ATL GUSTAV: Tropical Depression - Discussion

[Stephanie]

Still trying to get info out of Houma and lower Terrebonne Parish. They are taking the brunt of this thing. Anyone seen or heard anything new? They are about the get the surge from the south so I'm getting a little anxious.

http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

This is talking about damage and power being out. Houma is getting the brunt of the storm.

[stormy1970al]

Update from the Baldwin County Area in Alabama
Well we just had a nasty feeder band come through here. The winds are gusting pretty good here and it rained a good bit. There is a tornado warning in North Baldwin near hurricane and Bay Minette. I am off to work in a few minutes. I know I am nuts for going into work but they are open and we get paid time and half today. Hopefully the feeder bands will die down this afternoon.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Still trying to get info out of Houma and lower Terrebonne Parish. They are taking the brunt of this thing. Anyone seen or heard anything new? They are about the get the surge from the south so I'm getting a little anxious.

http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

This is talking about damage and power being out. Houma is getting the brunt of the storm.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20080 ... ads_inland

Tons of reports of damage. Thanks for the site!

[tolakram]

Report on CNN indicated that while the waves were over topping the levees the water level is a couple of feet below the top. This was a CNN reporter reading a press release from the Army Core of Engineers. As far as I know nothing is confirmed.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Part of the tornado warning in the Hattiesburg area has been cancelled, the warning area south of the city is still in effect.

[Sanibel]

Let the pumps hold and let them have power.

Maybe they can get patches on the leaking levees.

[Chacor]

...CENTER OF GUSTAV APPROACHING MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA...

AT 1200 PM CDT...1700Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE GUSTAV WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 29.6 NORTH...LONGITUDE 91.1 WEST OR ABOUT 10 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA. THIS POSITION IS ALSO ABOUT
ABOUT 65 MILES...105 KM...SOUTHEAST OF LAFAYETTE LOUISIANA AND
ABOUT 65 MILES...105 KM...NEW ORLEANS OF LOUISIANA.

GUSTAV IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 15 MPH...24 KM/HR...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH A DECREASE IN THE
FORWARD SPEED DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ON THE FORECAST
TRACK...THE CENTER OF GUSTAV WILL TRACK ALONG THE SOUTH CENTRAL
LOUISIANA COAST THIS AFTERNOON...THEN MOVE INTO WESTERN LOUISIANA
TONIGHT AND EASTERN TEXAS ON TUESDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE DECREASED TO NEAR 105 MPH...
170 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. GUSTAV IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE
ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. ADDITIONAL WEAKENING IS FORECAST AS
THE CENTER OF GUSTAV MOVES INLAND OVER LOUISIANA.

[Enzo Aquarius]

The tornado warning in the Florida panhandle has been cancelled.

[SoupBone]

Getting some nasty gusts here in BR. On GRlvl3 it looks like we might be getting the eyewall pretty soon unless it turns west.

[Innotech]

got a pretty good gust just now. Maybe 50-60 mph. Starting to get hairy.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Tornado warnings in Harrison County, Mississippi and southwest of Hattiesburg have been cancelled as well.

Correction, tornado warning in Harrison County has been reissued.

1202 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
HARRISON COUNTY IN SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF BILOXI...
SOUTHWESTERN JACKSON COUNTY IN SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...ST. MARTIN...OCEAN SPRINGS...

* UNTIL 100 PM CDT

* AT 1157 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
TROPICAL BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO
EXTENDING FROM SAUCIER THROUGH OCEAN SPRINGS TO ABOUT 20 MILES
SOUTH OF PASCAGOULA...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 53 MPH.

and yet, ANOTHER tornado warning in Florida:

1205 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHERN OKALOOSA COUNTY IN NORTHWEST FLORIDA...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...FORT WALTON BEACH...DESTIN...

* UNTIL 1245 PM CDT

* AT 1202 PM CDT...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 9 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
DESTIN...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 41 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
DESTIN BY 1215 PM CDT...
EGLIN AFB BY 1220 PM CDT...

EDIT: And ANOTHER northwest of Hattiesburg:

1207 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHERN SMITH COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...

* UNTIL 1245 PM CDT

* AT 1207 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 11 MILES EAST OF
TAYLORSVILLE...OR NEAR STRINGER...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
TAYLORSVILLE BY 1220 PM CDT...
6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALEIGH BY 1235 PM CDT...

