wizofwas added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...


"HEMI-Powered" wrote in message
...
wizofwas added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

[snip]

I love it here. With the price of gas the way it is, I can get
to anywhere I want by bicycle with no problems. In fact, I
haven't driven a car since Christmas. St. Pete is getting real
"biker" friendly more and more each year with new bicycle paths
being added to the streets every year and even putting up bicycle
racks in more areas.

I'm not quite fond enough to move to Florida, but I do like it. I
don't much like the cost of living nor them dang himmicanes that
Kingfisher prefers I not mention. I think he views them as the "H"
word. grin

Miami area and south, and the panhandle are the worse places to
live in Fla. if you worry about the Herricanes (or Himicanes,
depending on the gender of the cane :-)). And the safest place is
in the Jacksonville area. But at least we get ample warning when
they are coming now. I've been here over 15 years now and have only
had close calls with them. But you are right, it's not if you're
going to get hit by one, just when.

Louisiana and Missippippi got the same warning for Katrina, at least a
couple of days before landfall, but the damage, destruction, and loss
of life was vastly different for a variety of reasons, but principly
from what I know due to much of New Orleans being below the wind surge
flood level behind levees that failed and 100 or so miles east wasn't,
plus the Mayor of NO and the Gov. of Louisiana sat on their collective
duffs and so did FEMA. Now, Florida has none of these problems, AFAIK,
you'd obviously be a better judge of this than me, but if ANY coastal
area or even 100 miles or more inland is going to get a direct hit by a
100 year wind, rain, and flood there just plain ain't no time to flee,
nor any place to go anyway. So, because farming, ranching,
manufacturing, and many, many industries are very profitable in
hurricane belts and people all must live someplace, I imagine they just
play the probabilities.

I remember seeing a 15 or so high pole along the Grand Strand near
Myrtle beach, wondered what it was and pulled over to see. Perched on
top was a sign that read "100 year flood level". 15 feet above the
road? Don't think anyone is gonna drive out from there!

I know of no place on earth, certainly not wherever the earthquake hit
in China, where weather and geological disasters aren't a threat to
life and property, it is just a risk we must bear.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck"

"HEMI-Powered" wrote in message
...
wizofwas added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...


"HEMI-Powered" wrote in message
...
wizofwas added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

[snip]

I love it here. With the price of gas the way it is, I can get
to anywhere I want by bicycle with no problems. In fact, I
haven't driven a car since Christmas. St. Pete is getting real
"biker" friendly more and more each year with new bicycle paths
being added to the streets every year and even putting up bicycle
racks in more areas.

I'm not quite fond enough to move to Florida, but I do like it. I
don't much like the cost of living nor them dang himmicanes that
Kingfisher prefers I not mention. I think he views them as the "H"
word. grin

Miami area and south, and the panhandle are the worse places to
live in Fla. if you worry about the Herricanes (or Himicanes,
depending on the gender of the cane :-)). And the safest place is
in the Jacksonville area. But at least we get ample warning when
they are coming now. I've been here over 15 years now and have only
had close calls with them. But you are right, it's not if you're
going to get hit by one, just when.

Louisiana and Missippippi got the same warning for Katrina, at least a
couple of days before landfall, but the damage, destruction, and loss
of life was vastly different for a variety of reasons, but principly
from what I know due to much of New Orleans being below the wind surge
flood level behind levees that failed and 100 or so miles east wasn't,
plus the Mayor of NO and the Gov. of Louisiana sat on their collective
duffs and so did FEMA. Now, Florida has none of these problems, AFAIK,
you'd obviously be a better judge of this than me, but if ANY coastal
area or even 100 miles or more inland is going to get a direct hit by a
100 year wind, rain, and flood there just plain ain't no time to flee,
nor any place to go anyway. So, because farming, ranching,
manufacturing, and many, many industries are very profitable in
hurricane belts and people all must live someplace, I imagine they just
play the probabilities.

If you think for one minute that given a 24 hour notice that anybody
can't drive out of a hurricanes path, then you are dead wrong. I'd
say a 12 hour notice, but then you'd have a ton of traffic to deal with
and might not be able to get out of the way. And yes, we watch the
hurricanes forming off of Africa and keep watching them all summer
and fall till they die. We really don't know what they are going to do
or go. New Orleans was/is a disaster just wating to happen. The
lazy idiots there just wanted the Fed to bail them out and do every-
thing for them. They didn't want to take responsiblity for saving
themselves. And yes that includes the Mayor and the Governer.
Remember tht it IS the governments job to inform you when and
where a hurricane is going to hit. It is NOT the governments job
to save your sorry ass if you decide to stay.

I remember seeing a 15 or so high pole along the Grand Strand near
Myrtle beach, wondered what it was and pulled over to see. Perched on
top was a sign that read "100 year flood level". 15 feet above the
road? Don't think anyone is gonna drive out from there!

If you wait till the storm hits, you're right, but who said that you can't
leave before the storm hits?

I know of no place on earth, certainly not wherever the earthquake hit
in China, where weather and geological disasters aren't a threat to
life and property, it is just a risk we must bear.

