Surviving Hurricane Katrina - My Story

[dduardo]

Hey guys, I survived the storm.

This is the first time I've experienced a direct hit from a hurricane. I'm glad it was just a Category 1 storm. Right now I've got a gasoline generator powering my computer. There are some areas that are flooded in knee deep water. In my area particularly there are a lot of down trees and power lines. A giant tree is laying on top of my roof and the fence on the west side of the house collapsed. Also, most traffic signals are not working and there is a shortage of gasoline.

The power company says they will try to get 90% of people's power back by friday, but I don't think they'll make that deadline. Alot of transformers blew up during the storm. You could tell whenever a transformer blew because the night sky lit up in a blue-ish green color.

Anyway, I have to go clean up some more. I'll try to poke my head in whenever I get a chance.

 

[mattmns]

Good to hear that you are ok, stay safe.

 

[hypatia]

Storms, the one reason I won't live in Fla. Glad to hear your ok and have a generator! Hope the big tree didn't do any damage to your home. I've seen news clips of the flooding, one showed a kitten swimming for its life{yes it was rescued}.

 

[Monique]

whoa, that must have been scary, glad to hear you are ok!

 

[Moonbear]

Glad to hear you're okay dduardo! Okay, so if you're not on for a bit, we'll understand...if you have to go at least a week on generator power with low gasoline supplies, don't waste the electric on us.

 

[honestrosewater]

Yeah, stay safe! Most fatalities occur after the storm, you know. Hope you manage to keep electricity. That was the worst part of any storm that I've been through - no power for a week is torture, especially during the summer in FL.

 

[dduardo]

Today I worked with my neighbors to cut down all the down trees with chainsaws. The electricity is slowing coming up around town and the internet is more stable. More gasoline stations are opening up as the electricity is being restored. Hopefully things will be back to normal by the end of the week.

If anyone is living in Louisiana you should look into evacuating. Katrina is currently a Category 3, but could easily go up to Category 4 or 5. I would definitely not want to be around there when the storm strikes after seeing what happened here.

 

[honestrosewater]

That reminds me... http://www.wunderground.com/ is the best weather site I've ever found for the US (just enter your zip code, and you're good to go). It's great to have access to during a storm.

 

[Mk]

Some interesting tropical cyclone information.

The most intense storm on record was Typhoon Tip in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in 1979, which had a minimum pressure of 870 mb and maximum sustained windspeeds of 190 mph (305 km/h). Fortunately, it weakened before striking Japan. Tip was also the largest cyclone on record, with a circulation 1,350 miles (2,170 km) wide. The average tropical cyclone is only 300 miles (480 km) wide.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Typhoonsizes.jpg
Tip does not, however, hold alone the record for fastest sustained winds in a cyclone; Typhoon Keith in the Pacific, and Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Allen in the North Atlantic currently share this record as well, although recorded windspeeds that fast are suspect, since most monitoring equipment is likely to be destroyed by such conditions.
Camille was the only storm to actually strike land while at that intensity, making it, with 190 mph (305 km/h) sustained winds and 210 mph (335 km/h) gusts, the strongest tropical cyclone of record to ever hit land. For comparison, these speeds are encounted at the center of a strong tornado, but Camille was much larger and long-lived than any tornado.

A gust caused by Category 5 Super Typhoon Paka over Guam in 1997, was recorded at 236 mph (380 km/h); however, this reading had to be discarded, since the anemometer was damaged by the storm. Had it been confirmed, this would be the strongest wind ever recorded at the Earth's surface. (The current record is held by a non-hurricane wind registering 231 mph (372 km/h) at Mount Washington in New Hampshire.)

If I heard on the radio the wind speed was 235 miles per hour, I would have been sure I was going to DIE . The tiniest thing, moving at 235 miles per hour could easily injure a person. I sure am glad I was living in Michigan at that time.

I did more research on the Mount Washington thing and found that Mount Washington literally has some of the worst weather in the world. It holds the record for land-measured wind-speed at 231 mph (372 km/h), recorded in 1934, and regular winter temperatures of -47°F (-44°C). Snow storms at high altitudes are routine in every month of the year. Buildings at the summit are designed to withstand 300 mph (480 km/h) winds; some are literally chained to the mountain.

