Katrina
Many recent blog posts have referenced this dated article from Popular Mechanics. It’s a bit eerie. Not only was it published on September 11, 2001, but it also accurately predicts the tragic, worst-case scenario that New Orleans is currently facing:
During a strong hurricane, the city could be inundated with water blocking all streets in and out for days, leaving people stranded without electricity and access to clean drinking water. Many also could die because the city has few buildings that could withstand the sustained 96- to 100-mph winds and 6- to 8-ft. storm surges of a Category 2 hurricane. Moving to higher elevations would be just as dangerous as staying on low ground. Had Camille, a Category 5 storm, made landfall at New Orleans, instead of losing her punch before arriving, her winds would have blown twice as hard and her storm surge would have been three times as high.
It’s difficult to predict catasrophes such as the Katrina disaster in New Orleans and the tsunami disaster in Asia. The raw truth, though, is that the research and the predictions are usually out there. Perhaps we need to pay more attention to some of the doomsdayers cries after all. Averting the blow of at least one future disaster could be worth it.
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:51 pm
I felt similar as you do. If the weather forecasters were predicting a gigantic category 5 hurricane to hit New Orleans, why didn’t they make evacuation mandatory? It baffles me the way nature strikes. I’m concernced for the future too. We’ve had a numerous amount of early hurricanes this year due to climate changes…who knows what this world will be like 50 years from now.
September 2nd, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Well they actually did do a mandatory evacuation, but only about 80% of the people cleared out. The main issue was that the levees were never designed to withstand a category 5 hurricane. A direct hit could cause them to break and fill the city with water. Which is exactly what happened. When the rebuilding of New Orleans begins, the number one thing that they need to concern themselves with is proper construction of levees that can withstand the barrage of the potential storms that come through the area.