Tropical Storm Lee

While the east coast is still cleaning up from Irene, areas of the Gulf coast are now getting hammered by Tropical Storm Lee. 

Originating in the Gulf of Mexico, moving north at 2 mph, and with sustained winds of 45 mph, Lee is now being termed a "Super Soaker".  Up to 20 inches of rain is expected to fall in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, and both states have declared States of Emergency.  Tornado warnings were issued for New Orleans, and according to Federal authorities, 169 of the 617 staffed production platforms have been evacuated, along with 16 of the 62 drilling rigs located along the Gulf coast.

Although it's been called "nothing compared to Katrina," and although city officials have declared otherwise, for New Orleans, this will be a substantial test for their rebuilt levees and pumping system, so ordered after the catastrophic flooding Katrina caused in the Big Easy. 

We normally wouldn't include such a storm in this blog, as it may turn out to be less significant, historically.  But, lest we forget the flooding damage caused by Irene, even after it had downgraded to tropical storm, and considering the susceptibility of New Orleans to flooding, and considering hurricane Katia still gathers strength out in the Atlantic, as it rolls in the direction of Florida, we nonetheless considered worthy of mention here, as the summer of 2011 may soon be known as the Summer of Storms.

Irene Lingers

We may have spoken too soon in our last Sunday Summary, regarding the hype centering around, and the damage caused, by Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irene, as the effects of the storm still linger.  As of this morning, the death toll had risen to at least 44 in 13 states, and nearly 2 million people were still without power.  Early estimates pin the damage somewhere between $7 billion and $10 billion.

Possibly, and ironically, the state most devastated by the storm would be one of the last states to see it--Vermont.  Up to 11 inches of rain fell in spots there, swelling creeks and rivers already flowing briskly with a rather heavy winter's runoff, which in turn washed out roads and cars and not a few of those picturesque (not to mention historical) covered bridges.  Thousands remain stranded there, cutoff by the flooding and the damage it has caused.  National Guard helicopters have had to airlift food and water into the stranded communities. 

We can see more clearly now the dynamic of what was purported to be the "hype" of the storm that didn't seem to pack the punch that everyone had expected.  Hurricanes and tropical storms are known for, and categorized by the winds generated near their core.  Hence, as she first made landfall as a category 1, then continued up the east coast as a tropical storm, all wondered where the winds were.  The initial urgency of the storm was then thought to be "hype."  Yet, the dashed expectations of heavy winds left everyone forgetful of deluge of rain that these storms also carry with them, and when that rain falls in places already saturated from recent rain and runoff, there is flooding.

Irene is now long gone, but many shall nonetheless be remembering her for some time to come.

To make matters even more compelling, as of this writing, another storm called Katia churns in the Atlantic ...

Sunday Summary

Well, most of the news this past week has been saturated (pardon the pun) with news of Hurricane Irene.  We must therefore include it in today's Sunday Summary.

Oddly enough, what is most historical about Irene is the damage that it didn't cause.  By the time its first landfall in North Carolina, it had already lost much of its steam, and had been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane.  By the time it hit New York, it was merely a tropical storm.  Yet, in New York, the subway was completely shut down, and hundreds of thousands in the low-lying areas of New York were ordered, ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to evacuate.  Yet, of the roughly 370,000 people ordered to evacuate, it is estemated that only 37,000 people complied.

To be sure, Irene did cause some damage, though in dollar terms, it's still being calculated.  As of this writing, 15 people are known to have died as a direct result of the hurricane, either from falling trees or floodwaters.  And many are still in the dark, after power outages affected more than 4 million people on the eastern seaboard.  Moreover, the deluge of rainfail inland of the coast still needs to drain, which still threatens the water level of the rivers that drain it back into the ocean.

However, the damage is rather minimal in comparison to what Irene was anticipated to cause, and so she was, on the whole, more hype than hurricane.  Without minimizing the loss of those 15 who died, (one harrowing report was of a woman's body pulled from her car, under 150 feet of water), 15 dead out of the 4 million otherwise affected by the loss of power gives one pause to consider that either the whole east coast was unbelievably lucky, or the hurricane wasn't at all what it was played up to be.  The most economical damage appears to be in New York, where a sizeable chunk of retail sales were anticipated lost this weekend--more a result of the city shutting down the entire weekend in preparation for the storm, than from the storm itself.

No doubt, much of the hype is generated by the media, which earns its bread on the sensationalism of stories, and which certainly loves natural disasters as backdrops for their "on-scene" reports.  Yet, and perhaps as an instance of poetic justice, they were let down by the rather unsensational nature of Irene.  According to one report, even CNN's Anderson Cooper, well-known for being the reporter in the thick of events like natural disasters, seemed somewhat let down as he reported from New York.  According to Toby Harnden, the U.S. Editor of the Daily Telegraph, "He looked crestfallen fell briefly silent when a weatherwoman told him that the rain was not going to get any worse. 'Wow, because this isn't so bad,' he said. 'It's an annoying rain but it isn't even a sideways rain.'"

Such hype was also, no doubt, played up by state, local and federal politicians, who, of course, would rather be safe than sorry, but also are trying to either boost or protect their image, especially after the latest hit to that image as a result of the national debt "crisis".  Moreover, the memory of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's mismanaged response to hurricane Katrina in 2005 still lingers in the minds of many, including those of politicians.  No one wants to go through that again. 

Say what we will about the hype, it is nonetheless a good thing that Irene didn't cause more damage than it did, and for that, we should truly be thankful.