New Orleans Residents Are Ordered to Flee Hurricane

[Faustian]

I wonder what the chances are of this thing fizzling out and being a non-event?

 

None. It will make landfall as a category 3 to 4, slightly more powerful than Katrina. The eyewall suffered as a result of passing over Cuba and it lost some steam...it was looking like a category 5 for a while there. It is over warm water with little wind sheer...it's steaming in.

[Julian2]

GOD SMITES THE REPUBLICANS!

 

 

Storm causes Republicans to scale-back convention.

 

HURRICANE Gustav, bearing down on New Orleans, has forced the Republican Party to announce a much-scaled back convention in St Paul, Minnesota.

 

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain speaking from St Louis to the conference via satellite said â??we are facing a great national challenge and the possibility of a great national natural disasterâ??â??.

Link

[Hugh_Hoy]

Those midwesterners are probably busy damming up the river to make sure that cesspool called New Orleans doesn't back up to their towns.

 

HH

[elef]

"Hurricane Gustav maintained its strength early Monday as it moved closer to the southern Louisiana coast for a landfall expected about midday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami."

 

"At 2 a.m. ET, forecasters said Gustav was a Category 3 storm and was centered about 170 miles (275 km) south-southeast of New Orleans and it was moving northwest across the central Gulf of Mexico at 16 mph -- the same speed and track reported late Sunday.

 

The storm had sustained winds of 115 mph (184 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said. Category 3 hurricanes have sustained winds from 111 mph to 130 mph (178 kph to 209 kph).

 

Hurricane-force winds could hit Louisiana's southern coast by sunrise Monday, and the storm's center could hit southwest of New Orleans by early Monday afternoon, CNN meteorologists said.

 

Storm surges of 10 to 14 feet above normal tides are expected near and to the east of Gustav's center, forecasters said. Rain accumulations between 6 to 12 inches are possible over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches, through Wednesday morning, according to forecasters."

 

CNN

 

 

 

[rogueyam]

New Orleans seems likely to have caught a break in the last 12 hours. Gustav is less powerful than it might have been and will strike further west than previously thought. The storm surge in New Orleans should be well within the design parameters of the levee system. This is no guarantee that there will not be significant flooding but things will probably be ok there.

[Neo]

Gee, what a shocker. "Storm of the Century" fizzles out before making land. It's barely even a cat 3 anymore. Call me skeptical, but I have seen this type of hurricane hype and letdown in the media over and over.

 

[HSTEACH]

A cat three can still do a lot of damage. Katrina when it finally hit land three years ago was a cat 3. I live a hundred or so miles north of the Creasant City and we're expecting tornados, heavy rain and 75+ mph winds. not a pleasant Monday. Will keep you informed if we still have electricity.

[rogueyam]

Gee, what a shocker. "Storm of the Century" fizzles out before making land. It's barely even a cat 3 anymore. Call me skeptical, but I have seen this type of hurricane hype and letdown in the media over and over.

 

Hindsight is 20/20. After a storm there are always some who criticize those who prepared for the worst. The job of the Governor is to take those actions 72 and 48 hours before landfall that will minimize loss of life, etc, should the worst-case possibilities obtain.

 

[Barry]

Gee, what a shocker. "Storm of the Century" fizzles out before making land. It's barely even a cat 3 anymore. Call me skeptical, but I have seen this type of hurricane hype and letdown in the media over and over.

 

"hype and letdown"? Sounds like you find it all exciting!

[Neo]

Rogue, you got me totally wrong: I never criticized preparation nor is this hindsight. I fully support preparing for the worst. But people aren't doing that, that's why you get billions in damages each go. Gustav is no more news worthy than the dry season in Isaan. It is just part of a normal seasonal weather pattern that happens every year there. We know about how many hurricanes there will be, how big they will be, and the places they will go. Big ones are newsworthy like as Katrina or Andrew. But most are just a waste of news space.

 

Gustav has weakened to cat 2 and dropping and hasn't even made land yet. So much for "the mother of all storms". I think crying wolf like this is dangerous in the long run. They need to be more honest with people about real world probabilities instead of using scare tactics like this.