[soonertwister]

The COE has put in place concrete splash pans designed to prevent the scouring at the base of the levee walls outside the canal, and that works well with splashover.

But if the levee is overtopped by the water level, that's a whole different story. Waterfalling water coming over the levee will start to erode the soil at th edge of the splash pans, and the longer the situation is like that, the more erosion takes place. Once the splash pan has shifted, the levee wall is directly exposed, and will eventually fail.

A couple of hours ago they adjusted the surge level for NOLA from 10-12 to 10-14 feet. That's not much, but a foot or more of water pouring over a large portion of that levee is going to be pretty bad any way you slice it. 14 feet is definitely a lot more than a foot higher than the east levee on Industrial Canal in the Upper 9th Ward.

[jasons2k]

Markedly more breezy here in Houston than it was this morning.

Been switching between CNN, FOX, and the local feed from WDSU. WDSU seems to be the most 'on the ball' by far, and all I can say about CNN is leave it to them to sensationalize it best they can - par for the course with them.

We're still not out of the woods yet by any means though, time will tell. The whole levee system is under a lot of stress right now.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Been switching between CNN, FOX, and the local feed from WDSU. WDSU seems to be the most 'on the ball' by far, and all I can say about CNN is leave it to them to sensationalize it best they can - par for the course with them.

It's the only media outlet I have that gives me continuous Gustav coverage (other than this forum and NOAA of course ), so I guess I have to make due.

The tornado warning north of Hattiesburg has been cancelled, but a new one south of it has been issued:

1214 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHERN PEARL RIVER COUNTY IN SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF POPLARVILLE...

* UNTIL 1245 PM CDT

* AT 1210 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 9 MILES EAST OF
POPLARVILLE...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 49 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
POPLARVILLE BY 1220 PM CDT..

[Tireman4]

I agree Jason. We still need (Houston Area) to watch this. The winds in Humble have increased, but still partly cloudy.

[Innotech]

the more I think about the levee design in New Orleans, the angrier I get. It is so half assed its not even funny. They need to consult with engineers from the Netherlands, who have the finest dike and levee systems in the world. It is highly important that these levees have thresholds far above even the strongest hurricane. It would cost a lot but so does search and rescue and extensive flood damage. Personally Id rarther spend a hundred million on getting the levees right than dealing with the social and political repercussions of a disasterl ike Katrina. but then again, Im not a Louisiana politician.

[jasons2k]

Been switching between CNN, FOX, and the local feed from WDSU. WDSU seems to be the most 'on the ball' by far, and all I can say about CNN is leave it to them to sensationalize it best they can - par for the course with them.

It's the only media outlet I have that gives me continuous Gustav coverage (other than this forum and NOAA of course ), so I guess I have to make due.

You can stream here: http://www.wdsu.com/index.html

But the feed on DirecTV is pretty darn cool.

[Enzo Aquarius]

A tornado 5 miles south of Baton Rouge has been reported by CNN, yet there's no tornado warning for it?

Also, thanks for the stream!

[Windy]

the more I think about the levee design in New Orleans, the angrier I get. It is so half assed its not even funny. They need to consult with engineers from the Netherlands, who have the finest dike and levee systems in the world. It is highly important that these levees have thresholds far above even the strongest hurricane. It would cost a lot but so does search and rescue and extensive flood damage. Personally Id rarther spend a hundred million on getting the levees right than dealing with the social and political repercussions of a disasterl ike Katrina. but then again, Im not a Louisiana politician.

Oh, it's way more expensive than that -- it'd be billions up on billions. But I agree; if you're going to have a major metropolitan city below sea level that is very prone to getting hurricanes, you should fortify it so you don't have to drain the place every 20 years. It's not like we live in Haiti and can't afford it that kind of protection.

[Enzo Aquarius]

1706 5 SE BATON ROUGE EAST BATON ROUGE LA 3040 9107 POSSIBLE TORNADO SNAPPED 4 LARGE TREES NEAR BLUE BAYOU WATER PARK. (LIX)

1221 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
CENTRAL BALDWIN COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF BAY MINETTE...

* UNTIL 1245 PM CDT

* AT 1216 PM CDT...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR ROSINTON...OR
ABOUT 19 MILES SOUTH OF BAY MINETTE...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 42 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
STEELWOOD AND STAPLETON BY 1230 PM CDT...
CROSSROADS BY 1240 PM CDT...
HURRICANE BY 1245 PM CDT...