Weather Officials Probe Katrina's Strength

[NVMojo]

MIAMI (AP) -

Government hurricane specialists said Friday they are investigating whether Hurricane Katrina was actually a Category 3 storm, not a 4, when it struck the Gulf Coast.

Analyzing the hurricane's strength has been made more difficult because instruments used to measure the wind failed or were swept away when the storm hit Aug. 29, and communications was lost with a National Weather Service radar station in Slidell, La.

Hurricane specialists are examining data from planes that flew through the storm on the day it struck New Orleans, trying to gauge whether wind speed measurements accurately reflected conditions on the ground, said Jack Beven, hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2005/oct/07/100700334.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. It'll probably end up a Cat. 2

by the time they finish spinning it. Argh!! Oh well, they will look even worse. I read that the water just wasn't near as toxic as they first believed, right...
I'm so tired of feeling cynical

[finecraft]

5. You should live here in Louisiana where we now debate

Who are the "better" hurricane victims? Those that were victims of Katrina that "didn't stand on their own two feet and save themselves, but instead waited for the government to save them" or Rita hurricane victims that "got in their own boats and saved themselves and their neighbors without waiting for the government to do something".
Like we don't have enough problems here, people want to debate stupid shit like this. Un-friggin-believable. :crazy:

[Mnemosyne]

6. The compassion is just

heartwrenching...:puke:

I'm so sorry you ever have to deal with such bull crap. Are you getting what you need? Are you safe? I wish I could do something, but am usually destitute due to disability. I can listen if you need a shoulder sometime though! Anytime.

P.M me if you'd like and I can give you my phone #, you could call collect. Just a thought if your ever need.

Take good care fine!:hug:
V

[finecraft]

9. Thanks for the sweet offer

We were very fortunate here. I live along the Louisiana coastline right between where Rita and Katrina hit. (New Iberia, home of Tabasco sauce..YUM!)Everything about a half mile from my house east to Texas flooded very bad after Rita hit. Our town has just about doubled its population with evacuees from both hurricanes, so things have pretty much been a zoo around here for the past month or so. We still have several thousand evacuees living in our community centers. FEMA has done nothing about the housing situation for them. I feel so bad for them! I try to volunteer to cook at the shelters at least once a week, and I have adopted two families and tried to help them get back on their feet. Sometimes it is all so overwhelming, but then I just have to focus and think that we will get through this...someday, somehow, we will get through this. It makes me feel better to know that there are wonderful people like you out there that care. Thanks for brightening my day! :) :hug:

[Mnemosyne]

12. You take good care and my offer

stands if you ever need it.:hug: :loveya:

[Zynx]

2. Thank God it was a weak hurricane. It could have done real damage.

I mean, seriously. If it had been a Cat 4 it could have killed hundreds if not thousands. /sarcasm

[NVMojo]

3. I know! Isn't this whole thing ridiculous??

[Zynx]

4. Yeah, I mean it only did more damage than any other natural disaster

in our history.

[LosinIt]

7. with the exception of the current administration

and I mean that, sincerely.

[DemoTex]

8. Ultimate revisionist history.

GOP CYA style.

[barb162]

10. 30 or so foot waves or storm surge should make it a cat 5

when you find dolphins 4 miles inland....

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. I can't believe they are finding anyone

in weather science who will buy this shit.

This storm was cleary beyond that, duh, it blew the gauges away.

[pitohui]

13. like andrew (a 5) it blew the gauges away

this was a storm of unprecedented size & power, if they think they are going to get away w. lying abt this one, well, they're just not going to get away with it

[Rebellious Republican]

14. Not meaning to belittle all of the pain and suffering in LA......

This actually could have serious(Bad)ramifications for Bushco. The Levee system protecting N.O. was supposed to hold up to a level 3 Hurricane.

If it is shown that Katrina was a level 3 when it made landfall and further downgraded to a level 1 by the time it reached the Levee, it could raise serious questions about underfunding of Army Corps of Engineers.

Why was it underfunded by this administration? Tax cuts for the wealthy maybe? Corporate welfare? Overspending due to an illegal, unjustified, immoral, unprovoked war?

Do you see the relevance of the level of
hurricane now.

My heart goes out to everyone affected, I do understand the suffering taking place right now, having lived through four direct hits here in Florida last year. I am also on a State Disaster response team and was sent to our own hard hit areas(while having to leave my own home and family). I fully comprehend and appreciate the devastation up there.

This is very important and needs to be put out there for the world to see what Bushco has done to our Country.


Feds Ignored Catastrophe Predictions, Diverted Funds
by Jessica Azulay (bio)

The Bush administration spent the last four years moving funds from natural disaster prevention and relief to militaristic priorities like the Iraq war – a move that may be responsible for death and suffering along the Gulf Coast.


The US Army Corps of Engineers had been working with local officials to strengthen the city’s defenses in case of a massive storm, but federal funding for improving the levee system and implementing other projects to keep water from overtaking New Orleans dwindled under the Bush administration.

Earlier this year, an article in the New Orleans CityBusiness detailed the funding shortfalls faced by the Corps of Engineers in efforts to build $114 million worth of hurricane protection projects. With federal funding down by more than 44 percent from 2001 levels, Stan Green, project manager for the Corps’s Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, told CityBusiness that no new contracts for construction had been awarded since early in fiscal year 2004. Even before that, reported CityBusiness, work had slowed and fewer projects had been taken on because of funding shortfalls.

Iraq war funding had taken priority over domestic disaster prevention to the chagrin of local officials. "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," Walter Maestri, a New Orleans emergency management official, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in mid-2004. "Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The Bush administration also has made significant changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), shifting funds away from pre-disaster preparation and implementing policies to promote outsourcing of relief efforts to private companies.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=2307