Hurricane Ida

[Too Tall]

No joke. Folks in the track please stay safe. Looks like a big bad one.

[giordana93]

no joke indeed. when they start comparing it to Betsy, you sit up and listen. hoping it will be more of a spectacular display of nature for us than catastrophic but the river parishes are in for a rough 36 hours

[guido]

Making landfall as a strong cat 4 and holding cat 1 till past Interstate 10 and Baton Rouge. Yes, this one is going to be bad...

My thoughts are with you folks...

[giordana93]

glued to tv, now tickling cat 5 numbers. btw, these numbers coming from the brave hurricane hunter crews aboard NOAA planes. Previous administration wanted to cut noaa budget 24%, in part because of climate change foolishness (calling it a debate is too generous). Certainly don't want to turn this political, but lots of nervous energy in the air.

[mnoble485]

Well the wife and I picked the wrong time to come visit the kids and grandkids in Hattiesburg this week. We thought of leaving yesterday but I 10 was a parking lot with everyone leaving so we decided to hunker down. Don’t except anything like NOLA though. You guys stay safe.

Mike

[guido]

Here is more info on how Ida increased in power so fast...

Ida Strengthened Quickly Into a Monster. Here’s How. | New York Times

[guido]

Where Ida Has Left Louisiana and Mississippi Without Power



Louisiana Officials Urge Evacuees to Stay Away From Areas Stricken by Ida | New York Times

[giordana93]

How often do you see 100% outage for an entire city? Did you guys see that major transmission lines fell into the Mississippi River? I’m north of the lake in the red zone—99% outage after storm. Maybe 15-20% back. Tired of hearing the drone of generators but had ears plugged most of the day for chainsaw. Trees down everywhere. Big trees, including some really old oaks. Sad. Luckily little loss of life but an old guy in Slidell fell victim to a gator; that’s rare. What a way to go.

[j44ke]

Maybe not going into the city this morning...

Screen Shot 2021-09-02 at 6.16.35 AM.jpg

Realize this isn't the same as 99% power outage, 150mph winds, etc. But I haven't seen that many roads closed since Sandy. Some images from the subways last night are similar too with exploding storm sewers knocking off covers and sending up geysers of water. Also several building collapses result in people killed by falling debris, and a giant (by early accounts) tornado in NJ.

[vertical_doug]

Bronxville and the Bronx River

Sprain Parkway, I think the guy probably crawled out of his sunroof...



That retaining wall is keep the water out of flooding all those apartments.

[j44ke]

Wow. That's an impressive amount of water. I had doctor's appointments lined up today, and the first indication that things were serious was when I called the garage and they said don't bring your car here. Since then the doctor's offices have all cancelled.

The Sprain Brook Pkwy is one of my routes into the city from the north.

We got 3.6" of rain. Creek is raging but no flooding yet (could happen later though) and no trees down on the road. Post-hurricane blue sky.

[vertical_doug]

we had 9.1

[j44ke]

we had 9.1

That's a lot.

[Tom]

First time ever that NWS NYC issued a flash flood warning. That one was for NE NJ and then twenty minutes later they issued one for the city. I was a little surprised about that because my aunt lived in East Orange and I remember from when I was a kid she was bereft because they flooded I think from the Newark River and the Steinway grand she received from her father ("college tuition or a grand piano, which would you rather have?") in the 30s was damaged severely if not destroyed.

[j44ke]

Sounds like some of the people killed were trapped in flooded basement apartments and possibly electrocuted.

[johnmdesigner]

Many years ago i worked in a shithole factory in Kearney NJ when one of these “storms” roared through. I watched from the second floor offices as a Geyser of water shot up from the floor drains. In 10 minutes the entire Passaic river had filled the main floor. The volunteer fd came in a boat and rescued us at the bottom of the stairs.
The water went away as fast as it came. But all the cars in the parking lot were ruined.
The owners were on the edge financially so they were clicking their heels.

[j44ke]

Sounds like some of the people killed were trapped in flooded basement apartments and possibly electrocuted.

Articles are saying now that it was simply the sheer volume of rain and the velocity of storm water runoff that trapped people in their basement apartments. Truly astonishing and very sad.

[Mabouya]

Assuming no one is able to develop gigawatt-rated power stations that run on seawater anytime soon (a safe bet) would anyone care to speculate how often these types of events (e.g. Ida on east coast and droughts / CA/OR burning up on the west coast) will have to become before Americans, or even humans in general, are convinced that significant measures, like say, a carbon tax, are necessary and preferable to the alternative?

I doubt it will happen in my lifetime, and I give myself another 25 or so years to go, assuming I'm not taken out by a texting driver (or an F5 tornado).

[robin3mj]

Assuming no one is able to develop gigawatt-rated power stations that run on seawater anytime soon (a safe bet) would anyone care to speculate how often these types of events (e.g. Ida on east coast and droughts / CA/OR burning up on the west coast) will have to become before Americans, or even humans in general, are convinced that significant measures, like say, a carbon tax, are necessary and preferable to the alternative?

I doubt it will happen in my lifetime, and I give myself another 25 or so years to go, assuming I'm not taken out by a texting driver (or an F5 tornado).

The tipping point will be when the insurers stop writing policies for 30 year mortgages in south Florida. The lenders will follow suit, and the whole house of cards will collapse.
It may happen sooner in the wild land- urban interface in CA, but that’s small dollars relative to coastal prices in the southeast.

[guido]

The owners were on the edge financially so they were clicking their heels.

It generally is easier to set a fire than a flood...