Ida is aiming for NOLA
7Unbelievable timing.
From CBS news:
"Hurricane Ida could cause big problems for New Orleans, even if it doesn’t make a direct hit. The storm is bearing down on The Big Easy and is expected to come ashore in the U.S. as a Category 4 storm.
It could make landfall 16 years to the day after the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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I actually saw this while I was at work this morning (I’m at a CBS affiliate) It’s really scary how bad all the storms have gotten. They’ve apparently greenlit emergency aid in advance of the storm striking. It’s been 12ish hours since my shift ended but I believe it’s like 150 health workers and 50 extra ambulances sent in from elsewhere which is a big sacrifice considering all the hospitals are full of the unvaccinated.
Some info on Port Fourchon, where Ida’s landfall is expected to be at its strongest.
Here is what was happening this morning when Ida hit Port Fourchon. 150+ mph sustained winds.
As one comment noted, the danger is not just that the wind is blowing at 150mph, it is that the stuff in the wind is also traveling at 150mph. Nails, sticks, pieces of metal ripped off buildings, wires, etc.
@mike808
When Andrew hit Miami in August of '92, one of the things that did a lot of damage was flying shingles and chunks of roofing that had been ripped free from houses where the shingles had been mis-installed. The piles of them that drifted along walls and around the trunks of trees (and against cars) were pretty impressive.
@mike808 @werehatrack We went up to my grandparents’ farm outside of Amite for Andrew. The farm had about 50 mature pecan trees most of which lined the lane through the middle of the farm. We lost 42 in that storm. It was heart wrenching watching so many fall. Some of the root systems were over 25’ in the air after they toppled. That’s definitely a storm I’ll never forget.
Why “Storm Surges” matter.
@mike808
The forecasters issue pretty good warnings of where the storm surge is possible and how high it could be, but the problem is that not everybody gets the word. Anyone who has lived in those areas for very long understands that when the weather guy says it’s time to cut and run, you make sure the neighbors are aware - and then you leave.
For folks wanting to track the local NOLA news:
wwltv.com and there are wwl-tv apps for Roku and FireTV/Sticks.
@mike808 how are your peeps? My brother in Houma just lost the roof off their patio and their chimney stack. My dad is up in Amite. He’s just getting heavy rain and some higher winds right now.
@sillyheathen Houma is getting hit hard now with the eye wall. 5pm.
My peeps are in Gulfport. They are on the rain train for the next 8 hours at least. My guess is that Pearl River and the MS gulf coast will see lots of floding.
@mike808 @sillyheathen I’d imagine just with the rain predicted there will be a lot of river flooding up north of that mess and then as it goes down stream it will make the southern misery worse. 5-10" of rain predicted here and the pearl river is about a mile from me if that. The down stream pearl river will flood from this alone I am sure, never mind the amount of rain now on it down south of me.
As if they didn’t have enough problems with COVID
Power out to both sides of the river.
Lafitte reports of levee breakage and/or bridge out.
Houma, Thibaudaux, Vacherie, Laplace areas were just pounded when the storm slowed and turned more north.
Divert the river
Flood the Hatchafalaya
Allow for drainage
@replicacobra
you confuse Spring flooding with
hurricane Ida
@mike808
But why not both though
Draw off upstream to reduce
The water table
@mike808
The storm surge must drain
Is the river too high to
Ameliorate?
One thing that’s not mentioned is that power companies know they will have outages as these storms hit, so they have plans in place to preserve the most critical circuits as long as possible by disabling the less critical branches as the winds increase. This reduces the number of blown breakers that must be reset as lines are inspected and restored, saving a bunch of time later. Most of the really critical users have backup generators, and after what happened here during Harvey, lots of attention has been given to making sure that those can’t be knocked out by site flooding. (Can you say “backup generators in the basement turned out to be a bad idea”?)
@werehatrack
Speaking of backup generators. Got this from a friend this morning.
@sillyheathen
One of the Ochsner facilities lost its roof. Somebody caught it happening on video from nearby. That one appeared to have been evacuated before the storm; no mention of patients still being present in the news article I found.
Houma was far less well prepared than I’d have expected from any place in that area.
