OT- Hurricane ike

[RocketFan1105]

It looks like it's coming dead at Houston, are most of you planning to evacuate??

[MaxRider]

I'm in Austin, but my parents are in Sugar Land. They evacuated for Katrina and there isn't a single drop of rain in their area.

[CJballa14]

looks like its heading more south now...corpus area...

[moofs]

Even if it does head straight for Houston, evacuation is more for coastal areas than Houston itself. With a cat 3 there's just no reason to. Stay home? Yes. Evacuate? Not unless you're in a REALLY low section that floods easily. If it gets worse than that and we're on the wrong part of the hurricane, yeah I might think about it, but there's no reason whatsoever to go nuts worrying about every hurricane in the Gulf. Everything so far has been like a 2 point earthquake. Los Angeles is yawning.

[jove9]

I lived in HOU for 10 years growing up, and we had hurricanes and tropical storms every year.

Sometimes we loaded up on water and plywood, but we never evacuated.

If Katrina (the worst man-made natural disaster in US history) had never occured, no one would even consider leaving. People are just overreacting now.

[Mr. E]

Isn't a "man made natural disaster" a bit of a contradiction?

After the Rita Exodus I think tht the city pretty much decided to ride out anything short of a direct shot of a Cat 4 or 5. I do hope that the people in the evacuation zones are paying attention to their well-being and not just staying out of stubborness. This one is zeroing in on us, it seems, so there are a few parts of town where it is a good idea to go somewhere for the weekend.

Most of the danger will be the coastal areas, so if anyone, they should leave. Where I am I have to worry about wind, street flooding and loss of power. There is no reason for me to leave for this one. I'm still taking all of the precautions, tho.

[tha_rock220]

All the intelligent people of the world are leaving the city, but only an idiot like me would care enough about his family to drive in and wait it out with them(at least at their request). If the power goes out and we're sitting in 90 degree weather with no a/c I'll tell all them to go to hell and drive home.

[RaoulDuke79]

Most of the danger will be the coastal areas, so if anyone, they should leave. Where I am I have to worry about wind, street flooding and loss of power. There is no reason for me to leave for this one. I'm still taking all of the precautions, tho.

Same, I'm going to make sure I have my cooler full of beer/water/red bull, and plenty of stuff to munch on, as well as flashlights/candles/batteries for my CD player, and my acoustic guitar handy.

I should be set juuuuuuust fine.

Bring it on Ike. I ain't Tina, and my face owns your fist.

[jove9]

Isn't a "man made natural disaster" a bit of a contradiction?

I purposefully used that phrasing. The city of New Orleans was battered, but not destroyed by the hurricane. When the levies broke, though, it was all over.

Why did the levies break?

1. Purposeful underfunding by the President
2. The President ignoring the warnings years in advance

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2328/

USA!

[tha_rock220]

Yep, it's all George Bush's fault. It's not at all the fault of the state of Louisianna or the city of New Orleans. I noticed in that little report you posted that nothing but Bush's budget cut proposals, but nothing about him signing anything of that nature. Given that it states explicitly that the tax cuts were signed I find that a little strange. If anything it had more to do with a flawed design that, after 50 years, hadn't been completed.

But hey, when all else fails blame Dubya and call him an stupid.

[Mr. E]

Isn't a "man made natural disaster" a bit of a contradiction?

I purposefully used that phrasing. The city of New Orleans was battered, but not destroyed by the hurricane. When the levies broke, though, it was all over.

Why did the levies break?

1. Purposeful underfunding by the President
2. The President ignoring the warnings years in advance

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2328/

USA!

Oh my god - this is one of the most unintentionally funny posts I have ever read on this site. This is like a shagadelic thread on the trade board where the Lakers somehow end up with Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh in exchange for Vlad & Luke Walton.

You are extremely oversimplifying what happened to New Orleans if you are going with the "it was Bush's fault" angle. That opinion is usually formed by people who read that it was true on a blog, or were told that it was true by someone who read a different blog.

