NWS NOLA = Chilling!

[TPACane04]

This is the most amazing piece I have ever seen from a forecast office:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!

[tronbunny]

absolutely shocking!
definitely one to take SERIOUSLY!

[AL Chili Pepper]

Sustained:
F3 Severe tornado 158-206 mph Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in fores uprooted

Gusts:
F4 Devastating tornado 207-260 mph Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.

[Brent]

Oh my...

[wlfpack81]

Wow very strong wording. Especially the potential for some of the high rises to have total collapse due to swaying. There goes the vertical evac option which is a bad option anyways.

[EverythingIsEverything]

witnessing history, seems like alot of historic events just within the last few years, weather wise, and other wise

[krysof]

It seems like a disaster movie, but this is real

[BroncoChuck]

WOW

Just heard from a friend of mine from New Orleans and he said they made it up to a friends in Baton Rouge, anything better then being in New Orleans since his house is (was) about 4 blocks from the water to begin with...

That is some stong wording....

[Portastorm]

Yup, sadly the "Day After Tomorrow" scenario we all feared is coming true. God bless those in the path of Katrina. They'll need our prayers.

[Stormy1]

That has to be one of the most frightening things I've ever read in my life. It made me nauseous.

[AlabamaDave]

I don't even know what to say...

If there is any saving grace as far as wind damage for the N.O. city proper, I suppose with the current forecast track, the worst winds will stay East of the main part of the city. But that track dumps the surge in from the Lake. Destruction by wind or water???

[The Big Dog]

Sustained:
F3 Severe tornado 158-206 mph Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in fores uprooted

Gusts:
F4 Devastating tornado 207-260 mph Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.

I was thinking the same thing. Except tornados don't last for hours. This is a big F3 tornado, 50 miles wide at least.

[Wannabewxman79]

Very terrible if it come to pass. Prayers are going out to all the people in the path of this monster. Just remeber to head east, north or west, do anything. Just leave the southern part of LA, MS, AL.

[simplykristi]

I am in utter shock.

Kristi

[baitism]

Do you have a link to this....

[x-y-no]

Not doubting you, TPACane04, but I can't find this on their site.

Do you have a link, or where did you get this?

[wjs3]

I'd also like the link, TPACane. I couldn't find it on the NWS site either and would like to send the URL along.

[cflweather54]

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/iwszone?Sites=:laz069

Scroll down or search for the word livestock.

[DESTRUCTION5]

This will be the worst Natrual disaster in modern US History...Hands down

[timeflow]

I heard about vertical evac which the Mayor of NOLA mentioned on national news - which he said evacuate up into buildings from the second floor all the way up to (something like) the 50th floor. In PR when Hugo hit the buildings, we were in a hotel and got a room facing the ocean up at the top for the view (the afternoon beforehand). They evacuated us at 10pm to the mezzanine hallway. The winds are greater with hieght, and most all balcony windows facing the beach were blown out. A great amount of pressure built in all the rooms facing north, even on the second floor, and we had to move into the conference/ballroom in case room doors blew through their hinges. It didn't happen in the hotel, fortunately, but the winds were probably around 100-120 in that area at Hugo's peak. (Check LMM airport stats for this). In the building we lived in, the winds on the 14th floor blew out the oceanside windows, caused a tornadic current through the apartment which peeled the wallpaper off the walls, moved the refrigerator into the hall, blew the south facing window (frame and all) completely out. The door to that room blew through the hinges from winds that blew in from the south. There were items from the refridgerator in the closet of that room. It was a hugo mess. Many apartments in that building (Reina Del Mar) experienced the same fate, as did so many buildings near the beach. Fortunately we stored most of our things in a room more towards the interior... but we would not have done very well at all up in the high rise. If the winds were 175+ sustained as in Katrina's, I shudder to think of the outcome. I'm not so sure it's a good idea to evacuate vertically, but that's their only choice. But I'd advise only one floor at a time, if necessary, only due to rising water. The mayor, at the end of the report, was smiling with the reporter, probably nerves or disbelief... he's keeping his cool and is painfully aware of the impact on the city and oil industry. It's now a matter of time and a big question mark as to what will or will not happen in the next 24 hours. I only wish they could get a fleet of busses in there today to get all the 100,000 stranded out of harms way. That would have to be a mighty fleet... a thousand Greyhounds...