Ironically, Guam has some of the best weather and cleanest air in the world. Everyday is beautiful, except for the ones where we're in the eye of a supertyphoon.

 

[arildno]

I suppose Katrina made a lot of Waves..
http://www.katw.com/

 

[honestrosewater]

I suppose Katrina made a lot of Waves..
http://www.katw.com/

It's times like this that I really wish we had a groan smiley.

 

[arildno]

It's times like this that I really wish we had that groan smiley. grumpy:

yes, it was worth a couple of groans.

 

[honestrosewater]

yes, it was worth a couple of groans.

Oh, sorry, I'm not really a groaner. :shy:

 

[robphy]

When I left New Orleans on Friday (..by chance, for a wedding), I thought the track was back to the Florida panhandle. To my surprise on Saturday morning, I saw the new track and it now looks like a direct hit for us .

I changed my return flight from Sunday night to Tuesday night.
Hopefully, there will be a place to land.

In case anyone is interested, here is a projected flood map (projected by folks at LSU) http://www.nola.com/hurricane/content/katrina_projected_flooding082805.pdf
and here is a graphic with the height-profile of New Orleans
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/goingunder.html .

 

[Moonbear]

When I left New Orleans on Friday (..by chance, for a wedding), I thought the track was back to the Florida panhandle. To my surprise on Saturday morning, I saw the new track and it now looks like a direct hit for us .

I changed my return flight from Sunday night to Tuesday night.
Hopefully, there will be a place to land.

In case anyone is interested, here is a projected flood map (projected by folks at LSU) http://www.nola.com/hurricane/content/katrina_projected_flooding082805.pdf
and here is a graphic with the height-profile of New Orleans
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/goingunder.html .

Oh, I hope for your sake that your flight is canceled if it hits...it would be much better to be someplace else until order is restored. On the weather report this morning, there's still a chance it could hit New Orleans as a Category 5. If it doesn't start weakening soon, it could be the second worst hurricane to hit the US according to the news (or maybe that's second worst to hit New Orleans...I was still waking up while it was being reported ).

The residual rain and thunderstorms are supposed to hit here Tuesday afternoon, so I'm really hoping it slows down just enough for the movers to get most of my stuff out of the house before it hits...I just don't want to think about everything being carried out in pouring rain! As it is, I'll be driving with it. Why oh why can't I ever move without any precipitation around?!

 

[honestrosewater]

Why oh why can't I ever move without any precipitation around?!

You must have angered the Flying Spaghetti Monster by not wearing your pirate attire.

 

[hypatia]

You must have angered the Flying Spaghetti Monster by not wearing your pirate attire.

Its not too late ! At least put the hat on and maybe a dagger! This also may make the movers hustle a bit more

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hey dduardo, I'm glad that you made it through okay. Florida has been a scary place these last few years.

 

[Mk]

Yeeash! Now its a Category 5, about to slam Louisiana!

 

[honestrosewater]

Holy http://www.wunderground.com/global/Region/g1/IRSatellite.html!

 

[Mk]

Top winds are 165 mph. The pressure has dropped to 902 mb, the 4th lowest on record in the Atlantic Basin. Typhoon Tip, the strongest one on record, was 870 mb.

 

[Moonbear]

Its not too late ! At least put the hat on and maybe a dagger! This also may make the movers hustle a bit more

Okay, I'm not going to complain about the possibility of moving in the rain anymore...I just read the latest news story on New Orleans evacuations and preparations for this hurricane and it's WAY too serious sounding to be worrying about residual thunderstorms (but they can probably blame me for the timing). The news report sounded like something out of a movie! The highways are packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic, and they have all 6 lanes of the interstates open one-way to evacuate. There are a lot of city residents who have no transportation and no place to go, so they are being bused to shelters. High rise hotels have been exempted from the evacuation orders so people can evacuate "vertically" to escape flooding!

If we have any members living around there and you're still there to read this, HEAD NORTH! This one is going to be really bad. I'll keep my fingers crossed that something takes the edge off this storm before it hits land, but at Category 5, even if it lessens some, it's still going to be bad.

