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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: Will history - and weather - repeat itself in New Orleans? |
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Three years ago today, on Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana. Today, hurricane forecasters say Hurricane Gustav is on a track that could bring landfall at about the same location and about at the same strength - a Category 3.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200807_5day.html#a_topad
Is New Orleans ready?
Has the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bush Administration, done what it promised in the aftermath of Katrina?
Or, put another way, would you move to New Orleans?
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New Orleans Prepares For Gustav
City Hopes to Avert Katrina-Like Disaster
By Mike Perlstein and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 30, 2008; A01
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29 -- With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on this still-recovering region, officials on Friday took the first steps in extensive evacuation plans, hoping the lessons learned three years ago during Hurricane Katrina will avert the chaos that followed.
Officials in Washington and in New Orleans expressed confidence that construction of massive floodgates would provide adequate protection against Gustav, which had top winds of 80 mph late Friday and is expected to hit the Gulf Coast by early Tuesday. Officials also predicted that plans for removing residents, maintaining public order and avoiding disruption of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico would go smoothly.
"There are phenomenal improvements at the federal level, at the state level and local level that we're going to benefit from, and [that] you'll be able to watch and see as a result," said Harvey E. Johnson Jr., deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Still, implementation of the blueprints drawn up after Katrina, which roared ashore exactly three years ago, remains incomplete. Most notably, a flood-control system designed to protect vulnerable low-lying areas such as the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish is still years from being finished.
"We all know that the system has not been completed to withstand the 100-year-storm level, which is set to be in place by 2011," said Tim Doody, president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority. "But the system is better than it was pre-Katrina. We are cautiously optimistic."
The city of New Orleans said late Friday that it had completed the relocation of more than 2,100 parish prison inmates and that medical evacuations of hospitals and nursing homes were underway. |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902373.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Hurricanes are notorious for behaving unpredictably, so the track could easily change. But once it picks up steam in the Gulf of Mexico, it is going to be a killer hurricane that will almost inevitably cause considerable destruction along the Gulf Coast.
Some are saying that Gustav could make landfall on the first day of the Republican Convention, located on the north end of the Mississippi River in St. Paul. And many are wondering if New Orleans is prepared.
My heart goes out to the long suffering residents of New Orleans, and all the people who might be in the storm's path. Work really should have been further along in protecting the city, three years after Katrina.
I hope that this threat will serve as a reminder of just how much is at stake in selecting a president of the United States. |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:05 am Post subject: |
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It sounds like they will be better prepared this time. I am still hoping the storm turns south and misses NO and hits toward the lower end of Texas and Northern part of Mexico. The people of NO do not deserve to live through another horrific experience as they did 3 years ago.
Bush/McCain are going to benefit from the whole thing by Bush's speech getting canceled. I still think the convention is going to happen, but maybe be shortened a bit. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:11 am Post subject: |
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They are better prepared and Jindal is a better manager. His 5 years at Mckinsey and Kennedy School training will come in very handy. The problem is that many people in NO are horribly poor and backwards and can't be "helped" without driving around to every home and dragging them to Baton Rouge.
Michael Moore is keeping it classy:
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Michael Moore: Hurricane Coming During GOP Convention 'Proof There Is a God in Heaven'
Controversial filmmaker admits he's delighted to see a natural disaster potentially interfere with the Republican event.
To liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, the bounds are seemingly endless. Moore has made a recent career out of attacking President George W. Bush, bashing conservatives and criticizing business. His latest outrage occurred on MSNBC�s August 29 �Countdown with Keith Olbermann� and when he commented about the coincidental timing of an unfortunate disaster � the potential for Hurricane Gustav to make landfall at the beginning of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
�I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,� Moore said, laughing. �To have it planned at the same time � that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities � at the top of the Mississippi River.�
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Not much different than other lefty ideologues in history. The message always mattered more than the actual people. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I saw Moore. But his comment is taken out of context.
Moore was commenting on the odd coincidence of timing of the Gustav threat.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#26462689
The rest of the story:
"... That it would be on its way to New Orleans for Day 1 of the Republican convention, at the top of the Mississippi River. Certainly, I hope no one gets hurt, and everyone is taking cover."
He then talked about what McCain and Bush were doing as Katrina tore through New Orleans: eating McCain's birthday cake.
Moore is potentially right, this could be a very odd coincidence.
But Gustav hasn't hit New Orleans yet, and if it does, New Orleans could turn out to be prepared well enough to survive, after all. It's downfall was a levy that failed after the hurricane had moved on. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:22 am Post subject: |
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One would hope the levey's (sp?) have been repaired with extra caution and over-engineering. The timing of the storm is crazy, and I know that is what Moore was referring to. Still a classless asshole, in my books.
However, it is hard not to consider, tastefully (if that is possible) the potential political outcomes of poor blacks being left to their own means during a major storm. I doubt this is Katrina 2, but if it were, and the images were similar, then the repubs are in serious trouble.
Kinda related, one of the best pieces of journalism during the Katrina crises was from Matt Taibbi.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7661196/apocalypse_there/ |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: |
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Here's a good storm tracker...
http://www.stormpulse.com/tropical-storm-gustav-2008
You can drag the map around and click on Hanna too (Bahamas), for those wx stats. Drag it even further east to two more disturbances. This is the time of year that the Cape Verde storms come rolling off the coast of Africa like a string of pearls. |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'm watching this one closely. Even the stalwarts in my area are making evacuation plans. We're on the extreme west side of the cone, but a direct hit at a Cat 3 would mean my neighborhood could very well be thoroughly flooded.
Fun times. |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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Gustav hit Cuba as a cat 4 Saturday afternoon. Still a cat 4 coming off the other side:
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Hurricane Gustav
Latest Update
Sat, Aug 30, 2008, 08:00 PM EDT
Category
Major Hurricane - Category 4
Wind Speed - 150 mph
Pressure - 941 mb
Movement - NW at 15 mph |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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If you're running Google Earth, click on the Weather layer and you can see the outer bands have already hit the tip of LA. Florida is fully under cloud cover.
Or click here to see another radar shot |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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NOLA is already under evacuation orders.
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Gulf Coast residents flee Gustav
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President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The declaration authorizes the federal coordination of disaster-relief efforts. |
My nephew is in Gulfport, Mississippi getting geared up for Iraq. They're on stand-by now for hurricane recovery. |
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Gatsby
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