The History Channel

[Cat5survivor]

Hope everyone was able to watch the show on the 35' hurricane that hit the keys. It was very interesting. It's been said that if Flagler had listened to the "old timers" and put more space between the columns that held the highway it would have not been destroyed as the water would have gone through instead of over the highway. It was interesting none-the-less.

[jusforsean]

Yes I caught it, very sad I cant imagine. How scary

[Recurve]

It wasn't so much the bridges that blocked the water. No mater how close the columns are, the water gets through. But between many of the islands, bridges weren't used at all -- they built solid causeways, long mounds of earth. Indian Key Fill, for example, is one long roadway that wasn't there before the railroad. It links Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe Keys.

Still, with the kind of surge caused by 200 mph gusts, I wonder if the keys could have avoided significant flooding, even without the causeways. They are just so low.

One interesting aspect of the surge became clear to me when this weekend I finally read the book Storm of the Century on which that show was based: The first surge was from the bayside, because the winds were from the north and then northwest as the center approached. Those winds actually blew the ocean waters away from the Keys. The second surge, from the oceanside, came when the eye passed and the ocean waters rushed back in.

The 35 storm is a fascinating study of all the dangers of hurricanes -- rapid intensification, catastrophic winds, incredible surge, and lack of warning. That last one we may think we've overcome in modern times, but the tragedy of those killed by Katrina because they were unable, unprepared, too stuborn, or ignorant of the danger to evacuate.

[Tstormwatcher]

I caught that, also read the book. A complete waste of life. Should never had happened much like Katrina.