wxman57 wrote:Just what is a "Category 5 Levee"?? There is no such thing. The SS scale is a peak sustained wind scale only, it doesn't have anything to do with storm surge. The SS scale "says" a Cat 3 would produce a 9-12 ft. storm surge. Of course, that's bogus. A Cat 3 can produce a 25-30 ft. storm surge in some cases (remember a hurricane named Katrina?).
Storm surge is mostly a funciton of the radius of maximum winds, offshore water depth, coastal topography, angle of impact on the coast, speed of movement, and, finally, average wind speed over a large area. We have to stop thinking of storm surge as being a function of SS category. It's just not the case. Peak wind speeds play only a small part in storm surge generation.
Help me to understand your 2nd paragraph. Are you suggesting that even if Katrina's winds had not hit cat 5 strength, the storm surge would/could have still been as bad as it was because of the storm's size? Camille, a small storm in comparison to Katrina, was a catagory 5 storm with a surge of around 22 feet. Do you think the surge would have been worse had she be larger? Scary thought!
Not trying to be disrespectful, just curious to know what your thoughts are on this.
