fay.

[Magmar]

Anyone else on TPM having problems with that stupid tropical storm?

Fay decided that rather than move through Florida and fuck shit up like a regular tropical storm, it was going to meander over south central Florida, strengthen somehow (meteorologists don't know jack I'm telling you), and just dump about 25" of rain on my parents' house. While I don't like them very much, it is a MESS in Melbourne, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is declared a disaster area.

On top of all the lovely rain, a tornado whipped through my parents' neighborhood and destroyed 51 houses! Fortunately their home is still standing, but the damage is all over the place! The storm stalled out to the south of Melbourne, and the traditionally more dangerous "northeast quadrant" of Fay is what has been causing all the damage in Melbourne.

Now the storm is to the northeast of Melbourne and is stalling and moving west again! It's such a mess.

Anyone else having their summers/winters (for Gabi and maybe two others) screwed by the weather??

[MToolen]

Well, in the sense of the last question, yes, the weather has screwed over our summer. I work at a pool and we haven't been open barely half the days due to inclement weather and low attendance. The long and short of it is we need hot sunny days to stay up and running and we didn't have either.

[Crystal Mew]

Seeing as I live in New Mexico the only things we get are forest fires.... other than that, its pretty tame here all year round.

one reason I like living here

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

We here in Finland are lucky because we haven't got hurricans and such but the clobal warming may bring them here too. This summer it has rained a lot. Some thunderstorms, too, but I think no casualties, all they do is just that electricity turns off. Some say stuff like "This is Finland's summer." but in my opinion it isn't!

And my condolences.

[Drusilla]

I had to do a minor evacuation for Edouard, or whatever the hell it was. It was annoying, but at least we didn't have a repeat of Rita. Ugh.

[Lady Vulpix]

Wow, a question addressed to me! It's been a gentle winter, actually. Last year we had snow on July 9th, but I don't think that will happen again any time soon.

[Jeff]

I haven't been getting screwed by the weather lately, in fact, just the opposite. For anyone who isn't familiar with the geography of Maryland, it can pretty much be summed up as "Water water everywhere". Humidity is usually a problem during the summer, but oddly enough, just about the entire month of August has been pretty tame this year. We've been seeing temperatures down in the 70s and very little humidity. I've been enjoying the nice weather while I can. I haven't been paying much attention to the hurricanes yet this year so I haven't seen what most of them are doing, but from what I've seen it looks like they're going up the East Coast, and when they do that, we usually get them in September. The last big one we got was Isabel in '03 and it was a mess. Floyd back in the '90s was another bad one. Not looking forward to it.

[Drago]

Hope all's going well now, Maggy.
The weather around these parts has been rather cold and miserable. Or at least, it has been during my usual outdoor hours - 7-8 am in the morning for uni and 2-4 am after work shifts... Though perhaps it's because I'm galavanting around so much in the morning that I'm always cold? I kinda miss daytime.

[mr_pikachu]

Important news on Hurricane Gustav.

New Orleans orders mandatory evacuation

If this turns out anywhere remotely close to the tragedy that Katrina was, all hell is going to break loose.

[classy_cat18]

Mobile's most likely going to evacuate too since it's on the Gulf Coast. The hotels in the nearby states are going to fill up quickly.

[Drusilla]

I'm glad that I'm not in Galveston right now, since it keeps shifting west... Ugh.

Good luck to everyone who's evacuating.

[mr_pikachu]

McCain orders convention changes because of storm

I feel like I should be glad that the nominee-in-waiting, along with the current administration (Bush, Cheney, and several state governors won't even attend the GOP convention), are taking Gustav seriously. Yet, the fact that they're taking it seriously has me worried. Hopefully this thing won't cause as much damage as they seem to expect....

[Crystal Mew]

Well I sure hope we all learned our lesson from Katrina...so hopefully it won't be a repeat of that!

[Blademaster]

If this turns out anywhere remotely close to the tragedy that Katrina was, all hell is going to break loose.

Consider it already broken loose. I've looked at maps and reports of this thing, and it's big, and it's heading straight for New Orleans.

I hate to say it, but at the rate Gustav is moving and growing right now... Even if the evacuation is successful, the city of New Orleans itself will be underwater by the end of the week. Again.