I know the city of New Orleans, and the levee system of the state of Lousiana quite well. Yes - there were projects that were underfunded, but that goes back decades, so unless ol' W has a time machine you can't put the blame entirely at his feet. Also, you do not take into account a long history of mismanagement by the levee board and failures to adapt new technology to an aging system (which again, goes back long before Bush 2 was around). So unless by "The President" you mean Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy, then you are pretty far off, man. Of course, that implies that it is the direct responsibility of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government to micromanage things like this, completely illegitimizing the State and Local governments of Louisiana.

Look - I don't come to this site to look for "political" arguments, but this is just silly. This is tin foil hat territory. What happened with Katrina exposed incompetence at almost every level of government. Saying that it is Bush's fault alone is silly. Providing a link as "support" where the "timeline" only extends as far back as one man was in office doesn't help make your assertation look any stronger.

The possible failures of the levees in New Orleans was not some tightly held government secret. I heard about it for the first time when visiting family in Metairie in 1983 after Alicia hit Houston. Everyone who lived there knew that levee failure was a possibility and that if a storm was Cat-3 or higher, then it was almost expected. The bottom line is that we (and by we I mean the collective engineering experience of humanity) cannot make a city like New Orleans hurricane-proof. That city will never be safe due to it's geographical situation. When it comes to man vs. Mother Nature...the big lady is going to win every time.

[moofs]

I wouldn't be worried at all, save that my car is parked outdoors and my large windows make seran wrap look sturdy with lots and lots of electronics that I would prefer to not have to rebuy on insurance money right behind them situated directly in the path of any rain that starts getting through. Just finished packing over them with cardboard and Texans schedule posters that are 100% guaranteed to blow away the first minute the wind picks up. Oh well.

For the Bush ruined New Orleans, Jove, the city sits in a massive depression on loosely deposited silt below 0 altitude. I hate Bush as much as the next guy, and think he's shat on the constitution more than enough during his term, but to say he caused New Orleans ain't right, it's a natural side effect of defying nature. The city's probably going to be gone in 40 years whether we want it to or not. Better to go after him for what he's actually done than for natural collisions of beaurocracy and nature.

Now the whole sending in mercenaries thing to help "restore order", that's another thing entirely. (As is whether any credence should be lent to those stories. I still don't trust the feds for anything, ever.)

Also I'm kinda *buzzed, whee. Only took an entire bottle of pinot grigio. Wine is weak.

[Ribalding]

Anybody need anything from Spec's?

I'm headed over there for my hurricane survival kit.

[A.J.]

Im glad they made the announcement that we dont have school tomorrow.
We might just stay put and wait it out.

[Baller 24]

Anybody need anything from Spec's?

I'm headed over there for my hurricane survival kit.

[treefi]

Get the hell out of there. This is the largest hurricane we've ever seen. Sure the winds are only 105mph but the storm is so massive they will be 105mph for an hour.. and the flooding has already begun... 50 foot waves? Jesus.

[Ribalding]

Get the hell out of there. This is the largest hurricane we've ever seen. Sure the winds are only 105mph but the storm is so massive they will be 105mph for an hour.. and the flooding has already begun... 50 foot waves? Jesus.

Ease up, Chicken Little.

No 50 foot wave is going to make it downtown. (Unless it takes the beltway, to avoid congestion on 45.) I've lived through worse, in Houston. We're 60 miles inland. And above sea level.

So gather your skirts around yourself, set your glass jaw, and laugh in direct defiance of God's Holy Will.

[treefi]

This will be the worst you live through in Houston. Next week you'll have to re-visit this topic...


"The weather service painted a vivid picture in its warning of the destruction it expects: a towering wall of water crashing over the Galveston Bay shoreline as the brunt of Ike comes ashore. That wall of water could send floodwaters surging into Houston, more than 20 miles inland." - CNN.com

".. even Houston is not safe..." - MSNBC

... next week because power is going to be out for a long time. This is the most evident catastrophe waiting to happen since Hurricane Katrina and the fact that it's already begun is just freightening. What is happening now is going to be happening for the next 12 hours and will gradually get worse.

