What I learned from Hurricane Irene - just because you think 'it's nothing' doesn't mean others do

I'll confess, I've had a good laugh at you southerns when you get a dusting of snow. I've watched the news and seen entire states shut down over an amount of snow that's just a typical winter day up here in the north. I mean when you survive a winter with 4 back-to-back blizzards that each dumped about 18inches -3feet of snow on the ground, you wish for the days of simple dusting.

In the period of one week I experienced 2 natural disaster first - I was in a 5.8 earthquake and a Cat1 Hurricane.

For those of you in earthquake-prone west coast a 5.8 is just a typical day and for you southerns a Cat1 Hurricane is probably a bit of a drizzling. You've had way worse but the thing is this - I haven't. And I can assure you that I've had the bejesus scared out of me going thru both. Personally you west coasters can keep your earthquakes and the southerners can have their hurricanes. At least with a blizzard I know what to expect and have fun with it.

But maybe I've learned something from this event. Hurricane Irene and a 5.8 earthquake to me is like a dusting of snow to some of you. And I've learned this - just because it's something minor where you live that doesn't make it minor to the person going thru it. Perhaps I've learned to respect those people dealing with a snow dusting because if you don't deal with it on a regular basis then it is a big deal.

Sure we can blame the media for the hype but when a storm impacts about a sixth of this country's population then it does become a big deal especially when most of them haven't even been thru a hurricane before. And honestly, I would rather we be prepared then to have another Katrina happen anywhere in this country.

So maybe in the future we'll respect these natural disasters a bit more, I know I will the next time the south gets hit with a dusting of snow!

I've traveled for business down South when they've had a 1 or 2 inch snow event with ice. . . They do not have the tools to salt/sand thousands of miles of highway, driving skills, etc. etc. - it's understandably frightening.

And really - it's been more the people out West being irritating about the Earthquake. Now for them? When L.A. gets a Lake Effect Snow Event (I'm originally from Western NY) I AM going have at least a little tee hee offline. ;-)

The thing you have to remember about snow in the South is that we're not prepared for it. In Colorado, it's nothing, because there's plenty of equipment to clear the roads and people are used to driving in it. Down here, we've got a few trucks that may scatter sand or salt, but the equipment's not really there because the cost can't be justified for places where it may only snow once every five years.

The thing that's absolutely comical to me is the reaction to snow in DC. It snows every friggin' winter, usually more than once, often with significant accumulation. People still get in a tizzy when it happens.

Between the elected officials, their staff and the lobbyists - many of them are not from DC and may not be accustomed to the weather. I'm sure the native DCers have no problem with the snow.

experience tended to avoid driving, for fear of being hit by someone else.

Driving in Oklahoma during any snow is asking for trouble. I grew up in NJ. I can drive in the snow, and know what to do with icy road conditions. I can't count how many times I've nearly been plastered by some dumb-ass Okie or Texan in a pick-up, who doesn't know what the hell he's doing (sorry, Texans, but y'all CANNOT drive in the snow). Why should you be able to? It doesn't snow much. Just don't drive during that sort of weather.

You said it right, and perfectly.

Thank you!

:hug:

But we have allowed the corporations to take over our national interests for profit, driven from ratings by doing something not in regards to public service but to whip up panic and fear. How many people died of complications due to stress because of all of this? I doubt we will ever see any numbers on that because it doesn't fit the template of inflating the next crisis for entertainment. People say turn off the media, but it affects those millions that pawned their only valuables, spent next weeks paychecks in advance from the high interest loan companies, or put the title of their transportation on the line at a title loan company or spent next month's rent in fear? The government did a good job reporting the storm facts, but the media sensationalized and desensitized people to the next tragedy to befall us. Meanwhile storms that passed through states like Virginia in April or May caused more property damage and considerably more loss of life.

The threat was very real and the 2 facts that saved the northeast from a bigger disaster were:

1) the dry air from Georgia infiltrating the system before landfall
and
2) The track over eastern North Carolina instead of the water that the storm took.

By taking the track that it did, it demolished NC's coasts but spared the northeast from much larger storm surges.

