Hurricane Season

[mr_pikachu]

It's time for a new thread, it seems. We're finally getting our first look at the damage caused by Ike....

[Blademaster]

(whistles)

That place looks pretty wrecked... Good thing everybody was evac-ed this time.

I found something a little while ago; this may not be the best time, but it sums up the scenario pretty well if you ask me:

[Heald]

1 post thread win? Not often you see that.

Anyway, wow, pretty hectic.

[mr_pikachu]

Astros say only minor damage found at Minute Maid Park

It looks as though we'll avoid a repeat of the Superdome fiasco, in more ways than one.

[Drusilla]

Yay Astros!

Info from home is few and far in between right now, but my friend sent me this...

Blade, I TOLD you to stay at home!

[Blademaster]

Look, I've been on a new exercise regimen lately; today's exercise called for sideways chin-ups. Where else could I have done that for free?

[Drago]

Also plays around with the Houston Texans' season - this week's game against Baltimore's been shifted to November 9th. And as far as the damage to Reliant Stadium goes...

The best news for the Texans is that the NFL believes the retractable roof at Reliant Stadium is salvageable this season. Chunks of the roof reportedly were ripped off the stadium, and although Monday's game was postponed, there was no mention of the league relocating Houston's home dates in October or beyond.
On the field, Houston's bye week comes very early and unexpected. The team will have to play 15 straight weeks, while most teams get a break somewhere between week four and week 10. A case can be made that the team never really had a bye, because the Texans were practicing all week in preparation for Ravens despite not playing in the game.

It's odd - have hurricanes been happening more frequently in the States or have I only really started paying attention because of Katrina?

[Jeff]

I think the latter. I've been paying attention to them since before Katrina because I live on the East Coast, and I haven't noticed anything weird.

The last two storms to cause major damage where I live were Isabel in '03 and Floyd in '99. They were four years apart, and it's been five years since Isabel, and we've been safe this year. I can't speak for the Gulf Coast though, maybe more storms are going there where they have the potential to get stronger.

[Andrew]

Honestly can I ask a question?

Do they make your homes out of balsa wood over there?

It seems like anytime there's a mildly strong breeze there's smashed houses everywhere.

Over here, houses are built to last and we never see that. It only ever seems to be America that has this problem?

[Crystal Mew]

Honestly can I ask a question?

Do they make your homes out of balsa wood over there?

It seems like anytime there's a mildly strong breeze there's smashed houses everywhere.

Over here, houses are built to last and we never see that. It only ever seems to be America that has this problem?

It depends on where you live and who builds them. Some houses in America are really old, and back then they actually built houses to last, so they are more sturdy than even houses built within the last year. My house for example....its built really bad, its only 7 or 8 years old and its already falling apart. Of course they were part of model homes, where they hire cheap labor (mexicans.....no offense to anyone, but half of them don't know what they're doing when it comes to building houses, but its true) and so they fall apart. I wouldn't be surprised if they did this on purpose, they hardly make anything to last anymore. But in some parts of America, they have sturdy homes...apparently not in the golf though.

That place looks pretty wrecked... Good thing everybody was evac-ed this time.

well.....apparently not everyone heeded the warning....hope all your friends & family that stayed behind are ok Dru

[mr_pikachu]

Honestly can I ask a question?

Do they make your homes out of balsa wood over there?

It seems like anytime there's a mildly strong breeze there's smashed houses everywhere.

Over here, houses are built to last and we never see that. It only ever seems to be America that has this problem?

I think it also has to do with the sensationalization of disaster. I've lived in what's referred to as "tornado alley" my entire life, yet I've never incurred so much as wind damage. Does the news report non-damage? No way. They cover the houses that were picked up and thrown into another county. So yeah, what the news displays isn't always entirely accurate, even if it's technically true.


EDIT: Thinking about it, even in my first post I selected the pictures I felt were most poignant and/or most horrific. So... guilty!

[Blademaster]

My dad is officially the biggest idiot on the planet.

His solution to hurricanes of this magnitude and power is to drop 50,000 pounds of TNT into the developing hurricane in a certain pattern in order to shut them down. Upon telling him that that idea wouldn't work (and that even if it did, nobody would be stupid enough to fly into a hurricane carrying shitloads of TNT to drop out the door), he suggested using sonic blasts to divert them. And upon telling him that THAT wouldn't work because the sound would likely blow up the collective heads of everyone along the Gulf coast, he came up with the idea to - I shit you not - drop a million gallons of JELL-O into the hurricane to thicken the water, slow down the spinning, and stall the hurricane out.

(facemonitor)

Do you people see yet why I am the way I am?

[Jeff]

Blow up a hurricane? Slow it down with Jello?