@werehatrack I’m pretty sure it was the one in Galliano. I definitely don’t miss living down there when big storms hit.
The dude in the video should be slapped for how he pronounces Cocodrie but here’s some footage of what happened down from Chauvin to Cocodrie.
@sillyheathen
Definitely. Where the fuck is “cock-a-dree”?
Ida came right up Bayou Lafourche.
Anything on Hwy 1 is a mess.
CLECO is saying months to restore power in most of the area.
@sillyheathen Wow. You think people will all still want to rebuild this time?
@Kyeh @sillyheathen
You think people will still want to eat Cajun / New Orleans food and come to New Orleans to soak in the culture that could only exist there?
You do realize that you are saying the equivalent of “Well, after Hurricane Sandy,why would people want to live in New York?” Or after earthquake, proposing “Why don’t people just relocate San Francisco or Los Angeles?”
You sound as if everyone on the planet has the complete freedom and resources to choose to live wherever they want to. That’s just delusional and utterly unrealistic.
Did you not watch the educational video on Port Fourchon I posted above that explains why geography is what it is and that humans can’t just pick and choose where trade routes and supply logistics happen to be.
Did you not understand the impact from that ship blocking the Suez Canal for weeks and how that fucked up the global supply chain for months (on top of COVID)? Why didn’t they just snap their fingers and dig another one Or why is that canal at that particular spot on the planet anyway?
Geography is what it is. People live where they live. We’re not going to move the Mississippi River to someplace else.
Now, for coastal vacation homes, that’s a different matter. That’s losing proposition, but baked into the risk/reward capitalist system we have in the U.S… Coastal flood insurance for non-primary homes should be completely non-subsidized by taxpayers in Federal insurance pools (that includes corporate properties that are not their headquarters, since we’re pretending that corporations are people - they can’t live in two places at the same time, just like people.)
@Kyeh @sillyheathen
To answer your question, “Yes”. All day, every day.
Sorry for triggering Post-Katrina PTSD. You have no idea of the impact the trauma inflicted upon New Orleanians, including the botched “recovery” from FEMA, GWB, and that administration. And Ida is feeling like the start of a 3 months-long non-stop flashback.
/youtube you’re doing a heck of a job brownie
@mike808 @sillyheathen
Okay, I get what you’re saying but why do you always have to go into scorched earth ballistic mode whenever you disagree with someone?
No, professor, I did not. And I didn’t say people won’t want to go back, but I know people who moved here to CO from CA after the last big earthquake.
I realize it’s an emotional topic and I’m sorry I triggered deep traumatic feelings in you. I wasn’t being flippant, just wondering whether people could really continue to rebuild when the ocean is actually rising and wil almost certainly continue to do so.
@Kyeh @mike808 cause he’s Cajun. It’s in our blood.
We’re stubborn and argumentative by nature and fiercely love where we’re from.
@mike808 @sillyheathen Yeah, well - he made good points and my question probably seemed thoughtless, but I have trouble hearing what people say when they insult me and berate me.
I love where I live but I’m very close to wildfire-prone foothills and if I got burned out of my home I would probably not want to rebuild in this spot. I realize though that the issue is complex and people don’t necessarily have options, etc. It’s so sad.
@Kyeh @mike808 Some do and some don’t. I have friends and family that have the option but regardless of the storms they wouldn’t move if you paid them. It is hard to see all the destruction and not get upset. Especially when the areas hit hardest are being ignored by media because New Orleans is right there. I mean don’t get me wrong. I love that city like I can’t explain. It’s just hard to see the devastation of the bayous and no one is talking about that.
And I didn’t think your question was careless. I can see how it could set someone off but you shouldn’t feel bad. Every area on this planet has some sort of natural disaster waiting at its door. I know we now have the fires to worry about. I was talkin to my dad yesterday and he said “I’m too old for this shit. I don’t get to see my kids or my grandkids but a couple times a year and these storms are gettin crazy. But if I leave here I gotta move up to the wildfires to be by y’all!”
@mike808 @sillyheathen Sad but true! That’s right, you’re in wildfire territory now too - and who’d have thought just a few years ago that Oregon would be facing that?