Take those 2 things out, and you have the "hyped" version of the storm.

It killed the rest of the tourist season (Labor Day) on the coast, as access is impossible to the popular spots.
My state took a beating, but the track went through sparsely populated areas rather than major population centers at its strength, and for that, I am grateful for everyone.

death. The other issue is that it *was* forecast early on to hit the outer banks and yet we still had this doom and gloom reporting. Anyone with any knowledge of hurricanes at all, would have told you that it was being hyped a bit much.

As I said, there was 1 reason it wasn't a 3 at landfall and it lost more power because of the 2nd reason. Staying over 80 degree water (as in off the NC coast) would have kept the strength up.

Hitting OBX doesn't mean it is over land -- it was due to go in the sounds, but it ventured in over Tyrell county with population of 5,000. So it could have easily made it to NYC as a 2 if it moved eastward as projected. Instead it was a TS.

It was already languishing and lost its eyewall as a Cat 1 before it ever struck land and the water gets cooler the more north you go. How was it going to gain strength by losing strength. LMAO.

It was a weakening storm that did much less damage than predicted. And thank God. But why are we trying to make this something that it wasn't?

outer banks as a cat 2, quickly dissipated to a cat 1, then continued to lose its center and hit land again as a very weak cat 1, and then to a TS once it hit land again.

I think for having less than 30 deaths when over 55 million people were impacted is pretty darn good. Compare that to Katrina which had way more deaths for an area that impacted way less people - you can't put a value on preparing people.

And remember this is a region historically known for not being impacted by Hurricanes so for many of us.

In fact, it seems to me that some of the folks who died might not have been in harm's way if they had taken the storm more seriously.

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/10058779/

Last year during the flash flood some idiot drove around the barricades the city workers were in the process of erecting and ignored their shouts as she drove by them. It took a week to find her body.

What CNN and the Weather Channel presented to the USA on Friday and Saturday of last week is what is knwon as drama. But it certainly was not science. (And those stations had the information to know better.)

Too bad you got the bejesus scared out of you. BTW, even we southerners wouldn't call a Cat 1 a drizzling. They may not scare us, but you keep an eye on them.

Hey, you still end up with bragging rights for a run of events this year (snow, hurricane, & earthquake) and you have have that win. :)

Hoopla that the media put forth are not mindless of pain, suffering and even death that this Tropical Storm caused. Our hearts go out to anyone who has suffered major calamity like a home being damaged, or even the horridness of being without power. And out hearts go out especially to anyone who lost a loved one or who has been injured.

What was offensive to us was the behavior of the Talking Heads and the news stations that capitalized on this. They billed this storm, which was basically a Tropical Storm, as being capable of using Hurricane Force winds to destroy everything in the Carolinas, plus Washington DC and then major flooding in every part of Manhattan.

The weather maps were enhanced to make it look like the same storm that took out all of life on earth in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow." Forecasters said things like (actual quote) "The storm cell size is now bigger than the entire land mass of Europe." Everything was ominous. There was no hope. No way out.

The entire East Coast was doomed!!

One of the biggest drawbacks to this mindless portrayal of doom is that if people ever really need to be told to evacuate New York City again, they won't respond. Because after all, back in Aug 2011, some TV stations needed higher ratings and made up a bunch of crap.

Some photos from Huricane/Storm Irene:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/frightening-hurricane-irene-destruction-photos

A few videos:

https://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fvi8r...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&searc...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/28/irene.vermont/

I am sure Wilmington residents will be very receptve.

As to the maps... they came from the NWS... so I guess the hype started there.

Honestly, if the hype was that much turn it off.

It's not like the entire country was forced to watch the Weather Channel

I mean they hyped it...

I am to the point of advising those people to turn the tv and the radio off... for that matter their computers too.

I am glad you are well.

As to vermont, there are several DU'ers that are there... I hope they are ok.

And honestly, it hit me with the Tornado Warnings - that was freaky!

:hug:

I am not questioning that some people were hurt and hurt badly, and in fact some people were killed, nor am I feeling unsympathetic or lacking empathy to those who were affected. Not at all. That wasn't my point.