Just depends on what you want to put up with. I'd much rather
deal with the hurricanes here than the tornadoes up there.
I still remember the damage done to Flint in the 50's and
Saginaw/Bay City in the 60's by tornadoes. And they strike
without warning.

wizofwas

wizofwas added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

Louisiana and Missippippi got the same warning for Katrina, at
least a couple of days before landfall, but the damage,
destruction, and loss of life was vastly different for a variety of
reasons, but principly from what I know due to much of New Orleans
being below the wind surge flood level behind levees that failed
and 100 or so miles east wasn't, plus the Mayor of NO and the Gov.
of Louisiana sat on their collective duffs and so did FEMA. Now,
Florida has none of these problems, AFAIK, you'd obviously be a
better judge of this than me, but if ANY coastal area or even 100
miles or more inland is going to get a direct hit by a 100 year
wind, rain, and flood there just plain ain't no time to flee, nor
any place to go anyway. So, because farming, ranching,
manufacturing, and many, many industries are very profitable in
hurricane belts and people all must live someplace, I imagine they
just play the probabilities.

If you think for one minute that given a 24 hour notice that anybody
can't drive out of a hurricanes path, then you are dead wrong. I'd
say a 12 hour notice, but then you'd have a ton of traffic to deal
with and might not be able to get out of the way. And yes, we watch
the hurricanes forming off of Africa and keep watching them all
summer and fall till they die. We really don't know what they are
going to do or go. New Orleans was/is a disaster just wating to
happen. The lazy idiots there just wanted the Fed to bail them out
and do every- thing for them. They didn't want to take
responsiblity for saving themselves. And yes that includes the
Mayor and the Governer. Remember tht it IS the governments job to
inform you when and where a hurricane is going to hit. It is NOT
the governments job to save your sorry ass if you decide to stay.

I KNOW an entire state of city's population cannot flee that quickly
even if they have the means, which over half of NO residents did not.
My point though, was that the governors of the several Gulf states and
mayors of the major coastal cities varied widely in their decisions on
how to prepare and how to recover from the aftermath.

Gov. Blanco of Lousiana and Mayor Ray Nagen of New Orleans also
blundered fatally some years prior to Katrina, back to 1999-2000 and
again in 2002-2003 when the Army's Corps of Engineers proposed
rebuilding the NO levees to support 80% of a 100 year flood and storm
surge and had a more expensive alternative that upped the percentage
even more. It was in the $2.2B range, which the Army had secured
Federal budged for all but about $250-300 million more or less that
would be shared 80/20 by the state and city but Blanco and Nagen balked
and refused to pony up their share. Pretty damn dumb, if you ask me,
and what some people say "penny wise but dollar foolish" in reverse.

That said, it might STILL have been possible to prevent the carnage,
$20+ billion damages, and both suffering and illness today IF president
Bush and first Tom Ridge and later Michael Chertoff of DHS would've
popped for entire levee rebuilding by realizing that it would be only
about 1/10 as expensive as what FEMA had to attempt to do. I think that
is both arrogant and tragic.

There is still confusion and finger pointing as to exactly when the
Hurricane Warning Service of the Federal government actually told Nagen
and Blanco - and the other states - more clearly what the danger was
and the probability of a direct hit vs a glancing blow so that more
than 24 hours - maybe as many as 72 or more - could have been
available. Even more tragic is that over 60 percent of the Louisiana
National Guard which could have immediately swung into action to help
the recovery, were deployed to Iraq and despite Gov. Blancos many pleas
to President Bush, he adamently refused to send her Gaurd home and
deploy other state's units.

I remember seeing a 15 or so high pole along the Grand Strand near
Myrtle beach, wondered what it was and pulled over to see. Perched
on top was a sign that read "100 year flood level". 15 feet above
the road? Don't think anyone is gonna drive out from there!

If you wait till the storm hits, you're right, but who said that you
can't leave before the storm hits?

Nobody, but lots of folks don't recognize the true danger and/or do not
have the wherewithall to move away expediciously or at all.

I know of no place on earth, certainly not wherever the earthquake
hit in China, where weather and geological disasters aren't a
threat to life and property, it is just a risk we must bear.

Just depends on what you want to put up with. I'd much rather
deal with the hurricanes here than the tornadoes up there.
I still remember the damage done to Flint in the 50's and
Saginaw/Bay City in the 60's by tornadoes. And they strike
without warning.

Tornadoes have been in the news in the last couple of years because of
the tragedies and devastation in the several Midwestern twisters. But,
besides long ago strengthening their building codes and establishing
better early warning systems, other states such as my Michigan haven't
had a major tornado in a LONG time. That's why I like it where I am.
Now if your a Yupper or live someplace like Grand Rapids, then you're
going to get hit much harder with lakes-effects rain and snow storms to
the point of blizzards so severe that entire cities shut down for long
periods are all too common. Again, though, one needs to put some
perspective on this. People live where they do because they like it
there, and often have deep family roots and also long-time employment,
so it can be tough.

Agree at all to my counter assertions? I'm not trying to dispute yours,
just expand on mine with some more background I'm aware of through
multiple sources.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"You've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a ****!"