[Drago]

His solution to hurricanes of this magnitude and power is to drop 50,000 pounds of TNT into the developing hurricane in a certain pattern in order to shut them down. Upon telling him that that idea wouldn't work (and that even if it did, nobody would be stupid enough to fly into a hurricane carrying shitloads of TNT to drop out the door), he suggested using sonic blasts to divert them.

Sounds to me like it has the potential to be one of the most fantastic plans in the world.

[Drusilla]

Well, here come the conspiracy nuts... but, being one myself, I can't say that I completely disbelieve it.

Word is that law enforcement and FEMA have banned any media coverage of the west end of Galveston (where I lived), and have commandeered cell phone use on the island. Apparently, the mayor got really emotional when asked about the state of the west end during a news conference...

I don't know, it doesn't sound too good, though. I did find it very odd that NONE of the Coast Guard footage included anything past the end of the seawall...

[Number1ChanseyFan]

The hurricane came by Ohio last night, it didn't cause much rain, but there was a ton of wind, over 70 mph at times. At first, it seemed pretty cool and it was quite fun to be outside in it, but now I am seeing the big mess that it left... there are branches and leaves everywhere, my electricity just now came back after being out since 7:00 last night, and a huge tree in my back yard was uprooted, split in half, and now it is on top of the fence and hanging over in the neighbor's yards... that is not fun!!

I didn't think we could get hurricanes here...

[mr_pikachu]

From Grim scenes greet rescuers in hardest-hit areas:

GALVESTON, Texas - Entire subdivisions obliterated. Oil and chemical slicks in the surf where vacationers once frolicked. Longhorn cattle roaming desolate streets. But, most stunning of all, no more deaths.

It looks like Ike really took its toll. But at least very few lives were taken this time around, thank God.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Meh, the electricity went out again yesterday from 4:00 PM until 12:30 this morning!! I guess I am lucky though, out of the 300,000 who have lost electricity in Ohio, only 100,000 have their's electric back on, and Ohio has been declared a disaster area by the governor. I know that it is probably going to take a couple of days to get that tree cut up in my yard, it really fell in such an inconvenient place, and it was huge!!

[Katie]

Turns out Ike headed a little more east than the last estimated graphic thingy I saw, so we didn't get hit too bad. Lots of chunks of shingles missing from the roofs in my complex, plus a fence blew over, and minor flooding here and there. No lost power though, which was what I was worried about most.

Turns out TAMU Galveston is closed for the semester and they'll bring something like 1200 students to the main campus. I'd rather not have to sit in anyone's lap during class so I'm not sure how that all's going to work. Plus the email we got asking if anyone had any spare rooms they'd give to tamu-g students for free. HA. Uhhh. Yeah, good luck finding 1200 free rooms for the next 3 months.

[mr_pikachu]

Turns out TAMU Galveston is closed for the semester and they'll bring something like 1200 students to the main campus. I'd rather not have to sit in anyone's lap during class so I'm not sure how that all's going to work. Plus the email we got asking if anyone had any spare rooms they'd give to tamu-g students for free. HA. Uhhh. Yeah, good luck finding 1200 free rooms for the next 3 months.

Wow. Hope it doesn't turn out like that Bud Light commercial...

Anyway, I'm glad your place is in decent condition, Katie. Guess that's just one more thing for which we should be thankful.

[Magmar]

I think like 1997, we had an active start but shear has taken its toll. The same system that is bringing record early freezes to New England is destroying any chance of tropical cyclogenesis. That's just my opinion though... we'll wait and see how long it takes paranoid meteorologists to recognize it...

We've had up to Josephine. I'm willing to wager we won't get past Laura, and that Kyle and Laura will be of extratropical origin and barely impact land.

[homeofmew]

Hurricane Ike got a lot of the Houston area good, and a lot of Galveston is now gone.
They are also probably lying about the death toll.

[Drusilla]

They are also probably lying about the death toll.

This, I totally believe... my family is all accounted for, but a few friends are still missing. One I know stayed to ride out the storm, but the others I don't know about, still. Glad you rode out the storm safely, Tina!

Many of my friends are taking lots of pictures and posting them on Facebook for the rest of us who can't get down there, since Galveston officially reopens today... It's totally amazing, yet disturbing. LOTS of stuff is being thrown away... which makes me very sad.

[Magmar]

We had more consecutive US storm landfalls this year on record than ever before. Josephine didn't quite make it to cross the waters but there is a 65 KT low (that's a minimal hurricane strength) off the South Carolina coast that's being monitored for potential tropical cyclogenesis...

in other words it might be a hurricane like today. if so it will be called Kyle. and it will fuck all your shit up.