1995's Hurricane Luis' death toll? 19 or 1,000+?

This is the general tropical discussion area. Anyone can take their shot at predicting a storms path.

Moderator: S2k Moderators

Forum rules

The posts in this forum are NOT official forecasts and should not be used as such. They are just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. They are NOT endorsed by any professional institution or STORM2K. For official information, please refer to products from the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service.

Help Support Storm2K
Message
Author
User avatar
HarlequinBoy
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 1400
Age: 34
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:57 am
Location: Memphis

1995's Hurricane Luis' death toll? 19 or 1,000+?

#1 Postby HarlequinBoy » Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:55 am

Okay, so I was reading on Wikipedia about Hurricane Luis, a storm I had never really explored. Everyone knows Wikipedia can't be completely trusted, but rarely do I really find standout errors or head scratching figures. Under the "St. Martin" heading in the article this sentence really threw me for a loop, "The hurricane killed nine people (two in the French side and seven in the Dutch side), and possibly 1,000 people drowned in the lagoon according to some sources." The official death toll listed for Hurricane Luis' impacts on the Antilles, the US, and Canada is 19. Where is this 1,000 people coming from? There's no source and it seems highly unlikely that 1,000 drowning in 1995 could be a possibility, rather than a certainty. Anybody have any insight into this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Luis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Luis#St._Martin
0 likes   

User avatar
Chacor
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 10229
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:43 pm
Location: Singapore

#2 Postby Chacor » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:38 am

It's Wikipedia, and the claim isn't cited. I wouldn't read too much into the claim.
0 likes   

HurricaneBill
Category 5
Category 5
Posts: 3420
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 5:51 pm
Location: East Longmeadow, MA, USA

Re: 1995's Hurricane Luis' death toll? 19 or 1,000+?

#3 Postby HurricaneBill » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:01 pm

Yeah, sometimes conspiracy theorists come up with wild claims about hurricane death tolls.

An infamous one with Andrew was that thousands of undocumented migrant workers died.

A more recent example was with Charley. Remember the claims that there were hundreds of bodies at a demolished Holiday Inn?

I'm surprised I've never really heard any conspiracy theories about Katrina's death toll. I know Katrina is ripe with other conspiracy theories.
0 likes   


Return to “Talkin' Tropics”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: dl20415, tolakram and 36 guests