[Drusilla]

And to think... my great aunt and uncle just finished repairs on their home and bed and breakfast in the French Quarter... ><

[firepokemon]

Hmm well anyone from United States and in that area. I hope you, your family and friends are all safe and well.

I see its weakening but is still at the strength that Hurricane Katrina was. I'm glad we don't seem to get such things here, having to evacuate and put up with these things I would imagine is horrible.

[mr_pikachu]

Gustav slams La. coastline west of New Orleans

New Orleans residents are holding out hope that the levees will hold, since Gustav all but missed their city. (Which, when you think about it, is a little odd, as they're pretty much conceding that a direct hit would have trashed the town once more. It seems like it'll happen sooner or later, and if those walls can't hold....)

Let us all pray for the safety of those in the southeast U.S.

[mistysakura]

Ouch. Wishing everyone in that area well.

[Magmar]

Ooh! I can chime in! Meteorology's my future career and all... time to spew useless information...

Gustav passed to the west of New Orleans.

The worst part of the storm is the northeast quadrant... that's why when Fay moved over southwest Florida, Melbourne was the hardest hit... it's not the worst at just the eye, it's worst to the north and east. Hence tornadoes in southeast LA, Mississippi and Alabama; New Orleans definitely got its ass handed to it by this storm.

[mr_pikachu]

The following is a self-updating image of Gustav showing its current location as well as the most recent path projections, courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.

Also: Gustav only sideswipes New Orleans as levees hold

Thank God.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Hm, a friend of mine had a question and I don't know if it kinda suits here, but in the United States of America, if your house is damaged by a hurricane or other natural disaster, does your insurance cover it?

[mr_pikachu]

In most cases, residents in areas frequently hit by hurricanes are required to have insurance for stuff like wind and flooding. That's part of why Katrina was so devastating, though... certain areas that were supposed to be protected by the levees were under what was called a "100-year flood plan," in which the chances of that place flooding were so infinitesimal that it was supposed to happen no more than once a century. Residents in such areas aren't required to have flood insurance... so many people lost everything.

[Roy Karrde]

Between 7PM Tomorrow and 7PM Wednesday is when the Hurricane will be near the DFW area. It should be a pretty bumpy night tomorrow night.

[Jeff]

I knew the nice weather here wouldn't last. It looks like Hanna is getting ready to nail the East Coast. We're bracing ourselves, it's probably going to be a messy weekend. Also, good luck to everyone in the Carolinas.

[Blademaster]

ANOTHER one?!

Man... Massive storms are bombarding the country non-stop, legendary celebrities are dying left and right (Movie legend Don LaFontaine just recently joined the likes of George Carlin and Isaac Hayes. ), McCain is gaining ground in the race to become President...

What the FUCK is God's problem this year!?

[Knight of Time]

Meh, I feel sorry for you guys who get the worst of the hurricanes down south, up here in Canada we get them too, but usually the remnants. About the worst thing that can happen here is a thunderstorm, and believe me, I really hate thunderstorms.

[mr_pikachu]

What the FUCK is God's problem this year!?

Funny how nobody ever noticed the hurricane season before Katrina. Now, it's front page news every day. Hate to say it, but we've had plenty of 'canes every bit as bad as Katrina (and some much worse, I'd bet). That one just happened to hit a weak spot... New Orleans and its subpar levees.

[Blademaster]

Funny how nobody ever noticed the hurricane season before Katrina.

Funny how (A) Gustav was nearly a Category 5 Hurricane, making it technically one of the most powerful hurricanes in recorded history, (B) this topic started out ABOUT a tropical storm and as such gripes about the phenomena should be expected here, (C), Hanna was just mentioned and is evidently en route to rape the southeast coast, making it the third time in about a fortnight that the States are getting rammed by a life-threatening monster of wind and water and whatever else the hurricane picks up and feels like throwing around, (D) the rest of my gripes in that post were ignored (I was addressing God, not just Mother Nature/Mother Earth.), and (E) the 'nobody' in question was addressed towards one of my quotes, so it's safe for me to assume that your implication is that I am one of those 'nobody-ists' that never noticed hurricanes before Katrina.

...