 

[hypatia]

I always feel badly for the animals, there is a lot of live stock in that area. I mean I feel badly for people too, but not so much for the ones who refuse to leave. Its the aftermath, coming back to wrecked homes, fouled wells ect. that has to be the ruffest part.

 

[Moonbear]

I always feel badly for the animals, there is a lot of live stock in that area. I mean I feel badly for people too, but not so much for the ones who refuse to leave. Its the aftermath, coming back to wrecked homes, fouled wells ect. that has to be the ruffest part.

I don't feel sorry for people who refuse to leave either. They made their own decision and will have to live or die with it. I am concerned that there are a lot of people who would evacuate if they could, but have no means to do so. There are a lot of dirt poor people living in New Orleans, plus a lot of stranded tourists who can't leave because the airport is closed.

 

[hypatia]

eh Gads they are even expecting{pre1960's} coffins to be wash up to the surface. The newer ones are cemented in. I recall they had that problem befor.

 

[Moonbear]

eh Gads they are even expecting{pre1960's} coffins to be wash up to the surface. The newer ones are cemented in. I recall they had that problem befor.

Oh, I forgot about that problem. Creepy, huh?

 

[Kenneth Mann]

I always feel badly for the animals, there is a lot of live stock in that area. I mean I feel badly for people too, but not so much for the ones who refuse to leave. Its the aftermath, coming back to wrecked homes, fouled wells ect. that has to be the ruffest part.

Most who don't leave are those who can't. They are the old, the handicapped, and most of all, those without transportation or the finances to cover it.

KM

 

[1123581321]

from what I've been hearing, they don't even know if the superdome can take those winds, yet they pack 20000-30000 people into it. of course, what else could they do, tell them to swim?
why would you even want a city by the sea to be below sea level, protected by leeves that will only hold in the water once it flows over?
Also, New Orleans is a big port city, which takes in and refines a lot of oil.

I could go on, but you're all smart people.

Fibonacci

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, I read that they're worried that the city is basically going to turn into a bowl filled with toxic soup if this storm hits as expected. I was wondering about the SuperDome too. I don't even know what those hotels can take. Hopefully people in them will be advised to remain in the corridors away from the windows and off the top floors unless the water drives them upward. A lot of streets in that city flood from just ordinary rainfall (last time I was there, it took an extra half hour to get to the airport from my hotel because the usual routes were blocked by flooding, and the rain wasn't really that heavy).

 

[cronxeh]

I love it when they give a hurricane or a tsunami a woman's name. Sort of like "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, this looks like its going to be terrible! There was a recent documentary that virtually doomed New Orleans under exactly the conditions now approaching the city. This could reeeeeeeeellly be bad.

 

[robphy]

The news report sounded like something out of a movie! The highways are packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic, and they have all 6 lanes of the interstates open one-way to evacuate.

To make things worse, some parts of the evacuation routes can be flooded, like this stupid dip on I-10, leading out of New Orleans: http://www.nola.com/traffic/cams/cam8.ssf (it looks like the camera is not current). There is a vertical ruler on the center column which tells drivers about the true depth of any flooding on the road. I recall a photo of a bus that was almost fully submerged there.

 

[Kakarot]

yea they said the town will be under water for weeks and maybe months. the pumps that empty the water will all be underwater themselves so depending on the water that falls it might very well be months.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Storm tracker

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT12/refresh/AL1205W+gif/205423W_sm.gif
http://www.stormtracker.noaa.gov/stormtracker-katrina.htm

It looks like a direct hit. I guess the only thing that could be worse would be if it was approaching from the SE. Maybe the northerly course will reduce the tidal surge along the delta.

 

[Loren Booda]

Remember that the hurricane causing the greatest disaster ever in the United States hit Galveston, Texas around 1900, killing 6,000-10,000 people. Although they were less prepared for evacuating than the millions around New Orleans, their storm winds were 30 mph less, and their storm surge was 5 feet vs a predicted ~20 feet for hurricane Katrina. I looks as though many historic sites and human lives shall be destroyed.

Prepare to be generous in the wake of the storm.