Hurricane katrina

[Lauderdale]

Fort Lauderdale had gusts of 92 mph and sustained 65 mph winds from Katrina.  The standard engineering rule of thumb is a one mph increase per floor, so I had winds well in excess of 100 up here on the 18th floor.  The windows bowed in and out and standing on the balcony was exhilarating to say the least.  There were whitecaps in my manhattan.

Here are two photos I shot of Hurricane Katrina approaching the coast.

This is kinda' spooky. That is a tanker on the horizon.

I zoomed in on the tanker that is about five miles off shore in the Gulf Stream.

 

[7santiago]

wow thats amazing

, lauderdale how do post pictures,i have been trying to post some pictures for a while but it asks me for a web site

.

good luck with the huricane.

 

[Starman]

Quote[/b] (7santiago @ Aug. 26 2005,12:39)]wow thats amazing

, lauderdale how do post pictures,i have been trying to post some pictures for a while but it asks me for a web site

.

good luck with the huricane.

Save your photos to my pictures
Then, go to imageshack
http://imageshack.us/index.php
Click on 'browse' and select your photo
Then click on 'Host it!' and copy and paste the link they give you
easy  

Whoa amazing pics Luanderdale!

And that tanker is creepy

 

[Ozzy]

That looks pretty wild pics. There is nothing as spooky and the feeling of just before a hurricane hits. I can't think of any other word to describe it other than spooky. It's like a heavy dreadful feeling. You can feel the changes in air pressure. It's really wierd.

 

[Lauderdale]

No doubt about it Ozz.  You can definitely feel that something is about to happen but if a person is new down here they can't quite put their finger on it.
However, when I saw this coming there was no doubt it was gonna' get nasty.
Five people were killed here in Broward County, mostly by falling trees, and parts of Dade County got 18/20 inches of rain in about six hours.
It was a real "trip" to watch this thing unfold from this vantage point.  The barrier island my apartment is on was the only area in Lauderdale that did NOT lose power so I was quite comfortable.  A couple of the apartments lost doors and a few windows but there was no structural damage.

 

[herenorthere]

It's looking really bad for coastal Louisiana & Mississippi.  It was a Category 1 storm as it struck Florida but is now a nasty Category 5 and has the potential to be a disaster beyond anything that's happened in the US during my life.  There are 100,000 mostly poor people in New Orleans who have no transportation out of the city and if everything goes wrong, they'll have to seek refuge in the Superdome.  And, with the National Guard overextended elsewhere, things could spiral out of control afterwards.  Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.  Unfortunately, we haven't.

 

[Ozzy]

If this storm hits just west of New Orleans, I don't think New Orleans will ever be the same and to be blunt, may not even exist anymore. New Orleans is built BELOW sea level, and if it gets the western half of the storm, there will be catastrophic flooding. As the storm rotates counter clockwise it pushes a wall of water east of the storm. The good news is that the storm is forecast to hit east of the city. New Orleans is going to still going to have extremely bad flooding. I'm afraid that even the Super dome will not be safe. They need to bus those people out of the city or many of them will not survive.

 

[Cynic81]

It's now the 4th strongest atlantic storm EVER

It's a category 5 now and is STILL GETTING STRONGER

This thing could be a hurricane as far inland as TENNESSE

 

[aprilh]

From the Nationial Weather service:

\NWS WARNS IN CHILLING STATEMENT:
"MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS... PERHAPS LONGER... THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL... HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY... A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE... ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT... AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD... AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND
EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES... SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED... POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS... AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED... WATER sHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS... NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: "EVERY PERSON IN THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS IS HEREBY ORDERED TO LEAVE THE CITY"...
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 175 MPH... GUSTING TO 210 MPH...
KATRINA IS A CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE...
NHC WARNS: ALREADY 26.75" PRESSURE, EXPECT 15" OF RAIN, 25 FOOT STORM SURGE... ON-AIR METS QUOTING 40-FOOT WAVES ON TOP OF THAT!... LAST WORD FROM BUOY BEFORE SILENCE WAS 35-FOOT WAVES... 17-FOOT WAVES APPROACHING GULF COAST ALREADY...