OK, well, you're right there. I never really did study meteorological disasters (Geological ones like volcanoes and earthquakes pique my interest more.), but I know a few choice names prior to Katrina (Hurricane Andrew comes to mind.), and I know that hurricanes are some of the nastiest fuckers that nature can throw at us, and it throws a LOT of them at us each year. Katrina may have been a wake-up call for a lot of people about hurricanes, but I think that Jay's bizarre strengthening, Gustav's recent showcase, and Hanna's incoming delivery are a bit of a different type of wake-up call: Hurricanes, tropical storms, and a lot of other weather-related activities are becoming stronger, more dangerous, and in some instances more just plain bizarre every day.

Which begs the question, WTF is wrong with the big guy upstairs? How'd we piss Him/Her/It/Them/E off so badly THIS time?

[The Blue Avenger]

Funny how nobody ever noticed the hurricane season before Katrina.

Believe me, when you live in North Carolina, you notice every hurricane season.

[Jeff]

Every nasty hurricane season has at least one cat 5. 2005 had 3 in fact. I wouldn't be panicking about one hurricane almost making it to a cat 5.

Edit: looking at the map again, it looks like Hanna's path has pulled to the west, which means a South Carolina landfall and the eye will be passing right over where I live. A tidal surge in Maryland and Virginia also seems to be a possibility now. The last time that happened, our neighbors' downstairs was flooded and my brother had to wade to the end of the street. And that's if the storm stays on course. If it pulls more to the west a tidal surge would seem more likely. Either way we're screwed.

[Knight of Time]

As far as I can remember, the worst hurricane to ever hit my home province was Hurricane Juan a few years ago, but right now, it's Hanna that has me really concerned, because it's heading toward the East Coast, and I'm just hoping it won't be a hurricane before it hits.

[Katie]

Hurray now Ike is about to rape Texas. My school is closed tomorrow (despite nothing hitting land until Saturday???), the highways are ridiculous, and my mom wants me to "evacuate" back home to Dallas for the weekend. It's a 4 hour drive normally, I don't even want to guess what it would be with current traffic. I just want to catch up on homework dammit. And who will feed my fishy? :'(

[Roy Karrde]

Well I can say with no doubt that "I do not like Ike"

Hope most of you get that XP

Anyway what scares me alot is that it is being reported that alot of idiots are not evacuating. The Storm Turned slightly last night and is going directly toward Galveston and Houston. Becuase of that, and becuase yesterday it some what wasn't. Alot of people who were talking to ABC News Radio today were saying that they didn't believe the reports becuase of the sudden change and they were staying.

Also Katie I hope you enjoy Dallas, I'll be over there tomorrow for school over by the Galleria.

Also I'll be taking pictures and giving a Hurricane report come Saturday afternoon when the storm hits the DFW area. We're expecting 50 MPH winds, and 4 to 8 inches of rain.

[Drusilla]

KATERZ, CALL MEEEEE XD I'm lonely... *stalkstalk* We're within half an hour of each other right now. =o

Well, looks like my hometown is about to be completely RAPED by Ike. *sob* Most of my belongings are still there, too... *misses her books desperately* Hold on, Galvatraz!

EDIT: You know, even if it wasn't for the sudden change, which doesn't surprise me, that thing is so huge it's about to swallow the whole coast...

[Roy Karrde]

I am glad that you got out Dru, when I heard it was heading your way I was thinking aboutcha.

Well since you are so close by now, I'll come by and drop off some McCain/Palin bumper stickers for you J/K ~.^

[Crystal Mew]

ah katie!!! good luck, hope everything turns out ok.

same for you dru and....everyone else who is about to get hurricane raped. good luck guys

[Katie]

I decided not to leave. I have too much to do, and I just made that trip last weekend so meh. xP In case shit starts to fly around my window has a ... I don't know what it's called but it looks like a little garage door, that I can pull down tonight before Ike comes to say hey. I seriously doubt my apt building will come crashing down. Power might go out... hmm maybe I should go get some candles.

Dru I hope your friends have left and that your stuff makes it though!

[Roy Karrde]

Katie if you are anywhere near Galveston get out now!

"If you decide to stay in Galveston, you face Certain Death"

This is what has been said over and over again by the NWS and other organizations. This sucker is going to be bad, really really bad.

[Katie]

Oh hell no, I'm in College Station. It should be a category 1 around 8am tomorrow last I checked. No certain death for me unless some tornadoes pop up right over me (3rd floor ftl).

[Roy Karrde]

Oh phew, yeah I have Relatives up in College Station, I still would say it would be best to get out of there but meh.