2008 Hurricane Season

[Codythemonkey 0]

New Orleans is in the wrong spot on that map. They have it located on the Mississippi/Louisiana border. Just pointing that out.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Originally posted by: Ntq$310 Yoshiisland: yea i disagree with you about oil, besause any disaster anywhere causes that to happen.

But yea new orleans was built in a very supid location, Who builds a city under sealevel, and the olny thing keeping it alive are walls?quote>

Actually not so much, if a Tornado Outbreak occured in the midwest yeah that'd be a disaster but most likely wouldn't cause gas prices to spike unless they had oil wells out in the midst of all those farms.

[snickm 2]

10 pm & it's eerily quiet here in Baton Rouge, La. A little rain so far, but nothing special. Hopefully tomorrow won't be too bad!

[socalwu 0]

Originally posted by: snickm 10 pm & it's eerily quiet here in Baton Rouge, La. A little rain so far, but nothing special. Hopefully tomorrow won't be too bad!quote>

Umm. How about evacuting.

[snickm 2]

Most people don't evacuate from Baton Rouge. We're on high ground & far enough inland that the winds generally aren't too bad. The only place I'd have to go is northern Louisiana (where my family is), but they're going to get pretty hard as well.

[belfastuniguy 18]

Thousands flee Hurricane Gustav

New Orleans prepares for Gustav

Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing the southern US coast as Hurricane Gustav approaches land.

Authorities have ordered the evacuation of New Orleans and an estimated 1.9 million people along the Gulf coast have been heading inland.

The Category Three storm is expected to make landfall at midday local time.

The storm has prompted the Republicans to scale back their national convention where John McCain is due to accept the party's nomination for president.

President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have scrapped plans to address the event in St Paul, Minnesota on Monday.

Dangerous surges

The first storm force winds are already being felt across Louisiana, and forecasters warn heavy rain bands are approaching New Orleans.

At 1000 GMT on Monday, the eye of Gustav was about 40 miles (70km) south-east of the Louisiana coast.

Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center say that at the current speed, the centre of the storm would hit the coast by midday local time.

They warned that Gustav's winds were at speeds of 115 mph (185km/h) and could bring "extremely dangerous" storm surges 14ft (4.2m) above normal. Isolated tornadoes are also possible in the area.

The storm has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean, causing widespread damage in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week. At least 300,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as the storm brought extensive flooding and some severe damage, but no reports of deaths.

Some got a little bit panicky earlier on, a bit like the opening a door on an aeroplane syndrome, but we're not paying it too much attention Cian Heasley In a bar in New Orleans Tracking Gustav on the web

In New Orleans, a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force across the city, which is described as being like a ghost town. The 7,000-strong Louisiana National Guard has been mobilised and support requested from other states. The New Orleans mayor has warned looters will be sent to jail.

Crime was a major problem in the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city three years ago, causing disastrous floods.

The exodus of an estimated 1.9 million people from the Louisiana coast is said to be the largest evacuation in state history. Tens of thousands are also reported to have left coastal Mississippi, Alabama and south-eastern Texas.

Few remain

Roads out of New Orleans - much of which lies below sea level - were crammed with traffic throughout Sunday.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal appealed to residents: "If you're hearing this, seeing this, if you've not evacuated, please do so. There's still a few hours left."

FLASHBACK TO KATRINA Katrina struck US Gulf Coast in August 2005 as a category three storm, killing more than 1,800 people New Orleans was 80% flooded after storm surge breached protective levees US Government was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced Flashback: Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told local TV that only about 10,000 residents remained in the city, where rain began falling at sunset on Sunday.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly, in New Orleans, says the mood among the city's remaining residents is of hope and fear.

Sandra Taylor, from Lafayette, Indiana, is visiting her daughter, who had a baby nine days ago.

"Where we live it's not in a flood zone, and we're quite sheltered," she said. "There's a few that have battened down, and sealed all the windows and stuff and disappeared. But there's a lot of other neighbours around, so I think we're just going to play the three little pigs - if one house blows away, we'll shift to the next one."

