Katrina

[tltrude]

My brother's son is in the US Coast Guard assigned to the USCGC Tampa. Their ship is in drydock, so now the crew is using the USCGC Hairret Lane. They were ordered into the Gulf a few days ago and are now sitting off New Orleans to act as some sort of command center. So, you may see it on TV in the coming weeks.



Here is a picture of my nephew (Jon Trude), aboard the Tampa, burning off some old flares.

[Cobra]

Nice photos btw.

I have read a long story about growing super cells huricanes above the Africa Continent. Mostly it start from there and come over the atlantic ocean to the Caribisch islands and in this case New Orleans. Very usefull & teachfull storys!

Its unbelievable how many people died in this storm, and when i heard about the chaos news that thiefs are stealing many things from stores,houses etc.. Man this is kind of murd in this kind of situations!

Rest in peace for the people there they died.

If you can miss some money?

[tltrude]

Check out these 7,000 aerial photos that were taken by NOAA (National Weather) of the distruction caused by Katrina.



Also, here is something that might creep you out. It is a massive solar flare that just happened two days ago and it is one of the biggest ever seen by the (NOAA) GOES 12 sattilite.



Here is a WMP video of it. The big one is right at the end and is sure to cause radio problems for a couple of weeks.

[lizardkid]

This is the perfect time for doomsayers to go crazy, hurricanes, solar flares, war, strife, etc.

that movie was kinda disappointing, when the big flare came they cut it off But still cool to see what the sun does 24/7.

Cool about you're nephew Tom, hope he can help out a bit. It's needed down there.

Do all the Trudes have 3-letter names?

[tltrude]

No, and they are nicknames, of course.

Tom = Thomas
Jon = Jonathan

Jon said in an e-mail that he may be detailed to help locate bodies--he's not looking forward to it.

[lizardkid]

ouch, corpse-carrying. Not fun

I'm surprised they're going to send in soldiers to pick out bodies before they drain the water. it makes sense, in a way, but they've got the chance of becoming diesesed...

The best to Jon.

[Cobra]

ITs unbelievable how heavy a hurricane can be! Im looking forward to see for real a Tornado or other heavy storms. But if you live in this kind of situations is it a other story.

But you see all the where Tornado/storms are, all the houses are build from caulk/wood plates. I cant understand it, why they build it with strong rocks, because every year is there a Tornado/Hurricane season.

[jv_map]

all the houses are build from caulk

I believe someone's been mapping too much

[At0miC]

lol, yeah next time they should use some more brick textures.

[Rookie One.pl]

Good question, Cobra. My dad is an engineer and owns a construction company. We spent hours discussing why the hell do they build such makeshift houses that stand no chance against a hurricane? Why would you want to spend money rebuilding your house each time a tornado strikes when you can build it just once, but strong, solid and resistant?

[lizardkid]

everyone here says that too, why bother building a cardboard house if it's gonig to wsh away every 4 years? besides that, why bother even living there at all if it's going to wash away in 4 years?

[tltrude]

I think Cobra ment "chalk", which is true--inside wall board is made of chalk and paper. Plaster is also made from limestone chalk. And, of course, the reason it is used is, as always, money.

In Florida almost all the old houses are made of cement blocks, but they cost more then brick vaneir and fiber board, or wood. Even cement block can not stand up to the biggest storms. A strong house costs more to build, but adds little to the value. So, it all comes down to greed!

In the past, the chances of being hit by a big storm were 1 in 10,000, but now there have been 15 hurricanes this year alone. Global warming is really starting to kick in, and the gulf stream is getting warmer every year. The ice caps will start melting soon, and I may have beach front property, here in Oklahoma, one day soon.

The thing that makes us humans is that we can adapt in any climate. The very young and the very old will always suffer in an ever changing world, but mankind will always endure.

Ps: The poor people of New Orleans are adapting--they all want to remain in texas!

[Rookie One.pl]

The bottom line is money again. But, do you really save money by rebuilding them over and over again?

Climate has gone nuts in very short period of time. I can already tell the difference between now and when I was a kid, the weather gets much more extreme now. And this is the way nature pays us back for the way we treat it.

[tltrude]

I was stationed at keesler Air Force Base, in Biloxi Mississippi, When hurricane Camille destroyed the coast in 1969. My barricks was ony 3 blocks from the beach, but the railroad tracks protected it. Power transformers were blowing up throughout the night with flashes of color like fireworks. A huge, old pine tree blew over right next to my building. The wind reached 210 mph, and the rain moved sideways. I do not want to see another one, that close up, in my lifetime!

The building I was in is still standing today, but the coast highway has been crushed as it was back then. There is a slight hill between the tracks and the beach. That is why there is not much damage in this image.




Check out this video of the cleanup at the Kessler AFB commissary (Food store).

http://www.keesler.af.mil/kitrina_still ... 3W-002.wmv

More vids from Keesler AFB website.

[lizardkid]

Glad you're still with us Tom! that sounds like it could easily have wiped the whole barracks out if the tracks hadn't been there.

The only natural disaster i've been close to is a tornado, and i never want to be near one again. Sounds like a gigantic shredding machine, just taking everything up and throwing it around, houses utterly destroyed in seconds...
i was only half a mile away from the one i saw, and it was a sight. hard to describe, other than a big grey spike barely touching the Earth with debris flying all around it.