damn florida

[smizzokergold]

and their damn hurricanes'! knockin out my power!

[Judau Ashta]

Why don't you just move then?

[Soeru]

My sister lives in Florida, mad fucked up storms down there. Why not move a little further up?

[((KvN))]

I actually love Florida. The one reason keeping me away from it is the hurricanes. It could just be one location, but I'm not so sure. I'd like to go college there. I've been invited, and it seems nice.

[samarjit]

hopes it will be ok soon. nobody is above nature's power

[Schutzstaffel]

Schutzstaffel is above nature's power

That's right.

[Skinner8]

Move to Sweden.

[Soeru]

Thou hast returned? Sweden had it's share of bad-ass winds not too long ago right?

I heard they're evacuating New Orleans in its entirety. Now that sucks.

[Skinner8]

Quite.

Evacuating New Orleans, though? What, because of flooding danger or something? I've been wanting to visit that city, actually, just because it's in so many books...

[nek_]

Move to Sweden.

Seconded. Once I'm there, then there is another good reason to be there as well.

[bolton02]

well, its time for you to hit daytona beach with your surf board and enjoy what the hurricane can do to them waves
j/k

i know its anoying, and it seems you guys keep getting these nasty storms and hurricanes. not much i can say, but i can reccommend a surge protector ......although i dont think they help when your power goes out...

[Mistral]

Lovely. Regarding this, Katrina's about to absolutely pummel New Orleans and, with it, heavy shipping out-country along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio river valleys. Evacuation warnings ranging out to Mobile, Alabama (hurricane-force winds possible as far away as hundreds of miles away, in other words), a tropical storm warning in Tennessee, large numbers of fuel refineries stretching from Orleans to Baton Rouge (Louisiana capitol), sustained winds of approaching 300 km/h or 175 mph and still increasing in range and strength...oh, and these briefs. It's being discussed on the Paradox forums I frequent, with mention made of such things as the weakness of the New Orleans port channel even to regular Mississippi silt depositing and accidents (If millions of USD can be lost when an accident closes the channel out for a couple days, imagine what it would do if the channel were destroyed), water pumps that, while extremely efficient at clearing out water, are electricity-dependent...this certainly could devastate the city proper. Economic ramifications for the loss of the channels would include damaged trade stretching from as far away as Montana and Minnesota. Gas prices, too, would soar if those refineries die due to damages, which would further impact economic margins across the nation for any company that ships.

From that link above:

...WATCHES/WARNING...
A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD
TO THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT
HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED INSIDE THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA
WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY
SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

HURRICANE KATRINA...A LARGE AND MAJOR HURRICANE...IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
ACROSS SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI TONIGHT AND MONDAY.
IN ADDITION TO EXTREMELY DAMAGING WINDS AND STORM SURGE FLOODING...
BANDS OF VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL MOVE ONSHORE THIS EVENING AND
SPREAD NORTH ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY.
RAINFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF
15 INCHES...ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE PATH OF KATRINA...MAINLY SOUTHEAST
OF A LINE FROM MCCOMB TO THE BATON ROUGE METROPOLITAN AREA.

...STORM SURGE AND STORM TIDE IMPACTS...
KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL ALONG THE NORTHERN GULF OF
MEXICO COAST AS A MAJOR HURRICANE. WHILE EXACT LOCATION LANDFALL IS
UNCERTAIN AT THIS TIME...SIGNIFICANT AND LIFE THREATENING STORM SURGE
15 TO 20 FEET ABOVE NORMAL IS POSSIBLE NEAR AND TO THE RIGHT OF
THE LANDFALL AREA. A FEW AREAS MAY EXPERIENCE STORM SURGE FLOODING AS
HIGH AS 25 FEET ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES NEAR
AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. RESIDENTS IN
AREAS PRONE TO STORM SURGE FLOODING SHOULD HEED EVACUATION
RECOMMENDATION FROM LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS. SECONDARY
ROADS OUTSIDE LEVEE PROTECTION WILL LIKELY BECOME IMPASSABLE THIS
EVENING AND TONIGHT.

[Skinner8]

Wow. I'm very happy to live where the largest recent natural disaster has been one hurricane that knocked over some trees.

[Mistral]

Well, posting because of these. Two webcams sites have been set up for New Orleans and are still active. Also, it's looking a bit worse. The storms weakened a bit, but in a way that means it'll pick up even stronger by the time it hits, and supercell formation (that means tornados) have begun over the city. Only four ways out of the city, and they're all jammed shut with traffic, not to mention at sea level normally. At least the people I know are out, and their families with them (one person's father was ordered to stay behind with the refinery at first, then ordered out with everyone else left behind when it became clear just how bad it was...that was pretty much the last of them).

Oh, and two things I didn't know before...the whole city is below sea level and behind dykes (and if those fail because they're submerged, it'll take a long time to get the pumps running again...some are saying at least a month, others up to 120 days), and people are staying behind, some willingly because they don't believe it could happen to them (New Orleans hasn't taken any major hits before), others because they can't get out due to the fact that the only four ways out are jammed shut with traffic (at least 10,000 people reported in the Superdome). It's not clear which side of the city the eye's going to pass (east or west; west means the city gets hit with the worst winds of the storm), but either way, people are drawing comparisons to Port Royale (destroyed entirely in 1602) and Galveston (A sixth of the population killed in 1900). Gods, I hope it does something like swing away. Not bloody likely this late in the game, but it's going to do a lot of damage to the whole area if it keeps on this course.

[Dingy]

Who's Katrina?