Hurricane Isaac & New Orleans

[BenBurch]

Forecasts now have it going ashore near New Orleans still strengthening and becoming a Category 3 briefly.

Anybody there? Are they taking this seriously?

 

[CosCos]

Yes. We're in a holding pattern now. Will make the decision to evac tomorrow.

 

[tyr_13]

My director is from there and has family there. He says it's surreal for a lot of them.

 

[SumDood]

I live in Mobile and work in Pascagoula. We got our supplies today, going to clean up the yard tomorrow. Don't plan on evacuating. Schools are closed until Wednesday. Lived here since the early 80s and haven't evacuated yet.

Got a brother in Uptown New Orleans. One of the few places that didn't flood during Katrina, so they're sticking it out there as well.

 

[Travis]

It will probably just be a category 2 when it hits. That's peanuts.

 

[Checkmite]

Hurricane Irene was a category 1 when it hit the US; it killed nearly 50 people and caused more than $15 billion in damage.

 

[Miss_Kitt]

A lot will depend on the intersection of tides and storm surge. Last I saw, they were saying only Cat 2 and maybe back to Cat 1 by landfall.

I have to say, though, Nawleans seems to have pissed off the Weather Gods...

 

[Travis]

Yeah the storm surge is the thing to be worried about. Katrina was only a cat3 in terms of wind but carried a storm surge of a full on cat5.

So this could be bad if Issac has an exceptional storm surge.

 

[Quinn]

This New Orleanian is heading out soon for an overnight evacuation. Ever since the Ivan evacuation, when the normally-2.5-hour drive to Lafayette took me 17 hours, my rule has been to leave early and beat the traffic. And I keep odd hours anyway, so the late-night drive is no problem. Off to batten down the hatches and hit the road.

 

[a_unique_person]

It will probably just be a category 2 when it hits. That's peanuts.

Not in New Orleans it's not.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

This New Orleanian is heading out soon for an overnight evacuation. Ever since the Ivan evacuation, when the normally-2.5-hour drive to Lafayette took me 17 hours, my rule has been to leave early and beat the traffic. And I keep odd hours anyway, so the late-night drive is no problem. Off to batten down the hatches and hit the road.

Good god. 17 hours? My folks evacuated Slidell during Katrina and it took them 2 days to get to us in Dallas.

 

[Beerina]

This New Orleanian is heading out soon for an overnight evacuation. Ever since the Ivan evacuation, when the normally-2.5-hour drive to Lafayette took me 17 hours, my rule has been to leave early and beat the traffic. And I keep odd hours anyway, so the late-night drive is no problem. Off to batten down the hatches and hit the road.

17 hours, ugh, that's what I call a learning experience.

 

[BenBurch]

This is a good example of why we need more transportation infrastructure (at least in places) in this country.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

This is a good example of why we need more transportation infrastructure (at least in places) in this country.

While I agree with the sentiment, this is hardly the best example of it.

There are 4 interstates in that area: 10, 12, 55, and 59 (plus I-49 if you can get to Lafayette). During evacuations they enact contraflow on all of them (not 49, I think. No hurricanes when I was at University there). Additional infrastructure past that won't help all that much and would likely be wasted in non-evacuation conditions.

Quinn has it right: people just need to leave early enough. That was the biggest problem with traffic pre-Katrina. The evacuation order and contraflow weren't enabled until it was too late.

 

[ponderingturtle]

While I agree with the sentiment, this is hardly the best example of it.

There are 4 interstates in that area: 10, 12, 55, and 59 (plus I-49 if you can get to Lafayette). During evacuations they enact contraflow on all of them (not 49, I think. No hurricanes when I was at University there). Additional infrastructure past that won't help all that much and would likely be wasted in non-evacuation conditions.

Quinn has it right: people just need to leave early enough. That was the biggest problem with traffic pre-Katrina. The evacuation order and contraflow weren't enabled until it was too late.

And maybe avoid building cities below sealevel in a hurricane zone.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

Much of Holland is below sea level, and the area is subject to flooding, as in 1953. Maybe we need some Dutch ingenuity.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Much of Holland is below sea level, and the area is subject to flooding, as in 1953. Maybe we need some Dutch ingenuity.

But they get many fewer hurricanes there.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

"Going Dutch" or "Let's don't reinvent the windmill"

But they get many fewer hurricanes there.

From the Wikipedia entry on the North Sea Flood of 1953, "A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm caused a storm tide. In combination with a tidal surge of the North Sea the water level locally exceeded 5.6 metres (18.4 ft) above mean sea level." Here is a link to some more information about the Dutch approach to flooding.

 

[Polaris]

Good god. 17 hours? My folks evacuated Slidell during Katrina and it took them 2 days to get to us in Dallas.

It seems like half the evacuees from 2005 never left Dallas, so your drive should be significantly shorter.

 

[Newtons Bit]

It's going to be a good test on whether or not the work the Army Corps has done since Katrina is sufficient.