7 ms·

Somewhat incredibly, Ida killed far more people as a weakened tropical storm in the northeast after crossing the entire US than it did as a Cat4/5 hurricane on

by Exmoor 5y ago

Somewhat incredibly, Ida killed far more people as a weakened tropical storm in the northeast after crossing the entire US than it did as a Cat4/5 hurricane on the gulf coast. From Wikipedia: > As of September 4, a total of 70 deaths have been confirmed in relation to Ida: 27 in New Jersey, 18 in New York, 13 in Louisiana, 5 in Pennsylvania, 2 in Mississippi, 2 in Alabama, 1 in Maryland, 1 in Virginia, and 1 in Connecticut.

dnautics 5y ago
People forget that "superstorm sandy" wasn't even a hurricane, iirc it was a "tropical depression" by the time it got to nyc
- beerandt 5y ago
  If you don't go through it, it must not be that bad. If you do go through it, it was worse than the category/ windspeed/ storm surge numbers convey. "You just had to be there! It was way worse than just a tropical depression!" It was the media experiencing this phenomenon that gave birth to the hyperbolic term "Superstorm Sandy". Anyone who's actually been through a hurricane saw through it right away.
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  IIRC what made it a superstorm was that several weather patterns combined and amplified each other. Same thing happened with Ida: there were storms already moving upwards into NYC and Ida just came through and gave it a push.
datameta 5y ago
I'm in NYC. Besides walking my dog briefly in the heavy rain twice I wasn't even aware of Ida until the clear morning after someone showed me flooded subway photos looking like from the end of MGS2. I'm not sure it was communicated properly save for the flash flooding broadcast that could have also come from just a lesser heavy thunderstorm.
- dylan604 5y ago
  From what I read, that was the very first time the NWS had every issued a Flash Flood warning for NYC. Seems like that might have earned it a little more attention. This reminds me of the people complaining about how destructive the floods in Houston were after Harvey. Nevermind that the forecasts for days leading up to it were 40" of rain. What part of 40" of rain sounds like no big deal?
  - beerandt 5y ago
    If you've never had to deal with it, you don't comprehend the danger. I know workers that moved to New Orleans after Katrina to do the actual post storm cleanup, first hand, and didn't evacuate for Ida, knowing it was a more powerful storm. Some of them had their entire roof(s) blown off and had 100' pine trees fall through their house while they were home, riding it out. Even seeing the post storm damage doesn't convey the actual danger during these weather events.
    - bogomipz 5y ago
      >"If you've never had to deal with it, you don't comprehend the danger." I don't believe you need to experience something first hand in order to comprehend the danger. I've never visited an active conflict zone but I fully comprehend the danger of traveling to one for a holiday. Conversely I have friends in New Orleans who didn't evacuate for Katrina who also didn't evacuate for Ida. They obviously comprehended the danger very well. There will always be people who are stubborn, careless or possibly just have a much higher risk profile regardless of their personal history. It's also odd to think that people wouldn't understand the danger of flash floods given that in the last 5 weeks alone we have seen the flash floods in Henan Province China as well as the flash flooding in Eastern Germany. These two flash flood events were major international news stories and you would be hard pressed to not have seen those images.
      - pessimizer 5y ago
        > I've never visited an active conflict zone but I fully comprehend the danger of traveling to one for a holiday. Do you, really? Without even knowing which conflict zone, or doing any research? All areas of violence have had and will have a similar danger level?
beerandt 5y ago
News coverage is really dropping the ball on this one. It might not have the optics of Katrina, but it was a far more powerful, even if smaller, storm. Eg: New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and SE LA power outage maps [0][1][2] Based on the damage in south Louisiana, it's a miracle there weren't far far more deaths. The damage to Port Fourchon alone should be national news. Anywhere from 10~30% of the countries oil flows through there, depending on how you measured it. And it got a direct hit. The gas pipeline fiasco from a few months back? All the refineries feeding it were shut down for over a week. Wait till that lag period catches up. But for reasons that be, MSM decided this was a non-event until it got to NYC, and even then a relatively minor one. Hard to believe they're not downplaying this on purpose. [0]https://i.imgur.com/MT1z0n5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MT1z0n5.jpg [1]https://i.imgur.com/HpKJlS4.jpg https://i.imgur.com/HpKJlS4.jpg [2]https://i.imgur.com/618PI36.jpg https://i.imgur.com/618PI36.jpg
- jrockway 5y ago
  > MSM decided this was a non-event until it got to NYC, and even then a relatively minor one The only story the New York Times was covering all week was Ida. Well before it got to the Northeast.
  - beerandt 5y ago
    That's good to hear. Lake Charles is still waiting on Congressional approval for a relief bill for last year's hurricane damage, so there's some angst. Cable news seemed stuck on Afghanistan evacuations (which didn't have any developments between the bombing and last wheels up, as far as I can tell). And the weather channel (and similar) were too busy faking bad conditions in places that were relatively spared. Ie. the electrical lineman doing cartwheels behind the reporter pretending to be blown over.
8note 5y ago
Sounds reasonable. It's the same thing as a little bit of snow and not-very-cold weather wrecking havoc on Texas. Being unprepared causes the most deaths