Cian Heasley, has joined a few other friends at a bar in New Orleans "waiting out the storm with two generators, a lot of liquor and food".

"We feel quite safe at the moment. There aren't any windows but there are two sturdy doors so we feel secure. We're just drinking and watching TV and staying calm really.

"I think the whole speech about it being the 'mother of all storms' is trying to scare everyone, and force people to leave the city."

Restaurant worker Dustin Goza agreed.

"In some ways it's good that people are being given a chance to prepare but I think it's also an overreaction," he said.

"The rain has been stopping and starting and you can feel the pressure so you know a storm's on its way. It's feeling quite gusty. I've put some tape up in preparation around windows but that's it."

Oil watch

In 2005, three-quarters of New Orleans was flooded by a storm surge that claimed more than 1,800 lives in coastal areas.

All eyes will be on the city's levees, which Category Three storm Katrina swept away under a wall of mud and water.

Out in the Gulf of Mexico, most oil production has been shut down. Three years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the region's oil infrastructure and sent oil prices soaring.quote>

[coolotter88 2]

It ain't a stupid place to build a city if you can pass goods from 2/3 of the nation through its port.

[Red1530 1]

There is some good news. Gustav has come ashore as a Category 2 hurricane. However high tide is around two in the afternoon local time. I hope the levees hold this time.

[coolotter88 2]

I recommend reading this article

http://www.studenthurricanenetwork.org/Drowning_NewOrleans.pdf

although it's old it was an uncanny prediction of Katrina.

I think even a category 2 is enough to flood the city.

[socalwu 0]

The hurriance was so close of being a category 3. It was downgraded to a Category 2 because of the winds droped 5 km/h.

So, it hit as an low category 3 and an high category 2.

[Tia-may 0]

BBC News and many media broadcasters produce quite epic photos. Here is one example from the front page just now.

So you are suggesting that hurricane Gustav may not be so violent to New Orleans as expected? That would be relief to many who are hoping for the best.

Yet, we have still to keep an eye on Tropical Storm Hannah and Depression N^o.9, because these may also develop into a devastating hurricane against all odds. Back in 2005 there was fears that the historic French Quarter would be destroyed by Katrina, but it didn't. yet it still flooded 80% of the city and some of the former residents have stayed away since.

There is still time for the biggest hurricane to develop and once the levees break again it may be possible, although not imminent that New Orleans would be flooded, this time, for good.

Near Senegal there's a medium risk of another depression.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Flooding could still be a huge problem. depending on how the repaired levies hold up.

[ShortStraw 1]

The latest NOAA Gustav public advisory can be found here

http://www.noaawatch.gov/2008/gustav.php

[Tia-may 0]

Picture Source: CNN

Unfortunately parts of the levees have been over-topped, meaning flooding in isolated and I mean isolated parts of the New Orleans area. Some parts of the affected areas have lost power and hospital have switched to their own generators.

The evacuation of New Orleans may be a lesson learned from the 2005 season, but I think lessons were partially learned, and I mean partially learned when it came to flood defences. Mind you, the floods with severity similar to the picture show here isn't too common here in the UK.

I will now turn attention to Sky News and it quotes now that it has been downgraded to category one, and NOAA also quotes this. Some people suggest that it was not as bad as expected but focus needs to be turned to Hanna alongside Gustav as, although it may not threaten New Orleans, may cause a similar level of destruction. That is, currently category one too.

[sedimenjerry 1]

I would not call New Orleans Global Warming's first victim.

Hurricanes have been occuring since the begginning of Earth.

Anyway, it appears that the storm really spared New Orleans.

Also, I think the city was better prepared this time though.

Hanna- Hopefully it will not strengthen too greatly but after landfall go towards the Upstate of SC where the drought is still exceptional.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Originally posted by: sedimenjerry I would not call New Orleans Global Warming's first victim.

