Andrew's Florida landfall downgraded to Category Four?

[tgenius]

I don't mean to chime into this, but Andrew WAS a Cat 5, Katrina was a a Cat3 at landfall.

[the_winds_that_sheared_me]

Katrina and Andrew were of the same categories Katrina due to storm surge and andrew due to winds--both 5s

CATEGORY 5
Winds: More than 155 mph

Damage: Catastrophic; buildings, roofs, structures destroyed. Flooding up to 10 miles inland, evacuation of area. Pressure less than 27.17 inches accompanied by a storm surge higher than 18 feet. Remember Luis in 1995

just because it has a storm surge over 18 ft. does not make it a Cat. 5. It also must have winds over 155mph sustained.

They would not include storm surge in a category scale if that was not a criteria. Winds alone do not do hurricane damage storm surge does also so it had to be a 5 if the surge was 18 ft or higher above sea level. Only problem is, was the storm surge really 18ft since new orleans is actually below sea level.

[Jim Cantore]

[x-y-no]

thats because the area where Andrew hit is not very surge prone. Parts of Biscayne Bay had 17 feet, but the ocean side probably did not even see 10.

A hurricane on Miami Beach would mainly be a wind event due to the lack of surge (the Katrina surge stayed on the beach)

Also, Andrew was such a compact storm that the gradient of the surge was incredible (as was the gradient of the windfield). At the Marriott Marina Downtown where I kept my boat, the surge was about 3 feet. At Dinner Key, only 4 miles south, it was 8 feet or so. At Black Point another 13 miles south, it was 17 feet.

[HardCard]

Blaming any human for the disasters that happened on august 29th in new orleans and the surrounding areas is the most ignorant claim I've ever heard.

Here's a few simple facts:

1. Myself, and MANY others tried to tell people what it would be like.. We TRIED.. I spent many afternoons on the radio speaking with local radio personalities on the talk station here (WWL 870am). NO ONE LISTENED.. By no one, I mean the public.. Everyone would call you a fear mongerer (sp?), 'just trying to scare people' etc... Well, not to put it bluntly, but people died, homes were destoryed, entire areas an not livable, and it's all due to the factors that were preached for DECADES.

2. The levees failed.. the levees were designed for a CAT 3 at most, carrying a CAT 3 storm surge.. Not a CAT 3 carrying a CAT 5+ storm surge.

3. The levees failed EXACTLY when they were anticipated to fail.. this was preached for decades as well. It was WIDELY known that the levees would be tested the most AFTER the storm had past and moved to the north, THEN the southward winds would shove the waters against the levees and test their metal..


Before you post judgement on me for my opinions.. I lived it, I know people that died in the storm, I lost property, I lived in my sisters driveway 120 miles away for more than a month before getting back home and starting over.. I don't blame the government.. FEMA helped me an INCREDIBLE amount... I didn't sit on my ass and wait for them to pick me up, I helped myself and applied for FEMA aid, etc.. I waited for 4 hours on hold for fema to process my claims.. And you know what? I had the emergency funds in my checking account within 36 hours... No one can help someone if they don't want to be help themselves.


Do you know what the WORST part of Katrina is? the Absolute WORST part? The WORST part is that it was NOT the WORST case scenario... If a CAT 5 wind/surge struck the area just west of river, There would be roughly 28-32 foot of water over the ENTIRE area.. Roughly 75-80% of southeast louisiana would be gone forever.. Traveling down the lovely causeway bridges (if they survived the storm) would be similar to driving to key west..... A nice big brass marker that shows where the edge of the United States is.


sorry for the rants guys, I just get tired of the BS

[Jim Cantore]

This thread is pretty much doomed for locksville now

[Lindaloo]

You all were warned about continuing this. Now, this thread is being locked.