Does anyone know how Irma compares to Harvey?

[LAS14]

I've been unhappy with the wall to wall Irma coverage when Harvey and Mexican quake victims seem to have been completely forgotten. I'm afraid it will impact the donations that usually follow such tragedies, especially the Mexican quake, since they're not smart enough to have been U.S. citizens...

[applegrove]

1. Just think of the turn Irma did at the last minute, going up the coast on the Gulf side.

Focussing on an imminent danger until it passes is the way to go. You never know when people have access to a tv, and when they hit the road to drive to a shelter. You have to keep up to date on the places that are going to be hit. Now we can take in all that is going on. Once the danger is passed.

[marylandblue]

2. Probably too soon to tell, but...

There is an estimate here that Harvey will cost $190 billion and Irma $100 billion.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/hurricanes-harvey-irma-could-cost-u-economy-290-120908103--abc-news-topstories.html

[TexasTowelie]

3. At least Irma moved straight through and didn't stall like Harvey.

It started raining on Thursday night where I live and while there were breaks it was a steady rain through the following Tuesday with intermittent showers on Wednesday. The grocery stores ran out of bread for a week and dairy, eggs, meat and produce were scarce also. About half of the town was flooded and when you drive through town about half of the residences still have ruined furniture and other belongings placed outside to be taken to the dump. Comparing the damage in Houston with what happened in Florida ignores the fact that the damage stretches from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur and inland up to 150 miles.

It took about ten days before there was any sense of normality and I was fortunate not to incur any damage at my apartment complex. There are still people at the Red Cross shelter that have no home to return to because of the flooding.

[Purveyor]

4. Irma can't hold a candle to what Harvey wrought in the Texas. Not even close. nt

[Igel]

5. In what way?

It seems (to me at least) wrong to make everything dollars and cents. It's too reductionist for my personal tastes.

You get one answer if you restrict it to just the US and another if you include Barbuda, Cuba, and other countries. I don't know how to navigate that particular shoal.

One was mostly wind and storm surge, with rivers flooding because of drainage and surge. One was hard on a small area in that way but the winds died down quickly and it was just a deluge after that--and a record deluge at that. Part of the economic damage from evacuation is the evacuation, and the wind brings with it huge power outages.

The damage from the other is really just flooding. You rip out dry wall, you replace appliances and furniture and personal things and if you got to the building in time it'll dry out and by the time the insurance adjuster (if there is one) and contractor show up--or by the time you manage to get enough sheetrock to matter--the wood's dry and you see steps taken to get you back to normal. (Unless you're poor, in which case you probably lack insurance and have problems getting back to strip out the wet insulation; and you have problems getting back from evacuation in front of Irma and still need to confront the wind damage. Different set of problems there, but there's probably a smooth transition for those of intermediate SES.)

The damage from the other includes a lot of wind damage that ripped off roofs and trashed buildings in other ways.

It's rather like comparing gerbils and watermelons. In some ways they might be similar, in others incomparable. (Hey, they're both eukaryotes, even if one is usually tetraploid these days.)


Remember: Most of Houston is doing okay, and there are still collections and fundraising for Houston victims. Now, as for the rest of the stricken territory ... Really, in all honesty nobody much cared about them. They're (R), so there's all the pious "they don't deserve our sympathy" crap; they're spread out and often either rural or in fairly well-off enclaves, and either way make for pretty bad tv. FEMA will do their thing, the Red Cross will help out and other groups.

[Iggo]

6. It's a really huge hurricane, just like Harvey.

[Baclava]

7. Depends on what you mean by "compare"