What I was discussing was the ruthless, "We are all going to die" emphasis of the Major Media, including the Weather Station. And even amid all the relentless hysteria that the Major News Channels propagated, I didn't hear anything related to how Vermont would be hit hard. They were too caught up in their doomsday scenario to actually look into what might really happen.

The Talking Heads at CNN and at the Weather Channel were relentlessly chattering all about massive destruction taking out the Carolinas, Washington DC, Maryland and NY. Even though they had information that this was a Cat 1 Hurricane.

If they had spent less time/energy propagating that dis-information, maybe some meteorologist at the Weather Station might have been able to examine real implications of the weather feeds they have at their disposal. And then maybe advise the people of Vermont about the incredible amounts of rain they would experience. But the TV Stations didn't consider that. It was all hype designed to keep people tuned to their sets.

And if this was happening on the West Coast, in state of Washington or Oregon, it wouldn't have even made the news, except as an after thought. (CNN and The Weather Channel are both out of Atlanta, GA.) Even though winter storms, early spring storms, through the mountains, and coastal flood zones, routinely throw 100 mile an hour winds at people, their homes and vehicles. With freezing rains causing run offs.

incredible as it might seem... though we were probably tuned in to the same channels... we watched a whole different media.

maps and advisories. They told the whole story - a cat 1 storm that would weaken as it approached the New England area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes

:eyes:

Katrina, epic, Andrew, Epic, Galveston, Epic. Irene - not so much.

And Irene was 'epic' in the number of people impacted and the regions it hit.

No it wasn't a Katrina, trust me we don't ever want one of those again but it was a new experience for many people.

cautioning folks to use the word sparingly. This storm, as bad as it was to some, is not an epic one. And on a personal note, I'm quite pleased that it wasn't.

if you are in the capital... worst flood since 1928

Am I happy they mostly "missed" in the mid Atlantic? Yup... but they were not off with New England.

In the big picture... it really depends on where you are.

were hit hard, like in *all* hurricanes. But overall, not close to being an epic storm by any means.

those are the words of the Governor.

You are calling the governor a liar? And you made my point... some areas were hit harder than others, and for some folks yes, it is epic... the state of vermont, for the size of the population and land mass, IS facing epic damage. (Granted the size of the state helps, but still)

If so, then I vehemently disagree. As I've said repeatedly, a bad storm yes, flooding, yes, damage, yes ... Epic? Absolutely not. And let's pray that a *truly* epic hurricane never hits the Northeast, or any other area for that matter.

to Vermonters IT IS... feel free to ignore the rest


In fact, I suggest next storm you take the other route, turn off the TV, the RADIO, the computer and don't even get ready for it. That way you can avoid the hype (tm)

I don't use major news sources because I prefer to get *actual real-time* information from the premier source, the NHC and their advisories.

and the Charlotte Observer...

You will get hype (tm) pollution.

And you know what not having a bad storm surge should make you happy... now getting the floods up north should not... but if you think Vermont is hype, well then, it is hype.

advisories, you would have been better served than listening to a reporter trying to give you their interpretation of the raw data.

Assume much?


But please next storm don't even turn on to DU... you might encounter any of that famous media hype (tm) you should avoid.

Mine was concerning the "End of the World" style of disinformation propagated by the Weather Channel and CNN.

Yours is about whether actual damage has occurred.

Yes, actual damage has occurred. Lives were lost. I am not disputing that.

My first paragraph of my original response mentioned my awareness of that, and my sorrow over it.

But that still doesn't alter the unrealistic portrayal that the Main Stream News people portrayed. And that they chose Massive Hype over actual meteorology.

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there was no hype there, mostly a parade of government officials

Mass said spin control isn't part of NOAA's mission. "We provide as much information as we can, based on what we know," Marks said. "What the public and decision makers do with that information is something that's out of our purview."

Marks acknowledged that some of the reports made the storm sound scarier than it really was. "If you looked at those scenarios that the media was getting ... the disaster scenario was extreme. That was for a major hurricane coming straight at them, not a weakening storm coming up the coast," he said.


