Hurricane Katrina

[Bomber]

Not a politically juicy topic for the likes of you Four Corners gurus but newsworthy just the same...

New Orleans is about to be totally wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina, which will cross directly over the city within 18 hours.

Hurricane Katrina is now a Category 5 storm, with winds of 165 miles per hour (which, without a calculator, is around 250km/hr, but don't quote me on that). Because of the local geography of New Orleans (below sea level, essentially in the shape of a bowl, next to the Mississippi River with a series of levies to keep the place dry), the realistic scenario is for storm surges of more than 6 metres to swamp the city, not to mention the powerful winds which could potentially destroy even the strongest buildings.

A link to the American National Hurricane Centre is here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml

For purposes of comparison, Cyclone Ingrid earlier this year was around the same intensity but did not cross land anywhere as a Category 5, and did so in sparsely-populated areas...not over a large city....

Cyclone Tracy in 1974 was only a Category 4 storm.

Here's a quote for you to chew over.

Quote from the National Weather Service, New Orleans:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HURRICANE Katrina...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[millersnose]

...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED
STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

unprecedented yet precedented

hyperbole is alive and well

 

[Bomber]

lol

Trust you! ;-)

 

[fourplay]

This will probably be the only thing in the news after tonight.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

The Mayor has ordered all residents who are able to leave to evacuate the city and all others to gather at designated shelters, so it must be bad, usually the authorities prefer everybody to just stay indoors and keep their heads down.

 

[taxidriver]

after the levies are breached, they will then stop the water getting back out !

 

[Bomber]

Looks like apart from the physical destruction, there will be the ecological disaster that follows Katrina....

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/katrina.doomsday/index.html

Two quotes which would make me feel uneasy if I were in 'Norleans':

"So, imagine you're the poor person who decides not to evacuate: Your house will disintegrate around you. The best you'll be able to do is hang on to a light pole, and while you're hanging on, the fire ants from all the mounds -- of which there is two per yard on average -- will clamber up that same pole. And, eventually, the fire ants will win."

"These chemical plants are going to start flying apart, just as the other buildings do," he predicted. "So, we have the potential for release of benzene, hydrochloric acid, chlorine and so on."

A quote from a chap on a weather forum concerning the Superdome, which is being used as an emergency shelter:

"IF" this storm does hit NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) the Superdome will have major damage and as open as it is the least little hole in the roof and wind get under it at a weak 5 the whole thing will be gone

Source - http://hardcoreweather.com

More links as I find them.

 

[sunny]

I'd believe it's "Nawlins"

 

[Bomber]

Either way, it may not exist this time next week...

 

[sunny]

In which case it would be "goneskis"

 

[taxidriver]

60 foot waves in the GOM !

 

[Mr Saab]

is patrick swayze there (point break)

 

[taxidriver]

Keanu was going to arrest him but decided to let him surf instead

 

[Bomber]

60 feet = 20 metres

Holy cow!

 

[Bomber]

In the next 3-6 hours Katrina will begin to seriously affect 'Nawlins'.

Here are some links to live webcams placed around the city
http://www.nola.com/bourbocam/

Also, for the record, here is the skyline of 'Nawlins' at midday local time. Compare that to the current live picture.

Midday - http://www.nola.com/cgi-bin/nph-cachecam.cgi?camid=fqcam&ols=nolalive&ts=20050828130013&ct=600
Current (4pm AEST) http://www.nola.com/cgi-bin/nph-cachecam.cgi?camid=fqcam&ols=nolalive&ts=20050829015532&ct=20

 

[Slappy]

I must be 'walkin' on sunshine!'

'Katrina and the Waves' are back in town!

 

[Bomber]

Hot off the press...

The hurricane may scrape past the side of New Orleans and spare the city of major damage....

With hurricanes, the major damage occurs to the north and to the east of the eye (of course, there are still effects to the south and west, but not to the same magnitude). The opposite is true for Australian cyclones, where anything to the south and west gets caned (an example was Cyclone Abigail which crossed to the north of Cairns in 2001. The weather 20km north of the crossing was nearly perfect).

Katrina is on a gradual north-north-east track, and is already located to the south-south-east of New Orleans. Advisories have started to mention Biloxi, Mississippi in the text so that may be the next big focus.

Katrina has also been downgraded from Category 5 to Category 4, but still with very significant pressure (910mB) and wind speed (240km/hr). This is one lady you don't want to mess around with.

It's still not over for New Orleans - not by a long shot - but it's looking better.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT2+shtml/290850.shtml

 

[Bomber]

Howdy Stormwatchers,

Katrina has crossed the coast to the south of Nawleans. Now the fun begins, with the big-arsed lady expected to take a whole day to move into Mississippi.....packing 140km/hr winds the whole way.

A link which I forgot to add earlier is this Kiwi idiot, Geoff Mackley, a professional stormchaser. Although not actually in Louisiana at the moment (he's in Taiwan chasing a typhoon), there is quite an interesting section of his previous exploits, including standing outside during Australia's strongest-ever cyclone, attached with only a rope for safety.....

http://www.rambocam.com

Cheers
Bomber
LU Resident Storm Watcher (not the football team)

 

[King of the Hill]

I bet the so called superstorm dogs it and the mardi gras city gets spared

 

[Bomber]

*disclaimer - sourced from a variety of weather forums*

The sh*t is hitting the fan........

- The Superdome has leaks in the roof (due to external peeling) and they are evacuating people outside because they fear the concrete roof is going to collapse
- At least one levee has broken, with sh*tloads of water in the French Quarter (up to 6-7 feet)
- Katrina rages on

More details as I find them