Sun Herald puts out book on Katrina

[DoctorHurricane2003]

I'll help to explain it.

It is somewhat similar to how a hurricane's winds weaken over land, the friction of the land, trees, etc. will slow down the movement of the water...except much faster than it does the air. Now, over a marsh, it is going to slow down a lot slower than it would over a large patch of dry land. It does NOT slow down over a barrier island any significant amount because the barrier island is generally flat and easy to cut through/across due to lack of vegetation and the fact that it is basically an overgrown sandbar. Storm surge will slow down, though, where there is significant vegetation, and/or an uphill grade. Between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico-South, there is 60 miles of swampland. This would be enough to prevent a storm surge coming into the greater New Orleans area from THIS direction. However, the question lies on whether or not it would prevent storm surge from entering the greater New Orleans area from the Gulf of Mexico-East, which is much closer. This is somewhat difficult to gauge until we have a real life example. Katrina was positioned a little too far east for us to judge if storm surge intrusion would occur as you need more of a southeasterly fetch of winds over this area for a better judgement. However, nothing but extremely strong levees will protect New Orleans from Lake Ponchartrain, as we did see with Katrina.

[Ixolib]

Seems things have gotten off track from the post title...

This book IS NOT about New Orleans - at all!!! It IS about the MS Gulf Coast and is pretty good in my opinion. Wife got it for me for Christmas and I personally think it is well done. Thankfully, barely (if any) a word about New Orleans as is important here since that city continues to take the lion's share of media attention. While they did take a significant hit, the MS coast took a much more significant hit - and this book depicts it in pretty good order...

<rant over>

[Jim Cantore]

Make a memorial next to Camilles

[Ixolib]

Make a memorial next to Camilles

Before that can happen, they're gonna need to build a memorial to the memorial since it (Camille's) was virtually destroyed by Katrina. What a shame...

[frederic79]

The Mississippi Press is offering a fine book called "Katrina - Catastrophe on the Gulf Coast" and for those of you in Jackson County, features pretty much exclusive coverage of our area. It is $39.95 plus tax. The Mississippi Press is located at 1225 Jackson Avenue.

[terstorm1012]

Can I get this book online?

[Ixolib]

Can I get this book online?

Yes: http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=1176222#1176222

[terstorm1012]

Thank you very much.

[LaPlaceFF]

"Atlantic Ocean: 2005 Hurricane Season Champs! Booooo!"

How they can be champs when the Gulf Coast and New Orleans are the losers.

[ProphetCat]

No matter where people build at, there is always that chance they will be destroyed by some kind of meteorological event. People aren't stupid for building anywhere in the midwest, but tornadoes routinely take out homes and businesses there. (An exception could be made for Moore, OK though. Too many tornadoes through there in the last eight years to be mere coincidence.) I think it boils down to the people that build there WANT to take that chance. They enjoy living there and want to continue to live there. Could it be dangerous? Sure, but so is walking out the door in the morning.

I'm glad to see these books that are focusing on MS and AL. They haven't been getting near the exposure that NOLA has.

[HurryKane]

Don't rebuild where, Matt? Yeah, that is a plan, uh-huh.

Rebuilding homes,business,citys below sea level is like stacking up bowling pins for the hurricanes. I don't went to see more people die in 2006. In I hope we can do some upgrades on things if we do choose to rebuild new orleans.

Look at the satellite maps of the whole of southeastern LA covered with water after the storm. That is not something to rebuild on. New orleans if we can get a levee strong enough maybe. I don't went to see pictures like that again.

You do realize there are places in southeastern Louisiana and New Orleans that did not flood at all, right?

Anyway back to the book and not goofballs telling me where to live: I'm hoping TSH will release another book with the before/after photos they've been featuring every day. They made an impression on my family members who, even though they've seen it first hand, still can't believe the destruction.

[TS Zack]

Need something like the European countries have.

[themusk]

People aren't stupid for building anywhere in the midwest, but tornadoes routinely take out homes and businesses there. (An exception could be made for Moore, OK though. Too many tornadoes through there in the last eight years to be mere coincidence.).

Yes it is, most likely, mere coincidence.

One of the first things I learned as an undergrad was that random events clump. To many people this is counterintuitive, but if you think about it, it makes sense: if random events were evenly distributed, then they would be distributed according to a pattern, and would therefore not be random.

Another point about improbable coincidences is explained very well at http://www.csicop.org/si/9809/coincidence.html. A short summary is that while any particular coincidence may be unlikely, unlikely coincidences, in general, are common. A familiar illustration of this is the lottery: it's very unlikely that any particular person will win the lottery, but very likely that someone will win it.

I'm not sure what the statistics have to say about the likelyhood of a midwesterner being affected by a tornado vs. the likelyhood of a coastal resident being affected by a hurricane. I'd like to know the likelyhood of each. Tornados are generally very small storms, and (despite my own childhood experience to the contrary) any particular person in the midwest is very unlikely to be affected by a tornado. I suspect, but can't be certain, that the likelhood of being affected by a hurricane is much higher.

Regardless, most midwesterners make sure that they have access to shelter in case of a tornado, and sometimes storm shelters are legally mandated (for example many localities require that shelters be built in trailer parks).

Within reason, I don't think its my business where people choose to live -- for all I care people can live on the bottom of the Atlantic. But it is reasonable for society to require that construction in hazardous areas meet reasonable safety standards (since disasters, in the end, affect all of us). In fact, I'm certain that, after the last few years, we will see such requirements tightened up for hurricane-prone areas, through new mortgage and insurance requirements if not through zoning laws.

[MiamiensisWx]

How they can be champs when the Gulf Coast and New Orleans are the losers.

Notice that I said "boooo!". Also, I meant that the Atlantic Ocean was a champion against other basins in the number of storms, not that it was a good thing. It wasn't at all. Of course not!

Sorry if I didn't explain well enough...

[wxman57]

WLOX in Biloxi also has a EXCELLENT DVD out on Katrina's effects on the MS coast. Some great footage of before, during, and after. One segment has a split screen of a drive down the coast with before footage on the left and after footage on the right:

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=4174132

[Ivanhater]

speaking of hurricane books, the Pensacola News Journal just came out with a great picture book on Ivan called Ivans Wake, i got it for christmas and it comes with a dvd...amazing pictures that i didnt see before, one picture during ivan of a tree flying in mid air, and of course the famous picture of the truck hanging off the bridge...amazing stuff

http://pnjshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.m ... ry_Code=BK