Hurricane Katrina Thread: Any LA Gaffers?

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On CNN they showed a tape rewport of a guy in NO at 9:00 am, he went to hide behind a mailbox, and part of it fell off, then as he was heading back the wind blew him off his feet. It would be alot of fun if there was a way to simulate winds of those speeds in a safe environment.
 
All Hail C-Webb said:
On CNN they showed a tape rewport of a guy in NO at 9:00 am, he went to hide behind a mailbox, and part of it fell off, then as he was heading back the wind blew him off his feet. It would be alot of fun if there was a way to simulate winds of those speeds in a safe environment.
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they're called wind tunnels.
 
All Hail C-Webb said:
On CNN they showed a tape rewport of a guy in NO at 9:00 am, he went to hide behind a mailbox, and part of it fell off, then as he was heading back the wind blew him off his feet. It would be alot of fun if there was a way to simulate winds of those speeds in a safe environment.
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I just received a call that the levees in New Orleans east have broken and significant flooding is taking place in New Orleans east.
 
I pretty much called it earlier when I said:

...however I have a feeling this storm will drop to a low category 4 by landfall (130 - 140MPH winds). I'm still just impressed with how quickly this storm exploded yesterday....
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With a storm this big even though the eye was couple of hundred miles off-shore, a large chunk of the storm was already over land so it couldn't feed off the warm ocean waters the same way when the hurricane was 100% over sea. I've noticed in the past that big huge hurricane tend to weaken fairly rapidly just as they're coming on ashore. Whereas tightly compacted hurricanes tend to hold their strength and even sometimes intensify before making landfall.

There was definitely some sensationalism on the part of the weather center and the media. But I guess in the end, it was okay since it helped get people to evacuate. Considering how unpredictable this storm was, it can't hurt to be too careful i suppose.
 
Looks like it's officially dropped down to category 1 storm, as they usually do after sweeping through land. Here's hoping it doesn't get stronger again.
 
The Chosen One said:
I've noticed in the past that big huge hurricane tend to weaken fairly rapidly just as they're coming on ashore. Whereas tightly compacted hurricanes tend to hold their strength and even sometimes intensify before making landfall.
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Charley says hi
Charley_Lanfall.gif


That sucker went from 2 to 4 in no time flat. I'm slightly southeast (few pixels) of Port Charlotte on that map.
It strengthed till it made landfall, all the way up the gulf inlet.

But it was a tiny storm in size comparision, which seems to go with your theory.
Meanwhile, Katarina strenghened to insane size and strength, which is more difficult to maintain.

Unfortunatly, if the Levee did break, at least half of New Orleans is probably under water :(

The one thing that saved me, was the speed at which charley went, faster then most storms.
Katarina was slower in comparision, more time to bring in storm surge and destory houses :(

I think once the data comes in tomorow after most of the storm has past (sans rain) its not going to be pretty at all.

evil ways said:
Looks like it's officially dropped down to category 1 storm, as they usually do after sweeping through land. Here's hoping it doesn't get stronger again.
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Its gone now, now it will rain itself out over the northeast. The only way it could restrengthin is to go back over water.
 
evil ways said:
Looks like it's officially dropped down to category 1 storm, as they usually do after sweeping through land. Here's hoping it doesn't get stronger again.
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Tropical systems are heat engines that use warm ocean water as fuel. Once it goes over land that supply is cut off, and from there on it's only a matter of unloading all the energy and moisture it brought along for the ride. It can certainly do damage from rains and thunderstorms spawned from the remnants, but it's life as a tropical system is now terminal.
 
Hitokage said:
Tropical systems are heat engines that use warm ocean water as fuel. Once it goes over land that supply is cut off, and from there on it's only a matter of unloading all the energy and moisture it brought along for the ride. It can certainly do damage from rains and thunderstorms spawned from the remnants, but it's life as a tropical system is now terminal.
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Phoenix said:
I just received a call that the levees in New Orleans east have broken and significant flooding is taking place in New Orleans east.
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haven't seen anything on CNN, FOX, MSNBC or Drudge on this. hope it didnt actually happen.
 
So is it the cool parts of New Orleans that are getting destroyed or is it more like the suburbs and outlying areas?
 
Good God. On Fox News, they said that entire neighborhoods in New Orleans are under water...showing footage of houses almost completely submerged,
 
Still not getting any idea of the damage in MS, I just moved from Gulfport last wk, tons of Family still there. I hav a feeling that once they get the Helicopters up the damage will be extremely bad. I know the Beau Rivage hotel has six feet of water on the 2nd floor. Hope my family is all right...
 
xexex said:
haven't seen anything on CNN, FOX, MSNBC or Drudge on this. hope it didnt actually happen.
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All of the news agencies are sitting in New Orleans downtown, far from New Orleans East - and they can't/won't drive to the east anytime before tomorrow. I've been chatting with the few people who still have the ability to communicate. The new orleans phone and cellular systems are crippled. Dialing most 504 numbers will simply give you a busy signal from the trunk itself. The people I've been talking too are on cell phone data networks for as long as they have power to transmit.
 
border said:
So is it the cool parts of New Orleans that are getting destroyed or is it more like the suburbs and outlying areas?
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The design of the city makes it very very difficult for downtown New Orleans to have truly significant flooding (unlike the 1-2 feet that we normally see from these things). The subdivisions and burbs however are where the major flooding is happening.
 
AB 101 said:
I heard about a levee breaking on the east side 3 or 4 hours ago?
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Different part of the levee. The one that broke earlier was in the 'lower 9th ward' area. The latest is closer the true eastern new orleans area (which I guess could be referred to as the 'upper' 9th ward..

