Ptarmigan wrote:Derek Ortt wrote:Jeanne only peaked at 105KT because it did an EWRC 6 hours before landfall. It was well on its way to becoming a cat 4 or 5 storm (it actually chased me off of the Rickenbacker when the T6.5/6.5 came in)
Interesting. I never thought Jeanne was capable of getting stronger. Had Jeanne completed EWRC, it could of been really bad for Florida, especially after Frances was over them.
My reply:
I know you're just trying to learn, but Jeanne was really bad for many, many people on the East Coast of Florida. It was considerably worse since Frances had just passed through three weeks earlier, and many were left were partial repairs. Today, there are still lots of folks here that haven't recovered, or gave up and moved on.
I think the general public, over the past three years, has based their opinion on how catastrophic a storm was on the number of dead, need of government assistance, or press coverage.
I hope that all of us in U.S. have learned a great example from Dean this week. Small islands like Jamaica and the DR, with complete acceptance of their vulnerability, planned, reacted, and survived a Cat 3+ with very few deaths. Although Cat 5 Dean hit Mexico in a lesser populated area, Cat 2+ impact was spread down the coasts for hundreds of miles. Yet, in these financially-challenged countries (compared to the U.S.), they seemed to protect their greatest resource: their people.
I have no training on what it takes to convince people to leave endangered areas, but I am so proud of Florida residents for heeding warnings in 2004 during a season that delivered Cat 2, 3, and 4 storms to both coasts. I have complete faith that we'll react the same for the next storm, and I am hoping that the rest of our storm-potential states will do the same.
So what do YOU think?
Debates, comments, and flames are all welcome.