Anyone else fed up with Hurricane Irene?

[Gromit]

It hits the Caribbean nations, it gets 30 seconds on the news. Now, as it heads for the US coast, the rolling news channels are spending hours on it, live press conferences from the NY mayor. Sat from in my confortable armchair, it all looks like hype and over reaction.

By all means cover natural disasters and their aftermath. But not hours of scaremongering for what will hopefully be just a wet and windy evening.

[DTCwordfan]

jno - Katrina got the coverage because of the lack of state of preparations and the aftermath mess of the hurricane and the impact on the population - and then that many weren't prepared to knuckle down.....Ike was a far bigger storm and the Texans went straight into getting the damage sorted out.

There was also a big learning lesson as some geniusin DC had the idea to bring around the USS Nassau loaded with helicopters, bulldozers, cranes, trash compactors, diesel, and an enormous number of hands to help start sorting out Galveston and the Houston Ship Channel

Apart from the screw ups of Washington, one of the problems with Louisiana was the endemic corruption and ineffectuality of the State government - a state where one governor, the chief investment officer and finance officer are spending time in (behind) bars, and not the ones we would like to visit.

[jno]

oh, I quite agree, DT; but quite apart from the mismanaged response, it was a much bigger storm than almost any other, and I had no quarrel with the huge amount of coverage it got here. But is anyone suggesting Irene is anything like the same strength, or same threat?

[Gromit]

Calm before the Storm? It is raining a bit...

http://www.justin.tv/optimike

[ladybirder]

Just heard there are two dead now.

[DTCwordfan]

crown weather (that the homeland security etc uses - and reference the site I posted earlier is suggesting that Irene as a Cat 1 or even as a tropical storm poses significant threats to New England in terms of wind and flooding damage (posted on the 11am ET update) and should not be underestimated.

I think that it is the duration of the storm that concerns them, more than the highest wind strength - that can cause swathes of damage......

It may well prove to be a bit of a damp squib but to be fair, they (the State and national authorities) are right to take precautions, not withstanding the Obama political exposure if it was to prove be a natural disater.....

[Gromit]

A man has died from a falling tree in North carolina.

I wonder if the two people killed by a falling tree in the May Gales in Northumberland were mentioned in nationwide TV coverage in the United States?

[modeller]

Gromit I'm disappointed in you. In all your posts not one blames the Tories .
I fear you are slipping .

[JonnyBoy12]

Which group of tropical islands are famous for their hot spicy food?

The Curry-bean!

[jno]

modeller, as a cormer Conservative Party chairman has now been appointed chairman of the BBC Trust, aimed at keeping broadcasters in line, I think we can assume that Big Dave is making sure the Beeb concentrates on foreign weather rather than embarrassing riots, greedy MPs and so forth.

[Slapshot]

The only significant part left is the storm surge, it's not dropping at the same rates as the wind hence the threats of flooding.

Lets put this into perspective if we can, in meteorological terms Irene is NOT a major event, low level cat 3 at worst and it made landfall with max sustained speeds of 80knots gusts to 115-120kts, those dissipate very quickly on landfall because they lose the heat from the seas which perpetuate the storm.

We have storms with winds of that level brushing the extreme parts of the UK once or twice every few years, northern Isles, Hebrides etc. The blanket coverage of this is the where and potential impacts rather than the pure effect that the word hurricane conjures. Think back to the big storm that hit the sarf east in 1987, blanket coverage it was a massive issue but a week later a storm with higher sustained winds, higher gusts and rainfall but I heard nothing about it on Scottish TV never mind national TV. Major events come around because of the media, the possible impact and hype....boring isn't it!

[jno]

Slapshot, yes, it's only when they hit towns with a lot of journalists in them, like London and New York. The rest of the world thinks a storm that only wipes out journalists might be a good thing.

[modeller]

Ah ! Thanks jno I knew the Tories were to blame for something . That's a
relief. I wonder why Gromit missed it.

[Gromit]

It is actually the bankers' fault.

The US and UK Governments have had to cut back on public services, including the Meteorological service. As a result, we have worse weather.

Everybody knows, the more we pay the public services, the sunnier it is.

[modeller]

Great answer Gromit especially as most bankers are Tories .
When you think about it a hurricane is a Coalition of forces with disastrous results.
I knew we would get there in the end.

[Gromit]

Hurricane Clegg.

Has a nice ring to it don't you think?

Not checked the News yet, but I hope plucky NY is still holding in there.

[Gromit]

On the live cam stream from Brooklyn NY it looks a bit breezy and rainy, a bit like here in Manchester.

http://www.justin.tv/s/17/grumpy_pc

[DTCwordfan]

And while we are on isn't it Iranian weather in New York at the moment, Shiite - or is that a little too farsi-cal thing to say for a Sunday morning

[DTCwordfan]

The Telegraph has the expected damage at being >$12 bln - no wonder the strom is getting the news coverage.

[pastafreak]

Nice video here-and it looks more than breezy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...ld-us-canada-14694087

I don't think a webcam on a sheltered Brooklyn street conveys what is really happening there.