The Weather Has Sucked
While I’ve been watching Joaquin, the Carolinas have been experiencing a 1000-year rain/flood event. The rain has tapered off but the flooding is far from over. So far there have been almost a dozen known deaths related to the storms. There are small dams and levees breaching. Roads and bridges have been washed away, while others are flooded. The power is out, and there is “water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink” as the floods have contaminated drinking water systems.
Joaquin will probably be retired from the list of names after the mugging of the Bahamas. It was the most powerful storm since Igor in 2010, with winds of 155 mph and pressure of 934 mb.
It is almost certain that people died in the Bahamas, and the crew of the El Faro, 28 Americans and 5 Poles, have probably perished.
6 comments
The entire Congressional representation of South Carolina opposed aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, saying that it’s the state’s responsibility, not the Federal Goverment’s, to handle the aftermath of natural disasters. So surely all of them will also firmly oppose aid to South Carolina this time, except for providing a plentiful supply of bootstraps, right?
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
The cracker named Graham doesn’t remember opposing aid for victims of Sandy. Many of them will claim that since New Jersey got money from South Carolina for Sandy, New Jersey should give money to South Carolina. They don’t want to hear that South Carolina has always gotten more Federal dollars than they paid in, or that New Jersey has always paid more than it received – facts have a liberal bias.
As for the crew of the El Faro, every single person involved in sending that ship out into the middle of a hurricane needs to be snatched up by a black helicopter squad in the middle of the night, and given a free angel flight to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, there to tread water the same way as the crew of the El Faro did. They made the decision that potential profit from meeting a schedule was more important than human lives? Well, clearly, their own human lives aren’t important either, right?
All that was necessary would have been to parallel the Florida coast until they were south of the storm and then turn east to go to Puerto Rico. Staying in a straight line between J-ville and San Juan was criminal. If they had paralleled the coast the worst case would have been grounding in sand near dry land.
It sounds the vessel just broke up in the waves. They had two lifeboats, both of which were large enough for the entire crew, and liferafts. I don’t think they had the time or ability to launch anything.
The company claims they sailed because Joaquin was only a tropical storm at the time it departed. The government of the Bahamas issued a Hurricane Watch on the second day it was a tropical storm, and it became a Category 3 major hurricane the next day. The forecast called for this kind intensification. The cruise ships were all re-routing because of the storm, and a container ship is even less seaworthy in a storm because they are top heavy and subject to cargo shifts in rough seas.
Well, the only thing I hope is that their insurance company refuses to cover the loss of the ship because it was caused by gross negligence, and the survivors of the lost seamen sue both the company and the individuals involved in the decision to sail the ship into bankruptcy. Too bad we can’t *actually* drop them into the middle of the sea themselves. Or even give them jail time. Because that would make the Free Market Fairy cry. SIGH.
It was a 70mph tropical storm when they set sail and the Bahamas had already issued a Hurricane Watch because the conditions were right for intensification. According to the Jeff Masters blog the last known location of the vessel was in the eyewall of the storm with 120mph winds and 30 foot seas.
If they had lost power while paralleling the coast, they would have been pushed aground, not sunk.
The NTSB has decided to investigate, which is not normal as far as I know.