by Exmoor 5y ago

dnautics 5y ago

People forget that "superstorm sandy" wasn't even a hurricane, iirc it was a "tropical depression" by the time it got to nyc

beerandt 5y ago
If you don't go through it, it must not be that bad. If you do go through it, it was worse than the category/ windspeed/ storm surge numbers convey. "You just had to be there! It was way worse than just a tropical depression!" It was the media experiencing this phenomenon that gave birth to the hyperbolic term "Superstorm Sandy". Anyone who's actually been through a hurricane saw through it right away.
jazzyjackson 5y ago
IIRC what made it a superstorm was that several weather patterns combined and amplified each other. Same thing happened with Ida: there were storms already moving upwards into NYC and Ida just came through and gave it a push.

datameta 5y ago

I'm in NYC. Besides walking my dog briefly in the heavy rain twice I wasn't even aware of Ida until the clear morning after someone showed me flooded subway photos looking like from the end of MGS2. I'm not sure it was communicated properly save for the flash flooding broadcast that could have also come from just a lesser heavy thunderstorm.

dylan604 5y ago
From what I read, that was the very first time the NWS had every issued a Flash Flood warning for NYC. Seems like that might have earned it a little more attention. This reminds me of the people complaining about how destructive the floods in Houston were after Harvey. Nevermind that the forecasts for days leading up to it were 40" of rain. What part of 40" of rain sounds like no big deal?
- beerandt 5y ago
  If you've never had to deal with it, you don't comprehend the danger. I know workers that moved to New Orleans after Katrina to do the actual post storm cleanup, first hand, and didn't evacuate for Ida, knowing it was a more powerful storm. Some of them had their entire roof(s) blown off and had 100' pine trees fall through their house while they were home, riding it out. Even seeing the post storm damage doesn't convey the actual danger during these weather events.
  - bogomipz 5y ago
    >"If you've never had to deal with it, you don't comprehend the danger." I don't believe you need to experience something first hand in order to comprehend the danger. I've never visited an active conflict zone but I fully comprehend the danger of traveling to one for a holiday. Conversely I have friends in New Orleans who didn't evacuate for Katrina who also didn't evacuate for Ida. They obviously comprehended the danger very well. There will always be people who are stubborn, careless or possibly just have a much higher risk profile regardless of their personal history. It's also odd to think that people wouldn't understand the danger of flash floods given that in the last 5 weeks alone we have seen the flash floods in Henan Province China as well as the flash flooding in Eastern Germany. These two flash flood events were major international news stories and you would be hard pressed to not have seen those images.
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      > I've never visited an active conflict zone but I fully comprehend the danger of traveling to one for a holiday. Do you, really? Without even knowing which conflict zone, or doing any research? All areas of violence have had and will have a similar danger level?

beerandt 5y ago

News coverage is really dropping the ball on this one. It might not have the optics of Katrina, but it was a far more powerful, even if smaller, storm. Eg: New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and SE LA power outage maps [0][1][2] Based on the damage in south Louisiana, it's a miracle there weren't far far more deaths. The damage to Port Fourchon alone should be national news. Anywhere from 10~30% of the countries oil flows through there, depending on how you measured it. And it got a direct hit. The gas pipeline fiasco from a few months back? All the refineries feeding it were shut down for over a week. Wait till that lag period catches up. But for reasons that be, MSM decided this was a non-event until it got to NYC, and even then a relatively minor one. Hard to believe they're not downplaying this on purpose. [0]https://i.imgur.com/MT1z0n5.jpg https://i.imgur.com/MT1z0n5.jpg [1]https://i.imgur.com/HpKJlS4.jpg https://i.imgur.com/HpKJlS4.jpg [2]https://i.imgur.com/618PI36.jpg https://i.imgur.com/618PI36.jpg

jrockway 5y ago
> MSM decided this was a non-event until it got to NYC, and even then a relatively minor one The only story the New York Times was covering all week was Ida. Well before it got to the Northeast.
- beerandt 5y ago
  That's good to hear. Lake Charles is still waiting on Congressional approval for a relief bill for last year's hurricane damage, so there's some angst. Cable news seemed stuck on Afghanistan evacuations (which didn't have any developments between the bombing and last wheels up, as far as I can tell). And the weather channel (and similar) were too busy faking bad conditions in places that were relatively spared. Ie. the electrical lineman doing cartwheels behind the reporter pretending to be blown over.

8note 5y ago

Sounds reasonable. It's the same thing as a little bit of snow and not-very-cold weather wrecking havoc on Texas. Being unprepared causes the most deaths