[Baller 24]

I live in the cypress area, towards the northwest, I doubt anything happens around here, maybe strong winds/rain, but I doubt anything like my house being blown down.

[jove9]

Isn't a "man made natural disaster" a bit of a contradiction?

I purposefully used that phrasing. The city of New Orleans was battered, but not destroyed by the hurricane. When the levees broke, though, it was all over.

Why did the levees break?

1. Purposeful underfunding by the President
2. The President ignoring the warnings years in advance

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2328/

USA!

Oh my god - this is one of the most unintentionally funny posts I have ever read on this site. This is like a shagadelic thread on the trade board where the Lakers somehow end up with Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh in exchange for Vlad & Luke Walton.

You are extremely oversimplifying what happened to New Orleans if you are going with the "it was Bush's fault" angle. That opinion is usually formed by people who read that it was true on a blog, or were told that it was true by someone who read a different blog.

I know the city of New Orleans, and the levee system of the state of Lousiana quite well. Yes - there were projects that were underfunded, but that goes back decades, so unless ol' W has a time machine you can't put the blame entirely at his feet. Also, you do not take into account a long history of mismanagement by the levee board and failures to adapt new technology to an aging system (which again, goes back long before Bush 2 was around). So unless by "The President" you mean Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson and Kennedy, then you are pretty far off, man. Of course, that implies that it is the direct responsibility of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government to micromanage things like this, completely illegitimizing the State and Local governments of Louisiana.

Look - I don't come to this site to look for "political" arguments, but this is just silly. This is tin foil hat territory. What happened with Katrina exposed incompetence at almost every level of government. Saying that it is Bush's fault alone is silly. Providing a link as "support" where the "timeline" only extends as far back as one man was in office doesn't help make your assertation look any stronger.

The possible failures of the levees in New Orleans was not some tightly held government secret. I heard about it for the first time when visiting family in Metairie in 1983 after Alicia hit Houston. Everyone who lived there knew that levee failure was a possibility and that if a storm was Cat-3 or higher, then it was almost expected. The bottom line is that we (and by we I mean the collective engineering experience of humanity) cannot make a city like New Orleans hurricane-proof. That city will never be safe due to it's geographical situation. When it comes to man vs. Mother Nature...the big lady is going to win every time.

Yeah, it's true that eveyone and their mom knew that a disaster in New Orleans was extremely likely to happen prior to Katrina. That's my point. Every level of government knew about it. Still, Bush DID cut funding to rebuild and reinforce the dilapidated levees. That certainly didn't help, did it?

I found that link after 1 minute of seaching. Why did I go with that particular one? Because I didn't want to spend the extra two minutes to find the one on the BBC website that outlines the purposeful neglect of the levees over the last 15+ years. I imagined that the timeline of the disaster was common knowledge and I almost didn't even provide a link. If I would have known that a couple of people on this board were still in denial about the Executive Branch's culpability in the matter, I would have either provided more evidence or not posted anything at all. I didn't imagine this being a major topic of debate....

There is one other thing that needs mentioning: FEMA was a model agency under Clinton and was virtually dismantled under Bush. Look, I'm not a Democrat; I'm what you'd call a "little c" communist (I'm only saying this because I don't want to have to deal with the likely invective that is likely to emanate from the right). So let me reinforce the point that the Democrats and Republicans are equally culpable for what transpired in New Orleans in '05. You're right in saying that the problem goes beyond the Bush Administration's underfunding; It's not just an issue of neglect, but an issue of racism and economic injustice. Those things existed in New Orleans LONG before W. took the oath of office. I understand that.

Nonetheless, what you wrote SUPPORTS my initial premise: Katrina is the worst man-made natural disaster in US history. So why the hostility, comrade?