 

[Clint]

I hope nothing happens to the oil rigs!

this past summer i saw a fake-documentary on what would happen if a certain oil rig off the coast of New Orleans was destroyed in a big hurrican. Gas prices skyrocketed so high no one could go ANYWHERE and our way of life went down the drain. i don't remember what happened in the end.

 

[pond boy]

Dang! That is spooky looking!(Kinda like in Altus,OK when tornadoes came in).
Wow,and to think a few days ago they where saying catagory 1 maximum. I hpe ya`ll down there are okay! Possibly hurricane all the way up in tenessee?! I guess we`ll be gertting more rainn here in southern Mo

 

[Trapper7]

Pondboy,you getting more rain where you live in southern Mo,is not a big deal right now compared to what those people in the hurricane are going through

~Niki~

 

[LauraZ5]

I watched the news specifically to see what was going on. Horrifying and absolutely bone chilling.  I feel there will be a tremendous death toll when all is said and done. There are tens of thousands of tourists stuck there who legitimately can’t get out as their scheduled flights for departure obviously can’t be moved up. I get this sick feeling that we’re going to have our own “tsunami” yet bars are still open and it is stated there are “hurricane parties” going on while CNN emphasizes the price increases at the pumps when gulf oil output is crippled  What strikes me as unfathomable is that many of the people being interviewed in line to enter the stadium stated they waited too long to leave. They also interviewed countless people who chose to stay as well as those who stated they couldn't leave because they didn't have anywhere to go. Didn't have anywhere to go? I don't understand this mentality. When a storm system of this magnitude is on its way... wouldn't one get in their vehicle with their family, pets, as much food as one could pack in coolers, family photos and a few other sentimental keepsakes and start driving?  I wish there was some way to get the word out that there are literally thousands if not tens of thousands of families out there willing to take these people in. It has been my experience that Meng-Tse summed up my feelings toward mankind with this statement, "The tendency of man toward good is like the tendency of water to flow downward".  In the face of adversity, Americans will provide for one another. My God why didn't these people who claimed to have no where to go just start driving north? Don't tell me that the first Synagogue, Mosque, or Church that one stopped at asking for help wouldn't have put out a call to their congregation asking for members to take them in. When we had the floods around here, even hotels and motels put entire families up for free and that included dogs and cats. I am sickened there appear to be thousands of people who owned vehicles who evidently have little or no faith in mankind who have conscientiously chosen to stay.

 

[endparenthesis]

In the last evacuation it took me literally an entire day to travel under 100 miles... and that one was peanuts compared to this one. When every road is a parking lot your car just doesn't seem to be the answer anymore. Better to be in a building than a buick when it hits.

Not that it's much consolation, but it's a category 4 now.

 

[lol]

A category 4 by only 1 mph. This thing is going to be sooooooooooooooo bad. I mean, the way new orleans is, being below sea level, a high level of poverty, and the region being the origin of almost 1/3 of our refined oil, it's going to be tremendous. There is a good possibility that the storm coul;d get stronger, especially if it slows down, but a slight chance that it could veer to the east. Worse case scenario, new orleans will be utterly annhialated, and left uninhabitable due to the toxic river that will engulf the city. This could be the first time we lose an entire city. Our gas prices are going to sky rocket, and I do not envy those who have cars and must pay for gas. Even so, this extreme jump in oil prices will cause a rise in cost of just about everything. Right now, red cross is prepared to make its largest movement in history. Interesting fact, those who must stay behind in the superdome may face... their own weather. Giant buildings like the superdome, and even massive air hangers have been known to harbor their own weather systems. By weather, I mean small clouds, rain, and (unconfirmed) possibly lightning. The south is in fore all hell, and the fire is just gonna spread to all of us. This is worse than any terrorist attack can muster....

