Hurricane Season is Upon Us
June 2nd, 2006 | by MadHacktress |Happy birthday, , if you’re reading this… if not, well, it’s Mel’s birthday and she should be told Happy Birthday. :)
So, the 2006 Hurricane Season is upon us. NOAA and CSU have both chimed in with their guestimates and have come up with some decent numbers.
|
Agency:
|
Named
Storms |
Hurricanes
|
Major
Hurricanes |
| CSU |
17
|
9
|
5
|
| NOAA |
13–16
|
8–10
|
4–6
|
| Records: |
28
|
15
|
8
|
It doesn’t look like any of the records are going to be challenged this year, but we’re definitely forecasted above average. CSU’s averages are 9.6, 5.9 & 2.3 respectively (for years 1950 to 2000) and NOAA averages 6-14, 4-8 & 1-3 (also, respectively).
Even the very low end of these forecasts will put us in the high-average category for the year. A nine-hurricane year would definitely mean at least one hurricane that makes landfall on the mainland continent, somewhere - statistically speaking - though two is more likely. The major hurricane count is high and, hopefully, this year will see the formation of another good Cape-Verde type hurricane like last year’s Hurricane Emily.
I know that hurricanes bring about a significant amount of destruction. Two years ago the remnants of Hurricane Frances washed over us here in Kingston with a great deal of force. The very last-gasp remnants of Charley, two weeks before had left the ground still soaked and there was no place for the water to go. I was living with my sister at the time and, well, as she put it “sewage water” (graywater, more aptly) came up through the basement drain and flooded our basement up 20 inches. It would have gone higher but for the fact that I noticed it and plugged the drain (somewhat ineffectively with towels, at first).
I was somewhat morbidly glued to the TV, and to the DirectNIC blog written, then, by the fellow known as Interdictor. I hope that this year does not bring the same destruction to anywhere on the continent as it did to New Orleans last year… but I still hope for a good show none-the-less.
Entry Filed under: In The News
Given the disater produce by even a near miss here in Houston, I shudder to think of what I can expect this year.
Just the mention of Houston last year in the now-named “post-Katrina period”, I was both delighted and appauled by the comments of former-First Lady Barbara Bush. When interviewed on Marketplace, a radio programme, Ms. Bush said:
The New Orleanians seeking shelter in Houston had lost home, health, happiness and for some there were family members who had lost life and limb itself. The hurricane - monetarily the most devastating storm, and perhaps natural desaster, - to hit this continent, in the history of time, no less, was certainly not “working very well for them”.
At the time of this writing there are currently 2541 people missing or dead. The numbers of confirmed dead exceed 1800 and the still-missing number over 700. Nine months later and more than 700 people are still missing. This, indeed, was “working very well” for the people of New Orleans.
All this time later and barely 100,000 people - less than one-quarter of its pre-Katrina population - has returned to New Orleans. So, you know, since they were underprivaledge anyway, they decided to stick around in Texas, The Land of Overwhelming Hospitality.
Now I said that this both delights and appauls me at the same time. I should explain. I am appauled because, obviously, that is a horrible sentiment to express. No one is ever better off having weathered the brunt of a storm who’s damage swath generated a federal disaster declaration only a few thousand square kilometres smaller than the U.K. itself.
But, I am delighted as well. Delighted because this is an especially good example of how old republicans are so disconnected from reality that they, well, say stupid things like this. There are umpteen examples of it but this one is present, fresh and grotesquely obvious. I doubt that even the most staunch hardliner was there to pat Barbara on the back with an “‘at a girl” at the end of that interview.
Oh, so crazy…
Well, good luck to you Houston, and may God bless New Orleans. Let’s hope that Hurricane and lightning share at least a few qualities this year.
When one lives on he Gulf Coast, hurricanes are a fact of life.
If you live on the water, the price that you pay for the recreational opportunities is the certain knowledge that you’ll have to flee on occasion, and that your dwelling may not be there when you get back.
If you live in a city, you also have a reasonable expectation that the entities to whom you pay taxes has a plan to deal with the emergency, and infrastructure to support the plan.
New Orleans saw a complete breakdown of planning and process.
“Leave town,” is no a plan.
“However you can,” is not a process.
So, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced to other cities, many to Houston.
Again, no planning (are there 100,000 empty apartments in Houston?)
You can put a lot of people in the Astrodome for a few days, but not for months. School districts had to accommodate tens of thousands of new students without warning or increased funding.
Humans don’t come in crates that you can warehouse.
And then came Hurricane Rita . . .
They tried to move millions of people out of town on roads that are strained in simple rush hour traffic. The authorities knew that there wasn’t fuel enough for the operation, but were unwilling to prepare for the problems. A million random vehicles in varying states of repair, thousands of mechanical failures, and temperatures in the high 30s (Celsius). . .
And among these people were tens of thousands from New Orleans. I can’t even imagine what it was like for them.
I live 80km inland. I put boards on the windows and prepared for a loss of electrical power.
The Republican spin machines haven’t been able to do much here. People were abandoned and they know it.
I need to go buy more plywood for my windows and batteries for my flashlights and electronics.
I can’t wait to see what the politicians and media have to say this year.
Hey thanks so much…it’s nice to see you here again. YAY!!!