Even the meteorologists and your "no hype" MSNBC acknowledge there was a degree of hype. Again, hype doesn't mean responsible journalism.

Still go on defending the corporate news media. They are the ones who want to take over all weather duties from the government so I'm sure they love you defending them.

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And it's not something that can ever be reliably measured, but how many individuals got caught up in the "hype" and took precautions that they otherwise wouldn't have because of the alarmist pre-coverage? Who decided to obey a mandatory evacuation order instead of staying put and riding it out, only to come back to a home devastated by wind and water? Who laid in a supply of drinking water the day before Irene came through town and is managing all right instead of depending on first responders for basic needs?

My takeaway from the "hype" was not that there was no hope or no way out, but that there were many usable, concrete suggestions offered to folks to help weather the storm. I will grant that there was a lot of chaff to separate out from that wheat kernel, but some people are surely in better circumstances today because of last week's hype.

What might happen next time? Can't say. There's always a possibility that someone will feel like they've heard this cry of "wolf" before, and decide to ignore it. But I don't think it will be widespread as the full details of what Irene hath wrought become apparent. Some people will have gotten a lot more than they thought they would. Some people will realize that they got lucky to avoid the worst of it. Who are those people? Can't say that, either.

I'm guessing that's the reason why you were unable to turn off the TV or change channels or hide threads in DU.

:sarcasm:

Oh and edit note:

Tropical STorm?



Note - the H go all the way thru New Jersey and I believe it hit NYC as a Cat1 or right on the boarder.

for hours upon hours, I can tell you, I missed the hype. Our battery powered radio could just not keep us updated the way the many choices of cable TV could.

It was miserable not to have the luxury of cable TV. Did we live? Yes, we did. Would I rather have had my cable TV hyping with a choice to change the channel if I wanted to? Yes.

I don't get what the big deal is about the hyping????? Can't people just change the channel and watch something else besides news channels?

And now I'm noticing some sort of jealousy over what state/states or disaster gets what amount of attention.
That is just plain silly, imho.

and then being told I need to "understand" such posts are just "jokes."

Hurricanes, even Cat 1s, are nothing to joke about, no matter who gets slammed by them. Period.

dg

I feel so bad - we're drowning up here in the Northeast and it's just crazy bad in Texas with this heat & drought.

good, but the wind gusts, not so much.

I won't argue with anyone on that (takes a look at her yard of sand). But what I do object to is the non-stop threads from posters saying nothing but wishing a hurricane would wipe Texas off the map, with little care (actually none at all) that such a storm would kill many people & cause a huge amount of destruction.

edited to add: you won't hear me knocking anyone who prepared for Irene or ran for the hills. BTDT myself.

dg

I just stood there and watched it shake!

as the shaking starts, find a solid table or brace yourself on a door frame. ONLY AFTER the quake stops check for damage et al.

It takes practice... sadly I get some of it.

But that was always the advised mom gave me, and later me... and don't worry even the ARC personnel froze at first when it hit in DC...

ugh!

the last quake in that area was what 100 years ago?

which means it could be an earthquake or it could be your cube neighbor just passing some gas.

that just stood and watched it shake during the quake. lol I watched 2 vases on the kitchen table just sway back and forth wishing I had my cell phone to video it. And I knew damn well what it was after the first 10 seconds but never thought about running outside.


On Irene. we lost power so I didn't realize it was as bad as it was until last night. We got lucky, just tree leaves and branches all over the yard and neighbors yards but now that I can check local news I know how lucky I really am. Lots of flooding and trees hitting houses, businesses and cars. As for news, when do they not "over hype" the flavor of the day? More so if it hits at one of their epicenters of NYC or LA? I am more surprised at those that act like over hyping something is unusual. Where have they been the last decade or so? :shrug: I look at it just like those that want to censor what adults watch on TV because of the kids, if you can't hit the remote to change channel or turn off the TV maybe you should get rid of it (TV) and seek medical help. Hell I live on the Eastern Shore of MD and I could find other news before Irene hit and finding lots of other news since.

:hug: the best to you and yours

The reason why snow is such a problem for us Southerns is we don't have the trucks and snow ploughs to salt the streets and plough snow. So roads are pretty difficult to drive on. Also drivers don't know how to drive in snow.