 

[buster1]

LauraZ5,
I stayed put when we were hit by 3 hurricanes last year in Florida - Ivan hit another part of the state. I had too many animals to fit in a car with my belongings and family. Charlie destroyed a good portion of my house but by being there I was able to salvage things that would have been lost otherwise and during the next two (Jeanne and Francis). I also understand the no place to go - Jeanne and Francis basically covered the state of Florida. Anywhere I could have driven in the time we had would have still been in the hurricane. I am impressed with the hotels putting people up for free (seriously) most of the hotels here raised their prices last year just before the hurricanes struck.

 

[LauraZ5]

The refinery situation this hurricane could leave us in should be a wake up call that perhaps it is time to construct a new refinery sometime in the near future.  How many years... no decades... has it been since we built one yet our demand has increased exponentially. Regardless, some reports of what may happen after the hurricane passes are rather ghoulish and most disconcerting. Where ever this hurricane hits, human beings from the surrounding areas are going to need services. If any one out there is in a position to donate any amount of money, here are a few organizations that provide disaster relief services and I believe they all accept credit cards-

American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund
Call 800-HELP NOW  
800-257-7575 (Spanish)
www.redcross.org

United Jewish Communities
Emergency Relief Fund
111 Eighth Avenue
Suite 11 E
New York, NY 10011
call 866-852-4636

Salvation Army
Call 800-SAL-ARMY
www.salvationarmyusa.org

Catholic Charities, USA
Call 800-919-9338
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

World Vision
American Families Assistance Fund
call 800-700-4911
www.worldvision.org

 

[LauraZ5]

Sorry Buster, I was typing when you were typing and was just notified you had responded to this thread.

Appalling, "hotels here raised their prices last year just before the hurricanes struck". You should post which hotels did this.  I have a decent enough memory and I for one would avoid patronizing any establishment that subscribed to those practices and I’m sure I am not alone.

I can appreciate the position you feel you are in. I thought I had a lot of animals but you must have more. Around here, a handfull of people are still providing care for animals that don’t belong to them from last year’s floods waiting for owners to be in a position to reclaim them. I’ve actually got two cats at my office that belong to a young man in the service stationed overseas. We’ve taken in an entire family (non related and we'd never met them) before and we're not alone. There truly are tens of thousands of families out there that would take people as well as their children and pets in and I can guarantee that aprilh and her husband here at Terra would take a family in too. Heck we've got so many kids and pets around here as it is a few more would hardly be noticed.

 

[PlantAKiss]

Amazing photos Jan. Its so ominous looking.

Its frightening when a Cat 1 can kill so many people and do so much damage...then turn into a Cat 5. This is bad...very bad.

I have the TV on a work right now. Its hitting the coast as I type.

Superdome is already coming apart...2 nine-foot holes in the ceiling. I hope that's ALL that happens.

The Red Cross is pleading for blood donations so if anyone is so inclined...that's a good way to help, especially if youre low on money. Blood is free.

My thoughts are with anyone in Katrina's path.

We are coming up on the year anniversary of the horrendous flooding here from Gaston...and 2 year anniversary for hurricane Isabel. They both struck in September. There are flooded businesses here that still haven't re-opened yet and you still see trees down everywhere from Isabel. At least it looks like this time we won't get hit. It takes such a long time to recover from storm damage.

 

[rattler]

Laura on building new refineries, do you honestly think they can build one on US soil that will meet EPA standards?

this hurricane is going to be very bad. how would you prepare a city for this kind of thing? i wonder if its even possibal. sustained winds of over 150, gusts approaching or going over 200mph, 20 ft storm surge. i cant think of any coastal city that could withstand that punishment even if they were at sea level and not below it. ive seen what 100 mph straigh line winds can do in a period of 10 or 15 minutes i cant imagine that and more for hours on end