If Katrina makes it to a Category 5, as big as she is, and then hits Louisiana and the New Orleans area, well, puts things in perspective about some guy with a bomb in a subway. I cannot believe how poorly managed the preparations for this hurricane have been.
If you read the comment thread at Dr. Master’s weblog, well, some of it just breaks your heart. Some of it makes you angry.
We need to refocus our emergency services back on the events we know we’ll be hit with, year after year after year. And we had better stop being so damn arrogant about weather. And about the science that allows us to understand weather better.
Not unless you all want to put your faith in a big hand of God coming down and scooping you all up to safety. But as one person says in Dr. Master’s comments: Oh my God…. this thing is like the hand of God.
Time to break out my five year old, primitive DHTML demonstration of how hurricanes work.
From Weather Underground’s Steve Gregory:
AUGUST 28 – 12:05 AM CDT – SPECIAL STORM UPDATE
CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE APPROACHING NEW ORLEANS REGION
CURRENT POSITION / NOTEWORTHY REPORTS PAST HOUR
KATRINA LOCATED 26.1N / 88.1W or 290 miles SSE of Gulfport, MS. – 275 miles SSE of downtown
New Orleans – and 240 miles SSE of Port Eads at the southern tip of the Mississippi Delta.
Katrina is heading just north of DUE Northwest at 9Kts (10 MPH) over the past 2 hoursRECON Reports:
Pressure 907mb ( DOWN 42MB IN 24 HRS)
MAX Flight Level wind 166KTS – SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS 175MPH – GUSTS TO 200MPH. EYEWALL DIAMETER IS STEADY AT 22NM
CREW REPORTS ‘PERFECT STADIUM EFFECT’
Major storm, yes. Possibly the worst to hit this county? Yes. Thousands and tens of thousands dead? Unlikely. For those riding out the storm, don’t let the heavy predictions immobilize you with fear. We’re a remarkably resilient species, as long as we practice common sense.