Hurricanes have been occuring since the begginning of Earth.quote>

Of course they have.  But Global Warming has not.

[Mikeaut1 261]

Gustav is now a tropical storm, and quite soon will be a tropical depression. I hope to see on FOX or some news channel soon the extent of the damage. 2 million or so people were evacuated in this storm!

Hurricane Hanna continues to veer northward and her remnants will probably hit me (New York) by Saturday. This is really the first time since Katrina's remnants in 05 that New York/The Mid-Atlantic has been directly affected by maritime storms!

There is a new tropical storm... Tropical Storm Ike, that formed today. This one looks promising and on its way to develop into a hurricane sometime soon... veering west-northwest towards the northern Carribean Islands.

And yet behind Ike there is a highly organized low pressure system off Cape Verde that is probably going to develop into the 4th active storm in the Atlantic right now within the next few hours.

Wow... the Atlantic is heated up right now with storm activity!!

[hawkpride147 1]

here comes hurricane season in full force...

[Tia-may 0]

Another good picture by BBC News...

Now for some advice by the Mayor Ray Nagin: he has urged evacuees to stay put away from new Orleans for another few days, adding that officials would check for the scale of damage. He added that "Trees are down all over the city, power lines are down all over the city, and there is a significant number of homes and businesses without energy."

I can now confirm with help of the National Hurricane Center website that Ike is a tropical storm. That one was once Tropical depression No.9. Hanna is expected, as diagram show as of 0849 BST to hit the Bahamas.

[coolotter88 2]

uhh I'm going to have to break the bad news to you guys, but global climate change has been occurring since the beginning of weather.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: coolotter88 uhh I'm going to have to break the bad news to you guys, but global climate change has been occurring since the beginning of weather.quote>

 

And if they closed up the shiping channels/restored the delta the storm surges would not do so much damage.

[FreewayofFlight 41]

It looks like New Orleans dodged a bullet this time, like the rest of us I'm relieved that the city was spared!

Now it looks like the East Coast is in for a round of storms, starting with Hanna. From what I understand, upper South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (and other points north) haven't seen a major hurricane since the late 90's with Hurricane Floyd. I wonder if the Atlantic coast is showing favorable conditions for a Category 3+ system to charge it's way up there.

Hopefully the Gulf won't have to deal with anything worse than Gustav this year!

[Msprintz 25]

Originally posted by: FreewayofFlight

Hopefully the Gulf won't have to deal with anything worse than Gustav this year!quote>

 

If Ike holds steady it looks like the Gulf may again be staring down the barrel of a Cat-5 storm.  Josephine could lean either way, that is if it threatens the coast at all(looks more like that storm could curve out to sea before threatening any landmasses). 

[Mikeaut1 261]

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US is long overdue for a serious hurricane. Forecasters predict Long Island/New England will get one sometime soon. I do believe that we will get at least remnants of one this year... the ocean is extremely active this year.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Mikeaut1

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US is long overdue for a serious hurricane. quote>

 

   Isabel, a category 5 the size of Texas, was only 5 years ago.

 

[Mikeaut1 261]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Originally posted by: Mikeaut1

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast US is long overdue for a serious hurricane. quote>

 

   Isabel, a category 5 the size of Texas, was only 5 years ago.

 

quote>

I meant more up here where I live... Long Island and the Northeast. This region of the country hasn't gotten a direct hit from a strong hurricane in decades.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Ike is traveling in a generally westward direction, and Florida is a possible target.  Though it seems, Florida is being less impacted this year.

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

So much for Hurricane Gustav being the 'storm of the century'. . .

If Hanna avoids Florida, we can still look forward to Ike, then maybe Josephine, and then maybe the 3 other African waves expected to form this year. Time to put up the shutters!

[sedimenjerry 1]

The Bermuda high will most likely steer those stomrs just like Hanna is being steered right now.

[Micah 16]

So much for Hurricane Gustav being the 'storm of the century'. . . quote>

Thought that was Katrina...