What I guess people don't realize is that there isn't 'one' levee. New Orleans had a system ov levees, flood gates and canals to channel water. This is what makes it nearly impossible for the worst case scenario to happen. A breach in a levee will flood that area, but not the entire city - just doesn't work that way. The MS river curves through the city, so in order for there to ever be 30 feet of standing water in New Orleans( ha ha), you're talking about the MS river being MORE THAN 30 feet above crest, and that's almost laughable. You have to reverse its flow so that it backs up on itself for that to happen. As it goes now, the city just drains its excess water into the river and lakes in the area pumping water from flooded areas across the city via the canals to relieve the pressure.
 
Hitokage said:
Tropical systems are heat engines that use warm ocean water as fuel. Once it goes over land that supply is cut off, and from there on it's only a matter of unloading all the energy and moisture it brought along for the ride. It can certainly do damage from rains and thunderstorms spawned from the remnants, but it's life as a tropical system is now terminal.
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Though every once in a while we get these zombie hurricanes like last year which actually manage to cross the US as a weak tropical storm then get back into warm water and restrengthen.
 
Even as a tropical storm/depression they are very dangerous. I'll never underestimate a tropical storm again. Allison taught me that (thankfully myself nor anyone in my family were affected by that disaster). It's horrible when a storm just stops and drops rain non stop over an area.
 
Phoenix said:
Though every once in a while we get these zombie hurricanes like last year which actually manage to cross the US as a weak tropical storm then get back into warm water and restrengthen.
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Yea, that's what happened to Gaston last year. Came up from the south then it hit the Atlantic and gain strength which in turn caused it to dump 18 inches of rain in 4 hours here. What you see in N.O. now happened downtown here and they're still cleaning up.
Here's a camera phone pic I took. It's hard to see, but that was a street I normally drive. That day, I saw huge dumpsters floating down the street.
38468010117_3300.jpg
 
I was on a cruise that was supposed to get back to Tampa this morning but because of the hurricane, we had to go to Ft Lauderdale instead. That really pissed me off
 
CNN Video showing waist deep water in a number of sections of the city....

Got confirmed report:

An oil drilling platform broke free of its mooring in Mobile Bay, Alabama, and slammed into a bridge. At least two oil rigs were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, where Katrina raged through key offshore oil and gas fields as one of the strongest hurricanes on record.
 
Phoenix said:
CNN Video showing waist deep water in a number of sections of the city....

Got confirmed report:

An oil drilling platform broke free of its mooring in Mobile Bay, Alabama, and slammed into a bridge. At least two oil rigs were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, where Katrina raged through key offshore oil and gas fields as one of the strongest hurricanes on record.
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oh my! Any pics?
 
Getting more information from people still in the city.

The part of the city that are bad are REALLY bad - two story homes flooded up to their roof, while only a few blocks away no significant flooding at all.

The area where my parents home is located is flooded, but the extent is not yet know as its too bad in that area with all the downed power lines to send people in to investigate.
 
heavenly said:
oh my! Any pics?
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I'm currently watching an internal CNN feed and I don't have a way to screen cap it at the moment.

I do know that I have one relative in the city who refused to leave and I have been unable to contact him as well as many friends that I know live in the affected areas. Phone contact is just impossible right now. Anyone without a data plan and access to a GPRS network or something is just unreachable.
 
Matlock said:
It was not a working oil rig, it was one that was shored for repair.

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That's the before mentioned drilling platform, collided with Highway 98 bridge over Mobile River. Highway 98 is closed until it can be assessed.
 
At the moment the far reach of the storm is punishing Atlanta. Lots of flooding here and already some confirmed fatalities from a tornado which has touchdown in the eastern area where it hit a chicken farm. The farm has been destroyed in a way that looks like it just exploded from a bomb. Parts and pieces of debris as well as chickens are spread over miles.
 
Looking at the pics of the affected areas is really disturbing. Some analysts are saying there could be small snakes and gators in the water. I can't imagine how long this will take to clean and rebuild. And what are the people who left their homes, or had their homes destroyed, going to do? Is it worth to rebuild? Even in the coming weeks, where are they going to get their food, take their shower? All man, I will continue to pray for them.
 
Damn, I am definitely not missing the South right now. My folks are iin N. Miami Beach. Said there was a lot of wind, but not much rain. No flooding. :) They didn't tape windows or put up plywood. We're from the islands, and David took the roof off their house in Jamaica before I was born, so they play the hardcore role. I think it's stupid, but you can see how some people are stubborn about this stuff. Anyway, they're all fine, and my car is safe. :D

Sorry about the people in New Orleans. I hope it's not selfish, but I hope the French Quarter is ok. I want to go back next Mardi Gras. Hope anyone down there is safe and that you weren't a victim of the flooding.

Phoenix: You sure about that? I know they have great pumps and levees there, but when you go to the riverfront, and the Mississippi is high, but can see the boats passing overhead. Over near the flea market and hell, most of the French Quarter is below the waterline it seems. And all they have are those flood doors. It didn't seem like it would have taken a great deal of storm surge to bring the water up and over the banks.

Anyway, I love the Big Easy. Hope they get back on their feet in no time. My folks got power back the next day (FPL really rocks), but the badly damaged areas might be without power until this weekend. Still, not as bad as after Andrew when we were without power for a week, and we were more than an hour away from Homestead. PEACE.
 
Anyone find any pics of some of the downtown NO skyscrapers after the storm? I saw some briefly on the news and there was one that had one whole side of windows completely destroyed.
 
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