Hurricane Katrina and Little Sister Rita

Hurricane Katrina the Ghost of Camille

First came the name Katrina. It sounded harmless enough,
and undoubtedly spawned countless remarks about how
harmless the storm was at the time. Then came the
predictions of demise. They said that the storm barely had enough
strength to survive. It did survive, and Katrina grew from a tiny
tropical storm to a modest hurricane. Then came the forecasts.
The experts changed their mind, believing she might go as high as
Category 3 or even 4, and Katrina was busy proving them wrong again,
growing to a Category 5 monster the likes of which are seen at most,
a few times per century. Then came the harbingers, the sensationalists,
prophesying doom on a Biblical scale for the city of New Orleans. But
Hurricane Katrina blew ashore some 50-100 miles to the East of where
she was predicted to hit. She arrived with significantly reduced power, a
and some felt this meant she was less of a concern, as if 150mph winds
were somehow not a big deal because they were 175mph just 12 hours
prior to landfall.

Katrina ravaged the coast, pushing her way onshore, yet somehow
retaining her composure until much later, like a stubborn prize fighter
refusing to go down. She blasted Mississippi and Alabama, states who
seemed completely surprised by the fact that a hurricane was bearing
down on them.

Then came pictures from the towns to the east of New Orleans. They
caused concern for any with family or friends down south with sobering
images of rubble stretching for miles on end. Yet, after 72 hours of heading
for the coast, she still took Alabama and Mississippi by surprise. It needs
to be said again. A catastrophic hurricane that had been watched, forecasted,
and bandied about on the news for more than a week stunned tens to
hundreds of thousands of people when it made landfall. The media and the
National Weather Service decided that only New Orleans was worthy of its
haughty attention, and they lavished it upon the city, leaving towns to the
east where the most powerful part of the hurricane smashed ashore out of
its spotlight. Those who are unfamiliar with hurricanes would have thought
that it was only going to hit New Orleans. Tens of thousands in Mississippi
and Alabama who were given voluntary evacuation options remained in
their homes. Eventually the levee that held New Orleans safe ruptured, some
24 hours after Katrina's departure, and long after the damage had been done
to dozens of other towns and millions of homes.

Then came the results. Cities like Gulf Port and Biloxi have been literally scoured
from the face of the Earth, and the impoverished residents who were aware of
Katrina either incapable of leaving the area, or couldn't afford to evacuate.
The media and weather services, who could have warned residents of Mississippi
and Alabama about the impending danger of Katrina, chose to be a ratings suck hole.
Our government, which had ample time to commute the residents powerless
to get out of Katrina's way must now find and remove their bodies instead.

And the bodies continue floating in the flooded streets even as
the government reassures the nation that everything is A-OK
and under control.

Then came the chaos and gunshots from angry citizens in the city.
The music of heck.

The result is that hurricane Katrina will probably be the costliest and
deadliest disaster ever to strike the United States. Did it really have
to be this way? Did so many people have to be caught by surprise?
Did so many have to die? Now comes the silence.

Louis
http://www.hurricanecity.net

Mississippi Weather Discussions

Louis J Smith


A Deep Layer of Cold air returns to Mississippi for most of the week. Sky's were sunny but rather Cold tonight for most of Mississippi with temp's not reaching the 40's for most of the north and central areas of the state. The southern part of the state seen temp's in the low 40's with mostly Sunny sky's. Overnight Temp's tonight are forecast to dip into the teen's in north and central Mississippi, low 20's over the pine belt and mid 20's on the gulf Coast. Cold weather is expected through Friday with a little warmer weather moving in over the weekend. For more weather for Mississippi go to http://www.hurricanecity.net






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