Hurricane Katrina

Well this lil cajun girl made it alright.... But this is horrible. I am about 60 miles from New Orleans. We left but were able to come today and I just got power but its devestating I have family in those areas where you see the pictures of only the roof tops and no way to get any information. Please pray for my family.

 

I am praying for all our Brothers and Sisters, we just had tornadoes last week up in my neck of the woods (WI). what you guys are going through makes it look like childs play in comparison/

 

1 Million+ homeless people. Tens of thousands trapped.

And the water is supposed to continue to rise. These people do not realize how dangerous this water is. It's contaminated w/ raw sewage, chemicals, bacteria, disease, etc...

Glad you're ok, ladesignz and I hope your family is too.

 

Sorry to hear that. Prayers are with you and all the people there.

 

I've heard the news about that shooting incidents just outside the dome I am not just sure about the cause but I hope it's not because of people's frustration due to this thing.

 

Ridiculous!!! I have been watching those TV news on the other side of the globe. On the whole depressing.

This year has been calamitous for the entire globe. It started last year with the Asian Tsunami (Dec 26th), The great Bombay flood (last month) and Europe flood (somewhere two weeks ago), and now Katrina...

I have been noticing climatic changes here in India...summer started when winter winter was supposed to set in. This is all inexplicable!!!

I'm not happy at all by the way the globe is headed. Some introspection has to been done. I can only wish everything returns to normal.

Regards,
Dilip Samuel

 

Actually with all due respect, this season was a normal hurricane season. I'm not sure these particular things were caused by climate change.

They have been happening for 100's of years, death tolls will continue to rise as populations grow, though, and people build in these danger areas.

If you built a house on the coast of an area hit by 5 hurricanes a year, a 100 years ago, you would have probably been committed.

As I said, statictically there hasn't been much of a shift in natural disasters, just death tolls and property damage as the population changes. Thats not to say there might not be, but it hasn't happened on the scale that is possible yet.

 

Not true. The last few hurricane seasons have been much more severe.

Katrina was a relatively small hurricane that barely touched south Florida. But then it was supercharged by the ridiculously warm sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

The last few years have seen more natural disasters around the globe. Of course some of them are just part of the natural cycle. But much of this can be blamed on global warming. As the atmosphere warms, it generates longer droughts, more-intense downpours, more-frequent heat waves, and more-severe storms. L.A. saw two feet of snow this year!

It's a fact, the climate is changing. Anyone who tries to argue against that is...well, wrong!

Dilip, you're absolutely right- Something needs to be done to reverse these changes (if possible)!

 

Of course the world is getting warmer, than after a while it will get cooler, I remember when I was a kid all these so called experts saying that cars were to blame and we were headed for another ice age, HAH. Well, let me tell you, we don't affect the global climate, we are but specs of dirt. The tsunami was cause by shifting of the tectonic (sp) plates, NOT GLOBAL WARMING! Man, some people buy anything. Mt St Helens gave off more green house gasses in ONE DAY than all of the automobile in ALL TIME! It is mother earth, she will do as she wishes.

 

Yes, you're right...some people will buy anything.

 

That's BS. We are specs of dirt that could trigger big things to happen. Read these and come back if you need more:

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/climate.html

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/global_warming/index.cfm

 

Yes the hurricane did hit very warm waters. First of all though its not just the water temp that charges these hurricanes. There are several other very important factors. As for the warm waters, this is because of the currents in the Atlantic changing. These are common and they will change again next year depending on several other non climate factors.

There was a weather expert from the Hurricane Center interviewed last night who responded to these questions and he said that in no way was these changes associated with global warming.

I live in Florida half the year and the other half in Las Vegas, I can tell you that these hurricanes are normal. Katrina as bad as it was is not in recorded history the strongest hurricane or the most deadly. The labor day hurricane killed over 16,000 people and in todays estimates would have cost more than Katrina has.

Now to address another issue of Katrina that just pisses me off. All the dam low life looters. These sub life individuals are preying on the misery of others. As the Mississippi Gov said they are going to treat these people as ruthless as possible.

I can understand people looting for food and needed items, but if I was in law enforcement there and I saw someone walking away with a TV, Fishing poles, toys and so on, I believe I would have to SHOOT and then ask to see a sales slip after.

One police officer was shot in the head lastnight by a looter. I hope these looters get what is coming to them. Rant Off

 

A "weather expert"?

The Earth is warming- THAT'S A FACT! We've known for almost 20 years now that the intensity of hurricanes is related to surface sea temperatures. So the increased intenisty of hurricanes can be associated w/ global warming.

2+2 = 4!

Is every big hurricane a result of global warming? Of course not! But we really need to pay attention to these factors so that this doesn't happen more than it would in a normal cycle.

I haven't really been watching the news. Is this looting a big, widespread problem? Or has the media just decided to sensationalize it like they do with many other things that don't really deserve the coverage they get.

 

Shit!

Couldn't these levees have been bigger and stronger? This is 2005 and we are one of the richest nations on Earth. Terrible...just terrible!

 

I read/heard somewhere in recent years there were several proposals to improve/strenghten the levees. But they were turned down as it would be too costly. I think it was the Fed. govt that turned it down too (can't remember the source though)

Edit: there is a good write-up one the levees in New Orleans (towards the bottom of the page): http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/katrina.neworleans/index.html/

 

This is a normal cycle. About ever 10 to 15 years Florida and the coastal states experience several major hurricanes. It has been this way since the late 1900s. We just happen to be in that cycle now.

As you mentioned there has been some global warming but this IMO and other experts has not caused these natural disasters to occur.

Yes looting is a major problem right now. It seems this disaster has brought out some of the worse in these hoodlums. The press is not IMO sensationalizing these events of looting. People are stealing items that do not help them, but only to try and make a buck when they are to STUPID to realize that their city has bigger problems not only as a whole but also for these sub human scum. The health factors and ecconomic problems that they all face is once again IMO should be their first priority. Instead they choose to run around acting like trash with no morals or principles and stealing anything they can get their hands on. Once again Rant Off.

 

Exactly! Stop trying to blame it on Global warming, maybe it did have an effect on the hurricane and instead of winds being 170 mph they where 175 mph. We are in an active cycle right now.

Thank god the hurricane didn't hit where first projected, I'd have no house, no computer, and not know where I'm going to go to school. I'm trying to figure out how I can help right now. There are a million people homeless. A fishing buddy of my dads has 5 feet of water in his house in Biloix, along with 40,000 ruined of his inventory for his online ebay business and will be staying with us and friends for quite sometime, but he is just one of many. Today about a dozen kids enrolled in my school from New Orleans who are living in hotels and planning to stay there for quite sometime. Any suggestions on how us at Digital Point can help? With the power and knowledge all of us hold here I'm sure we could think of something impressive and make it happen.

 

http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/resources_katrina.shtm#canhelp

 

You think Shawn would mine, if all adrevenue from the site this month be donated? Sorry to all you folks that make big bucks with the revenue sharing but I'm sure there are people that need it much more at this time. I hate to put him on the spot like that but I do believe this is a national diaster that will equal 9/11.

Shawn, you of course can deduct the cost of servers. I'd will donate mine and some of my freetime to help send bottled water and such over there this weekend but my adsense revenue of dimes a day isn't going to help much.

Edit: I'd also like to thank the folks who have given me a red rep for this post. Encouraging others to help in a time like this should be an american thing, help out your fellow americans. Geez! I'm sure everyone can find someway to help.

 

Donating our revenue sharing share would probably mean donating an average of 50 cents (perhaps less) per active member. If you really want to help, donate what you can directly