# Hurricane Isaac



## sags (May 15, 2010)

It looks like Hurricane Isaac could end up hitting land on the Gulf Coast, possibly near New Orleans.

I was thinking how fortunate we are now that we can follow these storms and have a week or more of advance knowledge of how strong they are and where they are heading........roughly.

Imagine what it must have been like decades ago, when people didn't know what was coming?

I have been to New Orleans, and found it an eerie feeling, being deep in a bowl, surrounded by water.

An interesting place, but not one I would feel safe living in.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Let's pray the Army Corps of Engineers did an adequate job with its fortifications for the next storm. New Orleans is still largely a sitting duck when it comes to these kinds of events.

I find it ironic that the Republican Party, which has all but officially chosen to disbelieve the risks of climate change, also chose to ignore the risks of holding its national convention in coastal Florida at the height of hurricane season. The hurricane itself has nothing to do with climate change, but the Republicans are now experiencing firsthand the kind of consequences that can come from their head-in-the-sand approach. Will they learn from this experience? I doubt it.


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

Kinda like Al Gore buying a ~ $9million estate down by the ocean in CA?


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Nemo2 said:


> Kinda like Al Gore buying a ~ $9million estate down by the ocean in CA?


Not really: Montcito is a hillside town and the sea level probably won't get high enough to flood his home for another 1,000 years.

That said, I am no fan of Al Gore.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I thought the worst-hit areas of New Orleans were still abandoned (ie, the areas that should never have been developed in the first place).


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I thought the worst-hit areas of New Orleans were still abandoned (ie, the areas that should never have been developed in the first place).


The problem, though is that "sea level" is a moving target. Something like half of New Orleans is above sea level, but the sea level is rising fast there--not so much because of global warming, but because the delta is sinking due to weight of sediment from the Mississippi. Louisiana loses about a meter of coastline every year, and storm surges from hurricanes and tropical storms are superimposed on higher relative sea levels. A Katrina-like storm today would do more damage than the same storm seven years ago.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

We got enough sensationalism from Katrina last year. Chances are Isaac won't do squat except maybe knock a lawn chair over.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

ddkay said:


> Chances are Isaac won't do squat except maybe knock a lawn chair over.


So far it has killed 21 people (19 of them in Haiti) and it's not even a hurricane yet.

The winds are not really the issue in the Gulf coast states; it's the storm surge, which as I noted above is superimposed on higher relative sea levels. And much of the coastline is pretty flat, which means storm surges can reach far inland.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

brad said:


> Not really: Montcito is a hillside town and the sea level probably won't get high enough to flood his home for another 1,000 years.
> 
> That said, I am no fan of Al Gore.


I think Nemo was refering to the contradiction of someone who is supposed to be pro-environment buying a huge mansion.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> I think Nemo was refering to the contradiction of someone who is supposed to be pro-environment buying a huge mansion.


Well there's that too, but he already had a huge mansion in Nashville, one that was guzzling lots of energy before someone woke him up to the public relations disaster this was creating. And I don't think he was tootling around town in a Prius, either.

There are a lot of things I don't like about Al Gore (I've met him a few times), but this "do as I say, not as I do" thing sticks in my craw too. He's done a lot and I suppose you could say that his positive actions have far offset any impact he's having from his lifestyle choices, but on the other hand I believe a public figure like this has some responsibility to act as an example and he's not doing that very well in this particular case.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Anyone owning a California oceanside home might be wondering today as a swarm of over 400 earthquakes have been recorded in the past few days. It is a the highest number since the 1970s with some reaching as high as 3 on the Richter scale.

Climate change........environmental damage........or simply people choosing to live in high risk areas?

There are some Republican delegates questioning if the convention shouldn't be held in July, but I wonder why they don't hold such things someplace like Minnesota or Arizona.

Maybe because Florida is a battle state?

Good luck to everyone along the Gulf Coast and in California.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

As pointed out on CNN.........Katrina had already passed through New Orleans, and everyone thought the worst was over, before the levies broke loose.

The problem with New Orleans isn't wind speed.........it is water, water, water.

At the pace of this storm, New Orleans could have a 24 hour deluge of rain......with the fresh water collecting and going south and the ocean surge going north..........meeting right in New Orleans.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

As far as Al Gore's hypocrisy goes--I'm not sure whether or not Gore is a saint has any bearing on the argument.

Personally, I prefer carbon pricing. That way we don't have to rely on guilt to change behaviour (never going to work), we can instead rely on price signals (works very well). If you price in externalities, then the green thing to do is also the inexpensive thing to do.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

andrewf said:


> As far as Al Gore's hypocrisy goes--I'm not sure whether or not Gore is a saint has any bearing on the argument.


I think in this case the argument went like this: I said I thought it was ironic that the Republicans chose to hold their convention in Florida at the height of hurricane season, which seemed emblematic of a larger head-in-the-sand approach to considering environmental risks. Nemo pointed out that Al Gore was also guilty of this when he bought a mansion near the ocean in California, which presumably would be vulnerable to sea-level rise (at least I assume that's why Nemo brought it up). I pointed out that this wasn't really the case but then we got sidetracked by sniping on Al Gore. ;-)

Sorry to have taken this off-topic....back to hurricanes.


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## LondonHomes (Dec 29, 2010)

brad said:


> I thought it was ironic that the Republicans chose to hold their convention in Florida at the height of hurricane season, which seemed emblematic of a larger head-in-the-sand approach to considering environmental risks.


If the Republican convention gets hit by the storm, then hopefully they will take it as a sign that mother nature isn't happy with their policies and they will change them for the better.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

It's funny that it's generally the Republican 'red' states that are feeling god's wrath for what the blue states are supporting. Notable exception of California.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

Hopefully everyone wakes up tomorrow and nothing happened


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

11 inches of rain so far in NO


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

kcowan said:


> 11 inches of rain so far in NO


And it's worse when you go _outdoors_.:friendly_wink:


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

How in the world can the authorities now be claiming "it was worse than expected"?

I listened to the weather guy on CNN and he said the storm would hang over New Orleans for 24-36 hours and pour down rain, days before it arrived.

I guess we never learn. Human arrogance maybe?

Now they are "rescuing" people all over the place.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

sags said:


> I guess we never learn. Human arrogance maybe?


Sadly most disaster services in the States have been privatized. I'd say more greed than arrogance.


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