Live Thread - Hurricane Katrina, Part IV (Update: Now a Category 5 )

NOAA - NHC ^ | 27 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[fatima]

You reap what you sow- sue because you are told- don't tell.

[Wthrman13]

Ok, let me try to explain it again then. Hurricanes rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, so the winds on the east side of the eye will be blowing from south to north. With me so far? If the hurricane is also moving to the north, the forward speed will be added to the south-to-north winds on the east side of the eye, and subtracted from the north-to-south winds on the west side. It's simple geometry. For example, if the maximum winds in the hurricane are 145 mph relative to its center, and it's moving north at 15 mph, the actual winds (relative to the ground) on the east side will be 160 mph, and on the west side will be 130 mph.

Hope *that* is clear :)

[Palladin]

Well, I guess it's good that they have started bussing people to the Dome. But whatif...? I hate to think about the Dome collapsing.

[sonsofliberty2000]

What IS that?

[Termite_Commander]

That's mud. =P

[SunnySide]

Oh I do. When he first started doing that I thought he was nuts.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

They even made a movie back in the early 70s about the Hurricane.

[sonsofliberty2000]

I get it now!

[Ingtar]

I lived in Covington... I have very good ideas of what could be in that water.

[pies]

www.wwltv.com has some interesting reading about the hurricane; also a weather forum, if anyone is interested.

[Termite_Commander]

lol

[Gabz]

I guess that would have made an impression on you.

I grew up in NYC and os have no childhood impressions/memories of hurricanes. In fact I was 25 before I every had any real experience, and have sort of been "fascinated" with them since.

[bannie]

[beyond the sea]

ok

[AnAmericanMother]

That ol' Fool Killer has definitely been sleeping on the job. Or he hasn't been paddling round St. Bernard Parish lately . . . < g >

[Flux Capacitor]

Black humor is easier in Louisiana because things are ALREADY so profoundly screwed up down here that when a killer hurricane shows up with the potential of destroying an entire city, it almost makes a ludicrous sort of sense. But then I'm a cynic.

-Dan

[Knitting A Conundrum]

If you've never been in a flood before, let me tell you the water's nasty, even if it's mostly a rainfall flood with little current. Sewage, for sure. Chemicals from the street. Critters - snakes, fireants, rats. In that area, maybe a gator or two. Stray dogs. Mud. Stuff can leak from areas flooded. There will be drowned cars. There will be stuff from people's carports and garages, stuff broken and windblown, treebranches, trees, windows, roofing, wood.

Nasty.

And yes, there's lots of chemical business around New Orleans, or was when I used to live there. And other types of plants that would have hazardous stuff, too.

[metmom]

Are these tall buildings designed to take a hurricane? I can't help but thinking of a tall building flooded part way up with winds and waves battering at the exposed part. What about the foundation? Wouldn't the building topple due to a soft, water-laden foundation and all that force acting on it?
Water is basically incompressible. You know what a belly flop feels like. What about all that beating on the buildings? I wouldn't feel safe in one.

[CWW]

Sadly, the Gulf likely will reclaim much of the Louisiana Caost on Monday. Please pray for our friends in N.O.!!!

[Frank_2001]

VERY good idea to fill up that tank!