There’s no need to apologize Anthony. That was an excellent comment.Anthony Barreiro wrote:"Awesome" is an over-used word, but this video is literally awesome. Seeing how big and powerful this storm was, and contemplating how much damage it did, I experience "overwhelming wonder, admiration, respect, [and] dread."
Now that such a huge and destructive storm has impacted New York and New Jersey, more of us here in the US are finally considering the reality and consequences of global warming and climate change. Less privileged people in the third world are already experiencing more frequent and more destructive storms, drought, disease, etc. Polar ice caps are at historic lows. The oceans are acidifying and the coral reefs are dying. Species all over the Earth are disappearing at rates that haven't occurred since the last global extinction that killed off the dinosaurs and 90 percent of all other species. But now that Snooky's porch was washed away, we're finally starting to take this seriously. I'm sorry to be so negative, but honestly that's how I'm feeling right now.
This apod effects me deeply too. I once lived for a few years in New York City were I was a frequent traveler on the subway system, 47 miles of which were flooded according to the New York Daily News article linked to in the Explanation. I wish the worker’s well in their monumental recovery efforts, as well as all those suffering up and down the east coast due to the effects of Sandy.
I also liked Qweenie’s comment. (My mother was born in Queens New York. Her parents had immigrated from The Netherlands, another lowland place that’s waging an epic battle with the threat of rising seas.) Qweenie is right to “really hate to think how much damage a category 5 could do …” On a less ominous note I must point out that the winds of these storms weaken as they move north, and they almost always turn east out to sea. Sandy was the rare exception to the rule, although that’s little comfort to those who’ve lost homes because of her.
A further reason I can relate to this story is that for most of my life I have lived near the gulf coast of Texas. I was a 12 year old living in Corpus Christi Texas when Hurricane Celia hit in 1970. The stats on this storm call her a strong Cat 3, but no one who actually lived through it agrees with that assessment, because it’s based on a recorded wind gust of more than 160 MPH that was recorded prior to the peak of the storm. Then the wind gauge blew away, as well as many structures that engineers say were designed to withstand 200 MPH winds.
You’ve no doubt heard the wind howl, maybe even shriek, but I remember from the interior of a well built brick house hearing the wind scream, not occasionally, but continually. We didn’t experience the very strongest winds, since the eye pasted north of our location. The home we were in was on the west side of Corpus, about 35 miles inland from were Celia first made landfall on Padre Island. The storm hit at night, but when we immerged the next morning there were many similar, well built brick homes that had been totally destroyed.
In the years since there have been many near misses, and I happened to have been in Houston when tropical storm Allison looped around and dumped an incredible amount of rainfall. (The peak total was 40.68 inches!) Therefore, it’s not wise to take tropical cyclones for granted, believe me.
Anthony’s second paragraph includes a litany of harmful changes that mankind is inflicting upon the earth, to which others could be added, like deforestation. These are evidences that man is ruining the earth. Solving these problems is beyond man’s abilities. (Not technically, but practically, since man is so disunited and prone to greed and selfishness.) Therefore SOS I pray, and please help the victims of Sandy.
Bruce
