Posted on 08/23/2007 5:03:15 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Hurricane Dean Fades, Leaving Behind Less Damage Than Expected By MARC LACEY and ELISABETH MALKIN
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 22 — Hurricane Dean, with its ferocious winds, monstrous Category 5 status and long trail of death and debris, was certainly no dud. But the weakened storm that swept ashore on Mexico’s gulf coast on Wednesday wreaked far less havoc than many anticipated it would.
“Dean will be remembered for being a very intense hurricane that could have done a lot more than it did,” said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist who tracked the storm for Weather Underground, a Web-based weather service.
One of the reasons, experts say, had to do with the storm itself. As it rolled across the Caribbean from Africa’s west coast, where it formed, it skirted major population centers.
It passed Martinique and St. Lucia, sparing them direct hits. Then it swept by the island of Hispaniola, drenching and causing damage in the Dominican Republic and Haiti but holding back much of its wrath.
Early on, the storm appeared to be bearing down on Jamaica, but it veered south, causing significant damage and three deaths but no knockout blows to the island’s critical tourist industry.
Even once it finally hit land, in Mexico on Tuesday on the Yucatán Peninsula and again on Wednesday on the gulf coast north of Veracruz, Hurricane Dean struck in spots with relatively low population densities and little tourist infrastructure. The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm just before 5 p.m. Wednesday and then downgraded again to a tropical depression late Wednesday night.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oh well, I’m sure they’ll be another one along sooner or later and they can hope for better “luck”.
“The response to the storm, the third most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in recorded history, also helped lessen its impact. Experts say that the authorities acted more swiftly and took warnings more seriously than had been the case with previous storms.”
D@mmit! People were supposed to ignore these warnings and die! How can we pimp Global Warming? How can we blame President Bush for a lack of response if there’s no disaster? /MSM rant ;)
They can’t let go of fear and hysteria. The Depends-able generation is this.
The real devastation wreaked this weekend was in the Mid West floods. There are 22 dead and billions of dollars in damage...but the weathermen were fixated on the hurricane. No wonder people don’t take these clowns seriously.
I’m right in the middle of it, Kitty. Part of my town is flooded, a few homes lost but no deaths. I’m up on the big hill, so while we have a slightly flooded basement, we’re not suffering in any way.
However, during rush hour last night, a woman and her small child and the man (total stranger) trying to rescue them were all electrocuted at a bus stop when lightening struck a pole and the power line hit the water they were standing in.
Everyone’s pretty shook up about that one. :(
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