Hurricane Irene: It’s the rain

[nadinbrzezinski]

Precipitation is the underestimated, mundane, unexotic hazard of a tropical storm. No one fears rain. It is familiar, unlike a wind that gusts to 110 miles an hour or a sea that foams and rages.

But floods can be killers, their effects felt far inland. That fact was demonstrated this week as Irene, a hurricane that on paper had dwindled to a tropical storm, inundated the steep valleys of Vermont, the farmland of Upstate New York and many other places nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean.


News helicopters captured dramatic video of flooding along rivers in and around Wayne, New Jersey Wednesday. Many East Coast rivers have surged in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. (Aug. 31)

“People aren’t scared of rain; they’re scared of wind,” said Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor of atmospheric science who has studied hurricanes. “In most people’s minds, a hurricane is principally a wind event, and if they have heavy rain — it’s incidental, it’s too bad.”

The media generally think along the same lines, which is why hurricane coverage typically features a soggy, windblown weather reporter standing on a beach, shouting warnings of greater fury to come.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/hurricane-irene-its-the-rain/2011/08/31/gIQAgIY4sJ_story.html

Now this self criticism is needed, and... go to the link for them photos.

[kdmorris]

1. I'm glad someone was looking out for them

"Vermont was primed for disaster. It had an especially snowy winter, with up to 200 inches recorded in some locations. It suffered floods in March and May. It had typical summer weather, but the soil remained wet, said Andy Nash, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Burlington, Vt.

Nash and his colleagues managed, with help from Vermont news media, to warn people that they were facing floods that would compare with the worst on record, back in 1927 and 1938. Vermont had recorded three flood-related deaths and a missing person as of Wednesday. Nash said that without the warnings, the death toll could have been higher."

I don't believe that this catastrophic flooding was ever mentioned on the national news. Nash is correct that, without the warnings, the death toll would have been higher.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I actually heard it on the national media

during one, if not more, of the briefings done by FEMA, starting on Wednesday.

They also warned that flooding would be spectacular all over New England as the land was saturated as early as Wednesday.

[Waiting For Everyman]

10. Sorry, it was hyped many times on the national news media.

You're flat wrong. It's long past time to admit it.

Heck, I even heard it numerous times on the hated Weather Channel. They all did their job, and they did it well.

[polly7]

3. Heck, I live in what is normally a drought area in SE Saskatchewan. We're still

fixing highways, roads and bridges from this spring's flooding ...... yes, flooding from all the rain that fell on completely saturated soil from last fall and winter, and that filled creeks and small rivers until they burst. If it was this bad here, I can imagine the damage from the rain of a hurricane would be horrendous. So sad to see the pictures.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. At least you still have a functional government

I am starting to think we no longer do.

[polly7]

5. Well, I hope you know that a lot of us up here are watching and

feeling so sorry for everyone suffering and losing so much. Such extreme weather lately ...... scary.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is climatic change... but our colocky babies

can't accept science, it might be bad for profits.

[malaise]

6. Thankfully the government folks presented all the dangers

Don't blame them for the idiots on the beaches or in the water.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. And they did this to the media as well

I remember FEMA giving those warnings on Wednesday.

[malaise]

9. Correct

:fistbump:

[TheMadMonk]

11. How dare you. It's a HURRICANE. It MUST be about the WIND!1!!!11!!!!

Wind is spectacular. The stuff the wind picks up and throws around is visble. It looks good on TV. And you get to SEE it as it's happening. And the wreckage is ready and waiting for the dawn newscast.


Raging torrents and disappearing historic briges notwithstanding, by the time you see most of the damage caused by a flood, it's already over and time for the tedious and unpleasant task of cleaning up the mess.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. and that mess SMELLS too!

:hi: