I think this is the news people are waiting not to hear... I know that there was speculation that it could be into the several tousands... They said gulfport and biloxi were not at all expect something of this magnitude and the sudden turn just before landfall caught many off guard.
Many prayers for a lost souls tonight.
Sudden turn? It was a microscopic wobble. The storm ended up taking a track within a few miles of the NHC forecast tracks from 60 hours previous to landfall.
And the wobble was irrelevant as the storm surge extended for many miles east of this area. This area would have receieved the same surge without the wobble.
The entire area was under a hurricane watch and warning for an extended period of time. There was no reason for anyone to be caught off guard.
...as you say...this was the news we were waiting NOT to hear. But we knew there was going to be a tally...we hoped it wouldn't be as high as we knew it could be...now we know it's what we feared.
Our job now...our no. 1 priority HAS TO BE GETTING THOSE ALIVE OUT! By boat seems to be the only way. Another storm is coming and EVERYBODY should be gone. It would just be like M.N. to laugh and throw another one at us just like last year. In any case, most of the survivors still out there can't last beyond a week without food and water...particularly water. At the outside we have seven days so we have to hurry! The bodies will have to wait.
Total BS. The shift eastward affected landfall by less than 30 miles. There were repeated stern warnings from the Natl Hurricane Ctr on all the news and weather channels stating that the storm surge would be over 20' all the way east to past Mobile. Also warnings that landfall could move either east or west.
There was no sudden turn...it followed the track.
"They said gulfport and biloxi were not at all expect something of this magnitude and the sudden turn just before landfall caught many off guard.."
I've heard this before and given what happened during Camille, I just can't understand it. This will be even worse than Camille, but good Lord people, hurricanes have shown us time and time again what they can do. NEVER, EVER ignore an evacuation call, ESPECIALLY if you live right on the coast. The coast may be beautiful, but it's deadly.