Pirate's Cove

Katrina may not have been the storm it was supposed to be, but the damage is still horific. So much to say, too hungover to do it. Go see Michelle Malkin. She has some of the best coverage.

For those who have never lived through a hurricane, hungover is a good allegory. Living in North Carolina, I have been through many hurricanes/tropical storms. The worst that I wen through was Fran, in 1996. It is hard to describe if you haven’t been through one. I could replay the experiences, but not the "flavor." One thing I remember was the horrendous headache, caused by the pressure drop. The eye of Fran passed just a few miles west of me, over Cary, NC.

When Fran came through, she was a wind and rain event. She was packing sustained winds of 50-60 mph, with higher gusts. She dropped something like 10-14 inches of rain here. And we didn’t even get the bad parts, which hit the coast around Wilmington. There were trees down everywhere, the Crabtree Creek flooded, filling the Crabtree Valley Mall with 9 inches of water. Powerlines down, no cable, no phone, no cell.

The folks in Katrina’s path faced much worse, and still do. As I watch the coverage, I am reminded also of Floyd, in 1999, which soaked much of Eastern NC. Parts of NC east of 95 were impassible. Fires burned, and nothing could be done. Like in the areas in Katrina’s path.

I saw some loons on the DU, who I refuse to link at this time, complaining about Bush not doing enough. What else is new? There is only so much he can do with a disaster of this magnitude. You cannot even get into some of these water logged areas, at least not easily.

One of the complains was about phone service. I rarely talk about what I do for real, but I work in the cell phone industry. So why can’t people communicate? When the landline phone lines go down, communication goes down in the cell systems too, almost completely. Any cell call that goes beyond local is dependent on the landline system. With no power, cell towers can only last so long on backup power. Even where power and phone are available, there is a heirarchy of connection. Last time I checked in the Raleigh area, it was emergency, local connect landline, outgoing long distance, Cingular cell service, other cell service, inbound LD.  So, even if folks can get communications, talking to friends and relatives out of area is damn difficult.

It’s just terrible watching as more and more of the damage is shown, and as more and more deaths are announced.

Read: Katrina Bloggin’ »

God almighty, you knew that the Leftosphere had to go down wacko roads regarding Katrina. Michelle Malkin links to 2 in the "reality <snicker> based community." The Swing State Project <snicker, considering the Dems are doing what they can to insult the South> says it is Bush’s fault for cutting spending. Got news for you sparky, New Orleans is below sea level. Unless you build giant walls around the city, only so much you can do. Especially with what is now a Cat 4 hurricane.

Next up is America (hater) Blog, who says "Now, a smart president would cancel his summer vacation and rush to Washington to coordinate relief efforts, etc." Sure. Like that cannot be done from Crawford. Furthermore, like the head of any "business," Bush has people who do that. Micromanagement is bad. However, it would be great if Bush left Crawford, and left Cindy Sheehan hanging in the wind. Mwhahahahahaha!

The loons at the Democratic Underground prove that they have no clue regarding oil prices. Somehow, despite the fact that it is costing the oil companies more money to buy the oil, they will gouge people.

The power is out as of 5:02am at the Superdome. Paul at Wizbang has an interesting post about the possibility:

It’s a near certainty the electricity will go out about midday Monday. The Dome has backup power but it is only for lighting -no environmental controls- and the backup lighting is not full power. The Dome is about 20 stories high, but people will be scattered all thru it.

If the worst happens -and at this point it seems implausible that it won’t- the bottom 2 stories will fill with water. Dirty nasty foul water full of chemicals and raw sewerage. Further the bathroom facilities are only expected to function for the first day.

So in rough terms, 40,000+ people will be trapped in a building with no plumbing, little light and no air conditioning. The temps after the storm rolls thru will probably be in the low 90s. Considerably hotter in the building.

Somehow, I do not think the Giants will be playing the Saints on September 18th in the ‘Dome.

Katrina will be making landfall new N.O. around 8am. Buoy 42040, from my previous post, reported 47ft seas at 1000GMT. No wave heights at 1100gmt.

Pray for the people of New Orleans, at least those who had no real choice, rather then the idiots who did stay by their own choice, like the idiot surfer who went out around 5pm yesterday, live on TV.

Update: The Superdome roof is leaking, with "complete structural failure" at some points.

Read: Katrina On Line Journalin’ »

Take another shot at this, make sure I hit the “post” button before closing IE down.

The 5pm statement on Katrina shows max sustained winds of 165, hurricane force winds out to 105 miles, and tropical storm winds to 230 (which is an increase.) The minimum central pressure is 902Mb/26.64 inches. The rainfall estimates are not that bad, in comparison to smaller hurricanes, but, unlike say, Fran, which hit NC in 1996, Louisiana is a low lying state, with tons of lakes and a high water table to start with. During Fran, 8-10 inches dropped outside my apartment: it never flooded, there were places for the water to go. No in southern La., though.

The lowest pressure ever was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 with a minimum central pressure of 888Mb and winds of 185mph. Only Camille and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 had higher winds. Now, the winds with Katrina are less then any of those three. But, with a very low central pressure for Katrina, the storm surge will be horrendous.

Here is a list of those who hit the US (click for full size). The low central pressure may cause a storm surge up to 30 feet, especially with wind pushing water from east to west into New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain (which is elevated above N.O.) Not good.

My prayers are for all those who were not able to get out of N.O and the surrounding areas, such as tourists stuck when the flights were canceled, and those who just do not have the money. For those who decided to “ride it out,” God watches out for little children and fools. Not complete idiots.

Cross posted at Steal the Bandwagon.

Read: Katrina: Historical Comparison »