Comments on: Hurricane Gustav Projected Path

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:00:58 +0000

Also, how prepared is New Orleans with this Hurricane coming? Has the state made improvements and changes to better prepare for a possible repeat like Katrina or Rita?

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:59:18 +0000

Does anyone know the latest probabilty and projected path of Gustav (like a projected timeline for the US) Also, I live in Central East OKlahoma, would this hurricane be most likely dissapated before reaching Oklahoma? Let me know what ya’all think. Thanks

By: Toya

Toya — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:54:25 +0000

I live not far from New Orleans and it’s people everywhere. If the storm is coming all we can do is be prepared. Pray for us…

By: jack

jack — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:08:30 +0000

Impossible to pinpoint exact landfall 3 days in advance. A slight change in direction can have a huge difference on the impact. But it certainly bears watching if you’re near the coast in La. or East Tx.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:54:03 +0000

Although I do feel that Gustav’s projected track will bring hurricane conditions into the New orleans area, I don’t think it will be nearly as bad as the path that Hurricane Katrina followed. Remembers that Tropical systems are very unreliable, and a projected path, like that of Gustav today could be totally different tommorrow. Stay tuned to the national hurricane center.

By: jack

jack — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:46:04 +0000

Interesting discussion of the affects of Katrina and Rita on people and places in the path. However, most of the opinions and perceptions are highly subjective and don’t accurately reflect the facts. Tim, although you purport to report the “facts”, the facts you present are highly misleading. It is true as you say that Katrina and Rita were in the top six as far as lowest recorded central pressures. However these low pressure levels were recorded well before the storms made landfall when the storms were far offshore. At the time they made landfall only Katrina was ranked in the top 15 (3). Additionally, although there is a good correlation between lower pressure and higher wind speeds it is not absolute and direct. In fact although Katrina had the third lowest recorded pressure on record at time of landfall, because of its large size and structural deterioration that took place prior to landfall, it made landfall as a Category 3 with wind speeds of 130 mph. Based on wind speed at time of landfall neither Katrina nor Rita make it into the top 20. So its important to recognize that while both hurricanes were highly destructive due to the locations of landfall and the development in those areas, it can be much worse. If a true Cat 4 or Cat 5 makes landfall in those same areas the damage will be exponentially higher. Take heed with Gustav approaching.

By: Corina

Corina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:51:56 +0000

My sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and nephews live in the Beaumont and Port Arthur area and were hit by Rita. While both Rita and Katrina did their damage, we should not be arguing about which did more or was worse. Instead we should all be praying and hoping that everyone who lives in the path of these incoming storms stays safe and unharmed. People’s lives were lost and are at stake now and all some of you can do is debate over who got hit harder! I for one am praying for the safety of my loved ones and everyone else in it’s path.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:34:11 +0000

I live in Louisiana and I remember Rita. It was much worse than Katrina, it just so happend that Katrina came a little bit earlier and destroyed the levees so it got more publicity. If Katrina never happend Rita would have knocked out the levees easily. Rita caused damage even in northern parts of the state. It was a nightmare I’ll never forget.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:01:29 +0000

Love it Tim! You said exactly what I wanted to say.

Taylor,

Rita devastated MANY towns throughout SETX AND SWLA. She completely wiped a few towns off the map and displaced thousands. My MIL & FIL live in a small town on the TX/LA border just about 7 miles east of the Sabine river. We saw the devastation first hand as you did with Katrina and it was nothing that I would wish upon anyone. However, there was a statement made by a Red Cross aide that I will never forget. She told us that she was in total awe over the difference in the attitudes of the small town people and the NOLA people. She said that when she arrived in East TX, she expected to see most roads blocked with debris and impassable. However, the “hicks” that so many people refer to when speaking of East Texas, returned home ASAP, rolled their sleeves up and took on the task of cleaning up their communities instead of waiting for the government to do it for them. Sure they still needed government help, but they didn’t WAIT for the government to begin but once the government DID show up, these small communities helped the National Guard instead of standing in line for hand outs and watching them.

Katrina would not have had nearly the impact on NOLA as she did, had the levees not failed. It’s people like you who give the Katrina evacuees a bad name.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:36:21 +0000

Normally I don’t respond to posts that don’t bother to check their facts or lack thereof at the door but I feel the need to correct a few discrepancies with your post. From your post I can surmise that perhaps you were an evacuee from NOLA who was placed somewhere in the Houston area. If that’s where you were located when Rita hit then I can understand why you thought the storm didn’t even scratch the surface of Katrina. The greater Houston area was barely touched by Rita. Meanwhile, SE Texas and SW Louisiana did in fact get pummeled by Rita. “It didn’t even rain”…? I’m not even going to qualify that statement with an attempt at an argument no matter how much fun it would be to have you stuttering and sputtering in front of your computer trying to come up with some teenie bopper wikipedia facts to support your ignorance. I reiterate from my original post, BOTH hurricanes were horrible. BOTH hurricanes went on record as two of the top six Atlantic hurricanes to hit the United States. I would hate to see ANYONE have to go through the process of picking up the pieces after a storm like that again even though science tells us that it’s going to happen again and it’s more than likely only going to get worse. Anything beyond that is just mental masturbation on everyone’s part. “My hurricane was worse that your hurricane!” Seriously? Weak.