Buildings on the east coast are not built to withstand earthquakes. Buildings in Cali are built on rollers and they handle the quakes pretty well. Houses in Fl our built to withstand high winds and flooding but not in the north east.

I think because of issues of climate changes and other factors we can be in for some bad times if our infrastructure isn't fixed to withstand these events.

and that has actually been spoken by the United Nations. The US does not take this seriously, and I wish our leaders started

It doesn't *stay* snow, our roads are rarely cold enough for the snow to remain completely frozen, it melts in contact with the road during the day and then refreezes at night, this turns it into a sheet of glazed ice not snow.

Combine that with the fact that we don't have the snow removal equipment that you have in the North and it makes for some interesting driving conditions.

I don't care how good at driving in snow you are, glazed ice is a different animal.

Rec

will be the new norm, we will probably have to become better prepared as out lier natural disasters become more common

and agree 100% with your thoughts.

upper Atlantic hurricanes. They *think* they do, but they don't. The authorities know about the "Isabel effect" (my term for it). That's what they were worried about all along, and they were right. And that's what would have made Irene much worse (hence the hype) except for luck. What they were expecting and were right to expect unfortunately came down worst of all in Vermont. The Midatlantic was (relatively) lucky, the Northeast was unlucky this time.

What happened in hurricane Isabel is that water got shoved up into the Chesapeake Bay at high tide. So there was high tide, plus wind-driven surge, plus high waves. Then, the rain water runoff flooded the rivers in the opposite direction, running downstream - all of it converging at the mouth of the rivers, forwards and backwards so to speak. Entire areas near the rivers were devastated, and didn't even get close to back to normal for three years.

Chesapeake Bay got very lucky this time, and due to the wind blowing from the westward bands at the time Irene passed over, water was shoved *out* of the Bay, not in. Delaware Bay and Hudson Bay also were pretty lucky. But the heavy rain and the downriver effect remained, and there was still a moderate amount of surge and wave. Any more than we got, and it would've been bad - at the Chesapeake, the Delaware, and the Hudson (any of the big coastal rivers). But the northeast with it's steeper rivers and starting off saturated, still got the flash floods worst of all.

All of this was expected, because the professionals working on preparedness KNOW about these conditions, and know about what happened in Isabel. It's isn't Florida, and it isn't Texas. It isn't your area shoved up north. It isn't even quite like NC. The "back bay" flooding that the outer banks got this time is a taste of one facet of it.

If the timing with the tides and positioning of the storm as it passed by had been just *slightly* different, max "Isabel effect" could have happened all the way up the coast even *without* the winds being any stronger than they were. And that would've been disastrous, especially in NYC. (The hype terms would've been pretty apropos.) All it would have taken to affect that timing, is if Irene had moved at a slower or faster SPEED. None of the forecasters or broadcasters, nobody, could have predicted that. That is still beyond our "powers".

So what I've learned is that people from other areas need to STFU about our hurricanes which they know nothing about. Fortunately, the pros do. And the pros give their information to the media, who in turn report it as accurately as it's going to get these days.

Florida and Gulf Coast, you have experience at your hurricanes but you are not experienced at ours. You don't know what you're talking about. (And you shouldn't even presume to think you do.) Ragging on people who frankly did a *great* job of protecting us is beyond ignorant, it is destructive. And that has no place from the sidelines, while you're not involved but we are still going through it. It's completely inappropriate.

That's what I learned.

No one else knows your trauma. You can't measure one person's painful experiences against another. Pain and trauma are subjective.

I learned this working in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. The people on the Mississippi Coast were traumatized by their entire coastline being scoured and devastated in 8 hours. But when I would go up north in Mississippi and talk with people up there about the devastation and trauma the people in Biloxi and Gulfport were experiencing, they were quick to point out that the most people who died in Katrina in Mississippi were up-state, from the tornados that had spun out. Northern Mississippians were as traumatized by the tornados (which left little physical damage compared to the Coast) as the Coastal residents were by having no familiar landmarks left for 150 miles.