel Of Fortune, & if I were Mike Fitzgerald, I'd board it up & get the hell out before the traffic makes it impossible. And that is what I do. I just always have a place to go nearby that's a bunker. Russian Roulette with one bullet is still deadly.
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PSE&G had 227,000 customers out; most got power back by last night, all by noon today. Conectiv lost 300,000 customers in four states; of that total 20,000 in New Jersey were still out this morning.
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